Slow browsing large shares over VPN

[Michael]

I have an XP Pro PC acting as a file server, and connect
to it via another XP Pro PC (through a Snapgear VPN
capable router which performs the authentication). Name
resolution is handled via host files.

When browsing shares over the VPN, there is a direct
relationship between the number of folders under a share,
and the length of time the PC takes to display the
folders within the share. For example, browsing to a
share with 4 or 5 folders takes about 4-5 seconds, but a
share with 20-30 folders takes well over a minute, just
to display the folders. This behaviour also occurs when
drilling down through the folder - if a sub folder has a
larger number of folders within it, it takes considerably
longer to display. The number of files within the folder
doesn't seem to affect the display times as much.

I have replicated this problem with another 2 XP Pro PCs,
and cannot find anything on Technet about it. The same
delays are experienced whether browsing the network,
using mapped network drives, or connecting via IP
addresses instead of NetBIOS names.

Any assistance would be much appreciated.

 

[Chris Brown]

I have experienced a very similar problem, and have been unable to find a
resolution.

Basically, a Windows 2000 PC browses over a VPN (DSL-to-DSL) to an SBS 2000
server and it takes 5-6 seconds per level to "drill down" into the Company
Shared Folder structure. On a Windows XP PC the same operation takes 15-30
seconds per level, and there is all kinds of send and receive activity going
on behind the scenes while you wait for, first, the "scanning flashlight" to
be displayed and, then, finally, for the directories and files to be
displayed. On a very similar setup at another company the XP PC browses at
the 5-6 seconds per level rate. What the difference is, and why the heck
this all takes so long, is a mystery. I sure would have a lot more
confidence in XP if basic stuff like this worked the way it's supposed to.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Chris