Ok. I am a windows IT admin, new to Mac. Love it for the most part, but I can't figure out a few things. One is connecting to a VPN. I've set the public IP to the VPN server, username and password. But what is Machine Authentication? The only options are Shared Secret or Certificate≥ I understand some VPN servers need a certificate, smartcard, etc, but windows VPN setup does not ask for this. I have no problem connecting from a windows machine with just IP address, username and password. It seems to be a requirement for Mac when setting up a VPN. We don't use certificates. Shared secret??? I tried using my password but that didn't work. Please advise. Thank you in advance.
** All that is needed for our VPN server is: IP address, username and password. How do I get around the Machine Authentication?
** All that is needed for our VPN server is: IP address, username and password. How do I get around the Machine Authentication?
What is your VPN setup? Usually it will only ask for the shared secret when you are using IPSEC type connections. PPTP VPN's are usually the ones that only require an ip/dns name as well as a username/password combo. When you open up the network preferences and hit the plus to create a new connection, and change the interface to VPN. Then change the VPN type to PPTP. Put the server address and the username in the boxes provided then hit authentication settings and enter the password. Hit ok and apply. Then try it out 
