From: martinvalley@comcast.net   
      
   Mike - Thanks for the response.   
   >   
   >BEFSX41 does not support L2TP.   
   OK...   
      
   >You imply that you read the instructions but it seems you did not   
   >comprehend them.   
   That is true.   
      
   >Yes, with only Windows 2000 you need to create an   
   >IPSEC security policy to connect to this router remotely.   
   If I were to connect from an XP machine or one running NT would it be   
   any different? Does the router "require" IPSec to be used? Could PPTP   
   be used instead?   
      
   > Or you can get a second router and   
   >create a permanent connection between the two from one site to another.   
   That is actually what I'm going to end up with. There are two small   
   networks that I want to link together. But, right now, I'm just trying   
   to get a connection established to test and learn from.   
      
   >IPSec and PPTP passthrough are for using a client inside the router to   
   >make a connection to another separate router outside of your network.   
   >These options have nothing to do with connecting to your VPN router as a   
   >VPN endpoint, it only affects connections passing through the router   
   >where the router is not an endpoint in the VPN connection.   
   Ok, I'm clear on that.   
      
   FWIW, since I posted my original questions, I updated the firmware in   
   the router. I didn't make a note of the old version number but now   
   it's running version 1.50.18. The userinterface changed completely.   
   After setting things up again (the update set everything back to   
   factory defaults), the L2TP error went away only to be replaced by one   
   telling me that the "domain couldn't accept a dial-up connection".   
   Since there is no domain involved here, that has me kind of stumped.   
      
   I guess I'll try activate the IPSec policy on the Win2K box and try   
   things again.   
      
   Any further advice you might be able to offer will be greatly   
   appreciated.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)