I’m trying to set up a VPN between an outside computer and my home network. I can see the computer connected and transmitting/receiving in my network connections (incoming connection) but it is unable to access any shared files or anything and doesn’t show up in my Network Places.
I’m trying to set up a VPN between an outside computer and my home network. I can see the computer connected and transmitting/receiving in my network connections (incoming connection) but it is unable to access any shared files or anything and doesn’t show up in my Network Places. My guess is its connected to the router but not the network. Ive spent a few weeks trawlling the Internet for an answer but no such luck. Could you help?
— Marcus
You don’t mention what you are using for a desktop OS, so I will assume that you are on some flavor of Windows XP. If not, most of these steps should apply to a degree. Before going too far, make sure that all of your Windows updates are applied and that you have the latest available network card drivers for the card in the computer you are trying to establish the VPN with.
If using Windows XP SP 2, make sure that firewall functionality that comes with SP 2 is disabled. That can cause a lot of problems when trying to establish a VPN connection. If you have anti-virus software installed on the computer, temporarily disable the AV software, uninstall and reinstall the VPN software. It is possible that the anti-virus software could have caused a problem with the VPN software while you were installing it.
If you are using a desktop OS prior to XP, see if you have any type of software firewall installed and temporarily disable it while you are doing this testing. If you have a hardware firewall on your Internet connection at home, make sure that you have the option to allow IPSec to passthru and see if there are any other options that may need to be enabled to allow VPN traffic to pass. You may need to look at the manual that came with hardware firewall to know for sure. It is a good idea to see if there is a firmware update available for the hardware firewall that needs to be installed as well. A possible troubleshooting step to take is to temporarily hook your computer into the Internet connection to see if the desired connection can be established that way.
Make sure that you are using the latest version of the VPN software from your vendor. Check the documentation for the VPN software to see if there are any diagnostic functions that you can use to help identify where the problem might be.
In last week’s column, I mentioned an open-source VPN client, OpenVPN, to look at. If you install it, and it works, that might point to a software conflict on your PC. I have had problems in the past with some of the drivers for the multifunction printers that caused the VPN client not to work. This is where checking the support pages for the VPN client you are using to see if they are aware of any problems. Check with the VPN hardware vendors support folks to see if there are any troubleshooting steps you can use on the receiving end of your connection to see how the incoming client connection is looking in terms of everything appear to be right.
Another thing to check is to look at the computers where the remote connection is working correctly and look for what is different and the same between the two computers to find other possible areas to check. Calling the VPN software client tech support is also an option. They may be able to suggest other troubleshooting steps beyond what I have suggested here.
