ZoneAlarm Q's...

RASelkirk

Hi All,

As have others, my ZA (v9.02 on Win7x64) has given me fits. I found the thread on moving the three folders from the temp to the working dir and making a shortcut. At first that didn't work, I ended up doing two things and am not sure what the actual fix was. Rebooted and was able to delete all the temp folder files; changed my PIA settings from UDP to TCP. Anyway, it's now working.

However, putting the shortcut in my startup folder starts the program but leaves it disconnected. Do I need the TaskManager "fix" also in order to get an automatic connect?

Thanks!

Russ

Max-P

Hi @RASelkirk!

The application needs administrator privileges, so putting it in the startup folder is not enough to make it work. We had to use the Task Scheduler to launch the PIA app with the required privileges because none of the startup folders or Run/RunOnce registry keys can start a program with elevated privileges.

If you open the Task Scheduler, you should see the existing PIA task that sets up the startup. If you simply change the path to launch your custom shortcut, it should work!

RASelkirk

I've gotten "almost there" doing what this thread states, but PIA still doesn't connect automatically. I did turn off "connect automatically" in the settings, does this need to be changed back even though it's being started by a non-stock method?

Russ

RASelkirk

One other Q: When I shut down and restart PIA, a "new" network comes up in ZA. Should this be allowed in the trusted zone or kept in the internet zone? I do have several computers on my "work" configured network that occasionally talk between each other.

Russ

Max-P

Hi again! Sorry for the delays I was on my weekend.

Yes, the "Connect Automatically" setting needs to be turned on. We've changed the way we start the application but it still starts just as if it was started through the usual way and it uses this setting to know whether it needs to connect or not. Basically the app starts, and if it was started with the startup flag set and the setting is enabled, it connects otherwise it just sits there waiting for manual connection.


As for the zone, it should be set to "Internet" although it doesn't really matter in practice. It's PIA's connection coming up showing as a new network because it uses a virtual network card that represents the link between your local computer and the PIA server/router. PIA's servers don't route between connected clients and also doesn't send any incoming traffic to you unless you have also enabled port forwarding, so you're safe in both settings but setting it to "Internet" probably prevents sending some local file sharing broadcasts and other things.

RASelkirk

Thanks, Max-P,

Got that handled, but did find something else interesting. I find that I cannot get to my router or modem "homepage" from my laptop with PIA, which is to be expected with encryption taking place ahead of the router, yet I can get to a removable HDD connected to the router's USB port and any other networked items be they Wi-Fi or e'net cabled  Strange that all of these router-connected devices are accessible, yet the router (http://routerlogin.net/) and modem (http://192.168.100.1/) are not?

Also note in my Win7x64 network layout, Win sees this as not connected, yet it is. Is this normal?



Russ

RASelkirk

If it helps anyone, I was able to get the router homepage working by making a desktop shortcut with http://192.168.1.1/ as the target. That worked, from there I stuck that shortcut on my (Firefox) bookmark bar next to the original bookmark. I changed the original from "routerlogin.net" to the IP style address but it still wouldn't work. This did not work at all with the modem.  So, it appears the difference is between how Windows handles their native shortcuts vs. FF bookmarks...

Russ

Max-P

RASelkirk said:

I changed the original from "routerlogin.net" to the IP style address

A bit late to reply, but there's a chance that routerlogin.net is normally intercepted by your router to return its IP address on your local network, so when you're on the VPN it's not modified and therefore it doesn't work.

I've just opened that site on my computer, and what I got this which seems to confirm that theory:

You are not connected to your Router’s WiFi network. To access routerlogin.net, your device must be connected to your Router’s WiFi network. Check your current connection and try again.

RASelkirk

What's strange is, the routerlogin.net bookmark worked before PIA as expected. With PIA it gave me your same error message. Making a Windows shortcut using the IP address worked from my desktop even with PIA active. Editing the FF bookmark to the IP address did not work, same error message. However, dragging the working Windows shortcut to the FF bookmark toolbar does continue to work. None of this works with my modem though...

Russ

Max-P

Yes, that seems normal to me.

When you are connected to the VPN, your router only sees encrypted garbage flowing to and from PIA's server. It cannot do the magic where it transparently redirect routerlogin.net to itself because it goes directly to PIA. So it behaves as if you're not on your local network.

I'm not sure why dragging the bookmark worked but I suspect they didn't have the same IP and one would have the 182.168.x.x while on the VPN you likely get IP of the website that tells you it's not working.