Configuring PPP (Modem connection) for Windows 95/98/ME
This document describes the steps to setting up a modem connection between your personal computer and the Boston University network. Once you are connected, you can begin to use your Web browser, e-mail application and other Internet software. Additional information on using the Internet at BU is available from the Personal Computing Support Center at www.bu.edu/pcsc or 617 353-7272.
Set up the Connection Manually
To set up your connection manually, please carefully follow the rest of this handout. Note that you will usually need your original Windows 95 or Windows 98 or Millennium Edition CD to complete this process successfully.
Section I: What will you need?
To set up your
modem connection to Boston University manually, you will need the following:
1. Your original Windows 95, Windows 98 or Windows ME CD or disks, unless you have Dial-Up networking already installed.
2. An internal or external modem and a phone line. Modems come in different speeds: we recommend you use a 56K modem, although slower modems will still work.
- A BU login name and Kerberos password. If you have an account on the ACS system, your BU login name is simply your ACS login or username, and your Kerberos password is the same as your ACS password. If you do not have an account on the ACS system, you can open one by bringing your Boston University ID to the Office of Information Technology at 111 Cummington Street.
Section II: Setting up the connection
Step 1: Add the Dial-Up Networking folder to the "My Computer" window
In this first step, you will install the "dial-up networking" software for Windows. You will probably need your original operating system CD to complete this step.
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1. Double-click on the icon on your desktop labeled My Computer. Open the Control Panel folder and double-click on the Add/Remove Programs icon.
2. This will bring up a dialog box. In this dialog box, select the Windows Setup tab. Put a check mark next to Communications and then click on the Details button.
3. Make sure there is a check mark next to Dial-Up Networking.
NOTE: These pictures were taken from a Windows 95 computer. If you are using Windows 98, your screen may look slightly different.
4. Click on the OK button, and then click the OK button again to make Windows install this component. At this point, you may be prompted to insert your Windows install CD or floppy disk. Do not skip this step. Failing to insert your Windows CD when prompted will stop the installation from working. If you are running Windows 95, you must use a Windows 95 CD, for Windows 98, you must use a Windows 98 CD and so on.
Note: Some computers will have a copy of the necessary Windows files located on the hard drive at C:\windows\options\cabs so that if you don't have your original Windows CD or disks, you may be able to tell Windows to look in this directory to find the needed files.
5. When this step is complete, you will have added a Dial-Up Networking folder to the My Computer icon on your desktop, and you will have added a Dial-up Adapter option to your Network control panel.
Step 2: Add the TCP/IP protocol to your Network Control Panel
This step will add TCP/IP to the list of networking protocols installed on your computer.
1. Go to the Control Panel window, and double-click on the Network icon. This will bring up a dialog box listing the different networking protocols and adapters installed on your computer. Do you see TCP/IP listed? TCP/IP should look like it does in either of the following images. If you do see TCP/IP listed, you can skip this entire section and move on to "Step 3: Configure the TCP/IP Protocol".
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| 2. If you do not see TCP/IP listed, click on the Add button to add a new networking protocol. This will bring up a dialog box titled "Select Network Component". 3. Double-click on Protocol. This will bring up a window with two list boxes asking you which protocol to add. 4. From the list on the left, select "Microsoft", and on the right, select "TCP/IP". Click the OK button to continue. |
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NOTE: These pictures were taken from a Windows 95 computer. If you are using Windows 98, your screen may look slightly different.
Step 3: Configure the TCP/IP Protocol
You will now configure the TCP/IP protocol with the settings you need to dial in to Boston University.
| 1. While still in the Network control panel, double-click the item TCP/IP. This will bring up a tabbed dialog box. If you see a warning screen, click OK. 2. Select the IP Address tab and make sure the radio button Obtain an IP address automatically is selected. 3. Select the DNS Configuration tab. Make sure the radio button next to Enable DNS is selected. 4. In the Host field, enter ppp1 and in the Domain field, enter bu.edu. 5. Under
DNS Server Search Order, enter the following two DNS Server
IP addresses and click Add after each one: 6. Under Domain Suffix Search Order, enter bu.edu and click Add. 7. The settings on the Gateway, Advanced, WINS Configuration, and Binding tabs should be left as the defaults. 8. Click OK to return to the Network control panel. |
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Step 4: Create a Dial-Up Networking icon for Boston University
In this step you will create an icon called BU Dialup in your Dial-Up Networking folder.
| 1. Double-click on the icon on your desktop labeled My Computer. Open the Dial-up Networking folder. 2. The first time you open this folder; Windows will assume that you want to create a new Dial-up Networking connection. This will automatically bring up a dialog box labeled "Welcome to Dial-up Networking" that will guide you through the process of creating an icon for a connection to the Boston University campus network. 3. In the "Make a new connection" dialog
box, change the name to BU Dialup
and make sure you have the correct modem selected. 4. Click on the Next button. The dialog box will change to allow you to enter the telephone number to dial. |
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(NOTE: Your modem may differ from the one shown in this picture. As long as any modem appears here by brand name, you are OK.)
Use the table below to decide what number to enter here. After you've typed it in, click on the Next button.
| If you are dialing from |
Then use this number |
| On-campus office |
39600 |
| Anywhere else, including a residence hall |
617 378-1111 |
The *70 is used to temporarily turn off call-waiting services so your modem call will not be interrupted by an incoming phone call.
5. Click on Finish to continue. Now, you should see a new BU Dialup icon in the Dial-Up Networking folder.
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Step 5: Configure the connection for use with the BU modem pool
In this step you will finish configuring your connection to the Boston University Campus Network.
1. Click once on the BU Dialup icon with your right mouse button. This will bring up a context menu; select Properties from this menu. This will bring up a window listing properties for this icon.
IF YOU ARE IN AN ON-CAMPUS OFFICE, COMPLETE STEPS 2 and 3, OTHERWISE SKIP TO STEP 4.
| 2. In this window, click on the Configure button; this will bring up the Properties dialog box for your modem. Select the Options tab. | |
| 3. Make sure the check-box labeled "Bring up terminal window after dialing" is checked. Click the OK button to get back to the BU Dialup dialog box. |  |
| 4. In the BU Dialup Properties dialog box, click on the Server Types button (or in Windows 98, the Server Types tab). This will bring up another dialog box for the Server types. Make sure the only thing checked here is the box next to "TCP/IP". (Everything in the "Advanced options" group of checkboxes should not be checked.) |  |
| 5. Click on the TCP/IP Settings button. This will bring up a dialog box labeled "TCP/IP Settings". |
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6. The radio button Server assigned IP address should be checked. 7. Click on the radio button Specify name server addresses.
8. Make sure Use default gateway on remote network is checked. 9. You should end up with settings as we have in the figure to the left. Click the OK button to continue (you'll actually do this three times to get out of these three dialog boxes.) |
Step 5: Set up for Ten-digit dialing
Now if will make your connection from the 617 area code, you need to set up your connection to use 10-digit dialing. (If you do not live in 617, or if you will use 39600 for your dialing, skip this section and go right to the next section, Getting a Connection.)
- Double click on the My Computer icon
- Double click on the Dialup Networking folder.
- Right-click on the icon you've set up for dialing to Boston University (BU Dialup or BU PPP).
- Click on Properties in the resulting menu
- In this window, make sure the Use
area code and Dialing Properties box is checked.
- Click OK.
- Go to Start, then Settings,
then Control Panel and click on Modems. Now click on the Dialing
Properties button. (Note: Start->Settings->Control Panel->Telephony
will do the same thing).
- In the Dialing Properties Window, make sure the settings are correct for your location -- if you need to disable call waiting or dial 9 to have your modem make an outside call, this is where you make those settings. Your screen may look a little different from the one below because of your own unique situation. Then click on Area Code Rules.
IF YOU DO NOT HAVE AN AREA CODE RULES BUTTON, DO THIS INSTEAD:
- Put a check next to Dial Using Calling Card to select it, and then click Change.
- Click New.
- Type a name for the calling card (for example, Tendigit), click OK, and then click OK again.
- Click Advanced, and then fill out the dialing rules as follows:
Field Dialing Rule
- Calls Within The Same Area Code FG
- Long Distance Calls 1FG
- International Calls 1EFG
- You might decide to enter different values depending on your situation, but the important one for us is the FG value for calls within the same area code. If you want to know more about what these entries do, right-click the field names and then click "What's This?" For example, you'll find that an entry of FG means dial the area code and the local number.
- Click Close, and then click OK until you return to your Windows 95 desktop.
- Now skip right to Section III: Getting a Connection.
- In the Area Code Rules box, put a check
mark next to Always dial the area code.
- Click OK three times to make your changes.
Section III: getting a connection
Opening a connection if you use 617 378-1111
1. To create a shortcut for the icon you've created, click on the BU Dialup icon and drag it to your desktop. A shortcut to BU Dialup will appear on your desktop.
2. Double-click the BU Dialup shortcut icon on your desktop. This will bring up a dialog box labeled "Connect To". Type your username and password in this window. Your username should not include @bu.edu. For example, if janedoe@bu.edu is your e-mail address, then janedoe is your username. NOTE: For security reasons, we recommend you do not save your password in the "connect to" screen.
3. Click on the Connect button. You should hear some dialing and some screeching as your modem negotiates a connection with the BU modem pool.
4. When the screeching stops, you should get the Connected to BU Dialup window shown below. You have a connection! Now go to the Using Internet Applications section on the next page.
Opening a connection if you use 39600 from an on-campus office
1. Double-click the BU Dialup icon on your desktop. This will bring up a dialog box labeled "Connect To".
2. Click on the Connect button. You should hear some dialing and some screeching as your modem negotiates a connection with the BU modem pool.
3. When the screeching stops, you should get the "Welcome to BU" message followed by a BUnet: prompt. Your response should be "ppp" followed by the ENTER key.
4.
When you are prompted for
your username, type
username
where username is your BU login name followed by the ENTER key. For example,
if janedoe@bu.edu is your e-mail address, then janedoe is your
username.
5. When prompted for your password, type in your Kerberos password followed by the ENTER key. (If you have an account on ACS, then your Kerberos password is simply your ACS password.)
6. If all goes well, you should get a message saying "Switching to PPP", and a series of random characters should show up on your screen. Press the F7 key to continue.
7. Your dialog box should change to give you two buttons: Disconnect and Details.
You may not see this screen but may instead see an icon in the lower
right hand corner of your screen that resembles two computers linked together:
Double-clicking on this icon will open the screen above.
An Internet dialup connection by itself doesn't do much. Once you have a connection, though, you can go ahead and run Internet applications such as Netscape Navigator, Internet Explorer, Outlook Express, FTP, or Telnet.
For more information on how to use these applications, including information on configuring an e-mail program to work with the BU network, please see the Web page at www.bu.edu/pcsc/ .
Section V: Closing a dialup connection
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When you're ready to hang up your connection, first exit out of all open Internet applications. Then, if your "Connected to BU Dialup" window is still open, just click on the Disconnect button. If this window is not visible, just double-click on the BU Dialup icon on your desktop again to bring the window forward, then click Disconnect.
If you followed all of the steps in Sections 2-5 and still can't get your PPP connection to work, here are a few things to check:
1. How many entries for TCP/IP do you have in the Network control panel?
Most people should have only one network adapter -- the Dial-up Network Adapter -- in their Network control panel. Likewise, you should only have one "TCP/IP" item listed.
(There's an exception to this rule of thumb: if you also have an Ethernet card in the same computer, you may have more than one entry for TCP/IP in the network control panel; one instance of TCP/IP should be bound to the Dial-Up Adapter, and the other to your Ethernet adapter.)
If you don't have an Ethernet card, open the network control and verify that you have only one TCP/IP network component installed. If you see two or more entries for TCP/IP, then you should remove all but one TCP/IP entry. Click OK, restart your computer when prompted to do so by Windows. When your computer is done rebooting, go back to the Network control panel, double-click on TCP/IP, and make sure the settings here are correct. (Look back to Step 3 in this document for the correct values.)
2. Did Windows recognize your modem by brand name and model?
If Windows recognizes your modem as a "Standard" modem, it tries to use generic settings and a generic modem initialization string. Sometimes this is not good enough, and you need to provide a more detailed modem command string that Windows will use to initialize the modem.
See your modem manual to find a modem command string that will (i) set your modem back to factory default settings and (ii) turn on hardware CTS/RTS flow control. You can call the IT Help Center at (617) 353-7272 if you need help reading through your modem manual.
Once you've figured out the proper modem initialization string, you can tell Windows to use it by following these steps:
a. Right-click on your BU Dialup icon and click on Properties from the context menu that pops up. In the Properties window, click on the Configure button.
b. In the window that pops up, select the Connection tab, and click on the Advanced button.
c. Yet another window will pop up with a field labeled Extra Settings. Type the modem init string for your modem in this text box.
d. Click the next three buttons you see to get back to the Dial-Up Networking folder.
If you continue to have trouble setting up PPP for your Windows computer, you can call the IT Help Center at (617) 353-7272 for further assistance.
Section
VII: (Optional) Scripting the connection process
This only applies to people in on-campus offices using 39600
If you dial up to 39600 and you don't want to type your username every time you connect to the BU network, you can automate this with a script by following the instructions below. NOTE: For security reasons, we strongly recommend that you do not save your password in the "Connect To" screen.
Windows 98: If you have Windows 98, open the My Computer icon, open the Dial-Up Networking folder, and click with the right mouse button on BU Dialup. Select Properties from the menu that appears. A window will appear with 1-3 tabs on top. Click on the Scripting tab and skip to Scripting Step Four: Writing the Script.
Scripting Step One: Determining Your Version of Windows 95
Microsoft has slowly upgraded and tweaked Windows 95 since its August 95 release. One of the changes is the inclusion of scripting in Dial-Up Networking. To find out what version you have, open the My Computer icon, open the Dial-Up Networking folder, and click with the right mouse button on BU Dialup. Select Properties from the menu that appears. A window will appear with 1-3 tabs on top. If one of these tabs says Scripting (pictured below), click on the tab and skip to Scripting Step Four: Writing the Script.
Skip
to Scripting Step Four if you see a Scripting
tab on your BU Dialup Properties window.
Scripting Step Two: Getting the Scripting Tool
If you got Win95 on CDROM, skip to Part Three. If your copy of Win95 came on floppies, you can download the scripting tool using your favorite web browser. First make a folder on your hard drive by opening My Computer and double clicking on your hard drive icon. Choose New ® Folder under the File menu in the window that pops up and name it 'temporary'. Open your Web browser and go to Microsoft's Web site. In the Downloads section of the site, do a Keyword Search for dscrpt.exe. (As the time this handout was updated, the actual URL for downloading this file was http://www.microsoft.com/windows/download/dscrpt.exe.) Save the file in your new temporary folder. Close your browser, open the temporary folder, and double click on the dscrpt.exe file. The one file will release others.
Scripting StepThree: Installing the Scripting Tool
Install the scripting tool by going to the Start Button ® Settings ® Control Panel ® Add New Software. Select the Windows components tab, click on the Have Disk button, and click on Browse. You will then get a file selection box that will let you specify the location of the install files. For the CDROM installations, change the Drive: to the CDROM letter and select the admin\apptools\dscript folder. For non CD installations, select the temporary folder you created. The file rnaplus.inf should appear in the File: box, click OK in this and the following dialog box. "Slip and Scripting for Dial-Up Networking" will appear in the Components: box with a small check box on the left. Put a check in the box and click Install. Click OK to close the Add/Remove programs box.
You should now be able to access Dial-Up Scripting Tool by going to the Start Button ® Programs ® Accessories ® Dial-Up Scripting Tool.
Scripting Step Four: Writing the Script
You should now be looking at one of the windows pictured below. Follow the instructions next to the window that looks most like yours.
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If
you just skipped from Scripting Step One, type C:\Program
Files\Accessories\buppp95.scp in the File Name: box and
click the Edit button.
1) Click Yes in the box which asks if you'd like to create a new file then click Edit again and it will say something like " can't find file, do you want to create a new file?" in which case say, "Yes".
2) Type the text below in the window that appears:
proc main
transmit "^M"
waitfor "BUnet:"
transmit "ppp^M"
waitfor "Username:"
transmit $USERID
transmit "^M"
waitfor "Password:"
transmit $PASSWORD
transmit "^M"
waitfor "Switching to"
endproc
This script will use what you type in the Username: and Password: boxes when you bring up the Connect To box for BU Dialup.
Save this script by choosing Save under the File menu and close the window. You should be brought back to the scripting screen. Close this window by clicking OK if you skipped from Part One to Part Four, or click Apply followed by Close if you didn't skip.
Scripting Step Five: Finishing Up
The final step is to tell your connection not to bring up that terminal window. Go to My Computer icon, open the Dial-Up Networking folder, right mouse click on the BU Dialup icon, and select Properties. Click on the Configure button, select the Options tab, and take the check out of the box next to 'Bring up terminal window after dialing'.
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For additional help
If you need additional help with setting up your Internet connection on your Windows computer, you can call the IT Help Center at (617) 353-7272. If you have your Internet connection working but need more help knowing what to do with it, please use your Web browser (Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator) to connect to www.bu.edu/pcsc where you will find some detailed help.