The VPN will not connect: what to check first | YouGrowIT

The VPN will not connect

A VPN is a private tunnel from your computer to the office network. When it will not connect, the cause is usually one of four things: your own internet, a password or second-step login that has changed, the VPN app itself needing a restart, or something at the office end. You can safely check the first three yourself.

Try this first

  1. Check ordinary internet works. Open a website that you do not normally visit. If nothing loads, fix that first, because the VPN has nothing to travel over.
  2. Close the VPN app completely and reopen it. Not minimised to the taskbar or the menu bar, fully closed. VPN clients get stuck in a half-connected state surprisingly often, and this clears it.
  3. Restart the computer. This resets the network parts the VPN relies on. If you only do one thing from this list, do this one.
  4. Check your password. If you changed your work password recently, or you were prompted to change it and did, the VPN needs the new one. Saved passwords in the app do not update themselves. Type it in fresh rather than relying on what is stored.
  5. Have your phone handy. If your VPN asks for a second check when you sign in, the approval may be waiting on your phone. Notifications get missed, so open the authenticator app and look.
  6. Try a different network. Turn on the personal hotspot on your mobile phone and connect the laptop to it. If the VPN connects over the hotspot but not over your home Wi-Fi, the problem is at home. Some home modems, hotel networks and public Wi-Fi block VPN traffic outright.
  7. Check the clock. A computer whose date and time are badly wrong will fail security checks and refuse to connect. Make sure the time is set automatically.

What the common messages usually mean

  • "Authentication failed" or "incorrect username or password": your account details or the second-step login. Usually fixable by you.
  • "Cannot reach server", "timed out" or "no response": nothing answered at the other end. Either your internet, a network blocking the VPN, or a problem at the office. Note the exact words.
  • "Certificate" errors: something has expired or the clock is wrong. Leave this one with us.
  • "Connected" but nothing works: the tunnel is up but something inside is not. Log it, and mention what specifically you cannot reach.

Please do not do these

Do not uninstall and reinstall the VPN app, and do not change its settings, server addresses or profile. VPN profiles carry configuration that is easy to lose and slow to rebuild, and reinstalling usually turns a ten-minute fix into an hour. Do not download a different VPN app from the internet either, no matter what a search result suggests. It will not connect to your office and it may cause other problems.

If that didn't fix it

Log a ticket with:

  • The exact error message, word for word or as a screenshot.
  • The name of the VPN app you use.
  • Whether it works on a phone hotspot.
  • Whether anyone else is affected, if you know.
  • Whether your work password changed recently.
  • Roughly when it last worked.

Attach a screenshot if you can. The exact wording of an error tells us more than any description of it.

Still stuck?

Log a ticket at portal.yougrowit.com.au or email support@yougrowit.com.au. If it is stopping you working right now, call 03 9028 4358.

Support hours are Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5:30pm Melbourne time, excluding Victorian public holidays.

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