A few notes on setting up a VPN server in Windows 7 i have found while doing so on my home computer.
Setup the VPN server by following this guide
Test the VPN server from a computer outside the network (ie dont try and connect from a local computer – some consumer routers wont let this happen and can confuse the issue)
Note that TCP port 1723 must be forwarded as well as IP port 47 (GRE) traffic, details of which are explained here
If the VPN connection is not working, then there are some tools from Microsoft to debug the issue. Download the tools from here, start pptpsrv.exe on the VPN server and then run the pptpclnt.exe tool on the client. This will allow you to determine if the traffic is getting through as required.
NOTE: You need to stop the Routing and Remote Access () service so that the server exe can bind to port 1723, otherwise this will not work!
It can also be useful to put your PC in the DMZ in your router temporarily to eliminate blocked traffic as a potential issue.
Hopefully at this point you have a working secured VPN.
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