The following is a list of steps and screenshots to set up a VPN connection to a site-to-site VPN on Windows Vista:

Open the Control Panel (not in Classic View) and click on View network status and tasks link under Network and Internet.

On the Network and Sharing Center dialog, click on the Set up a connection or network link on the left side.

A wizard opens up that guides you through setting up the VPN connection. Click on Connect to a workplace (Set up a dial-up or VPN connection to your workplace). Click Next.

On the "How do you want to connect?" screen, choose Use my Internet connection (VPN) (Connect using a virtual private network (VPN) connection through the Internet.)

On the "Type the Internet address to connect to" screen, enter the Internet Address (the IP Address or domain to the VPN server you are connecting to). In the Destination name, enter a unique name for this connection that will help you remember it in the list later. You can also choose to select if this connection should be available for other users. Click Next.

On the "Type your user name and password" screen, enter your user name and password to connect to the VPN. NOTE: "Show characters" shows or hides your password characters because there is no confirm password, this let's you make sure you typed it correctly. Click Connect.

On the "You are connected" screen, make sure it says you are correctly authenticated and connected to the VPN. Then click Close.

As is typical with Vista, after you connect to a new network, the "Set Network Location" dialog will open up and ask what type of security you want on this network. Since this is a secure VPN connection, you will probably want to choose "Public location" but you could also choose "Home" if you trust this connection completely.

Once the settings are configured, click Close. You are now successfully connected to the VPN connection.

If at any time, you want to manage this VPN connection, go back to the "Network and Sharing Center" dialog from Control Panel and choose Manage network connections on the left side to open back up the list of VPN connections and choose your connection.

IMPORTANT: If you already have an internet connection on the machine you are configuring this VPN on, as soon as your VPN starts, your Internet connection will most likely be dropped. It turns out, that there is another setting that needs to be configured in order to access the Internet from your other network connection even while you are connected to the VPN.

NOTE: This only applies if you are connecting to the Internet via a separate network connection from the VPN. If you want to "proxy" through the VPN and use it's Internet connection, then you will need to configure that on your VPN server and that is not in the scope of this tutorial. Here are the steps to get your Internet working again:

Right-click the VPN connection in the Network Connections dialog. Choose Properties from the context menu.

Click on the Networking tab to access the TCP / IP settings for your VPN connection. Select the Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) and click Properties. If you are using a IPv6 IP Address, select that instead for properties. If you aren't sure, you are probably still on IPv4.

Click the Advanced button to get the advanced properties for this connection.

On the Advanced dialog, make sure "Use default gateway on remote network" is unchecked. This will tell your browser and other internet/network applications to NOT use your VPN for internet access. Click OK to apply the setting.

Click OK on the other dialogs to commit all the settings. Now open your web browser and you should be able to navigate the Internet even though you are still connected to the VPN.