Validate DirectAccess Capability

  • Article

2/13/2013

DirectAccess allows devices that have Internet access to connect seamlessly to the company network without the need for a virtual private network (VPN). This enables administrators to manage and service a Windows Embedded 8 Standard (Standard 8) device anytime it is online.

With this test, you can manually validate that DirectAccess functions.

Test Setup

Before you can run this test, you need a Standard 8 device that meets the following criteria:

  • Gets DirectAccess client settings through Group Policy.
  • Is domain-joined to the company network.
  • Has enterprise capabilities activated with a volume license key.

Validate DirectAccess

When running these tests, make sure to validate both inside and outside of the company network.

To validate DirectAccess from the notification area

  1. On the client device, click on the network icon in the notification area.

  2. Verify that DirectAccess is in the networks list.

To validate DirectAccess from a command prompt

  1. On the client device, open a command prompt running as an administrator.

  2. Go to c:\Windows\System32.

  3. Type the following command to show the state of DirectAccess:

    netsh dns show state

  4. Verify that the status shows one of the following:

    Network connection DirectAccess status

    Device is connected to the company network.

    Machine Location: Inside corporate network

    Direct Access Settings: Configured and Disabled

    Device is not connected to the company network.

    Machine Location: Outside corporate network

    Direct Access Settings: Configured and Enabled

Name Resolution Policy Table

You can view the Name Resolution Policy Table settings for the DirectAccess client. This is a table of namespaces and corresponding settings stored in the registry that determines the special processing or policy requirements behavior of Doman Name System (DNS) clients when issuing DNS queries and processing DNS responses.

To view Name Resolution Policy Table settings

  1. On the client device, open a command prompt running as an administrator.

  2. Go to c:\Windows\System32.

  3. Type the following command to display the Name Resolution Policy Table settings:

    netsh namespace show effectivepolicy