Configuring Windows NT RAS for PalmPilot Pro

This document explains how you set up the remote access service (RAS) for a PalmPilot on a Windows NT machine. With RAS enabled you can dial in to your NT machine or use the PalmPilot to access the network over a PPP connection. The following description works for both NT Server 4.0 and NT Workstation 4.0.
 

Installing and Configuring Remote Access Service

Follow these steps to install RAS on a Windows NT machine:

  1. Go to: Start | Settings | Control Panel | Network and select the Services tab.
  2. Click Add...
  3. Choose Remote Access Service (Figure 1)
  4. Apply Service Pack 3. It is important that the service pack is applied after RAS has been installed because the service pack contains a few fixes for PAP authentication.
Figure 1: Installing Remote Access Service
Figure 1: Installing Remote Access Service

Once RAS is installed on your machine you need to configure a few settings:

  1. Go to: Start | Settings | Control Panel | Network and select the Services tab.
  2. Choose Remote Access Service and click on Properties...
  3. Click Add... in the Remote Access Setup screen and select Dial-Up Networking Cable between 2 PCs (Figure 2).

    4. Figure 2: Configuring RAS
    Figure 2: Configuring RAS

  4. Choose an available COM port that you can connect your Pilot to. The COM port that the HotSync Cradle is plugged into will work. Note, that you have to shut down the HotSync Manager before starting up the RAS service. When using the HotSync Manager, shutdown the RAS service. Windows does not let you start two services that claim the same COM port.
  5. Make sure that the Port is able to receive calls. If I remember correctly, there is a small checkbox in one of the last panels that specifies this.
  6. From the Remote Access Setup dialog box, select Network... (Figure 3)

    7. Figure 3: RAS Network Settings
    Figure 3: RAS Network Settings

  7. Click Continue to complete the RAS setup.
  8. Enable IP Forwarding -- although people may tell you that this should not matter, it does. Also, others have had some success using Windows CHAPS to connect the Pilot to Win 95/NT.
    1. Go to: Start | Settings | Control Panel | Network and select the Protocols tab.
    2. Select TCP-IP Protocol.
    3. Choose Properties...
    4. Select the Routing tab.
    5. Check the Enable IP Forwarding checkbox
  9. Start the RAS service. When your HotSync manager is running on the same COM port you need to shutdown the HotSync manager first.
    1. Go to: Start | Programs | Administrative Tools (Common) | Remote Access Admin
    2. Start the server: Server | Start Remote Access Service...

Finally you have to create a user account which is enabled for RAS access:

  1. Go to: Start | Programs | Administrative Tools (Common) | User Manager
  2. Create a new user: User | New User...
  3. Close User Manager
  4. Log on the the newly created user account to complete the user account setup.

Configuring PalmPilot Network Access

  1. Go to: Preferences | Network
  2. Set the phone number to 00.
  3. Set the user and password to the account you created on your NT machine.
  4. Tap on Details.
  5. Set the Connection Type to PPP.
  6. Configure the appropriate primary DNS.
  7. We've had some discussion on the IP address. The first version of these instructions were -- Set IP Address to Automatic.
  8. Tap on Script...
  9. Enter the following script:
            Send CR:
            Delay: 1
            Send: CLIENT
            Wait For: CLIENTSERVER
            End:
  10. Tap on OK to close the Login Script dialog.
  11. Tap on OK to close the Details dialog.
  12. Physically connect the PalmPilot to the COM port of your NT machine (either by using a cable or by putting it into the cradle).
  13. Tap on Connect.

You can watch the progress of the connection by pressing the scroll down hardware button while the Service Connection Progress dialog is active.

Troubleshooting

When you cannot establish the PPP connection you may want to enable PPP logging to debug the problem. The following articles from the Microsoft Knowledge Base provide helpful information:

Last updated on 1/12/98 by Matthias Eichstaedt