VPN Connects OK; Cannot map drives

[Don]

When I use VPN to connect to my corporate network, it connects OK. Internet
Explorer can access the corporate intranet. But I cannot map any network
drives.

I am using Windows XP Home Edition. On my old Windows 98 PC, I have no
problem mapping the network drives.

Perhaps I don't have my WinXP network connections configured correctly. Can
anyone advise me?

 

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

What erros do you get? Try mapping a drive using alternate credentials (for
the domain) - use Explorer (tools menu) or a command line for that.

net use x: \\server\share /user:domainname\username <enter>

 

[Sameer]

your error something like this:

""Windows cannot find '//(server ip)' . Make sure you typed the name
correctly, and then try again. To search for a file, click the Start
button, and then click Search."

 

[Bob]

When I use VPN to connect to my corporate network, it connects OK. Internet
Explorer can access the corporate intranet. But I cannot map any network
drives.

I am using Windows XP Home Edition. On my old Windows 98 PC, I have no
problem mapping the network drives.

Perhaps I don't have my WinXP network connections configured correctly. Can
anyone advise me?

Unless you have an XP VPN Client, NetBIOS is unavailable for name
resolution. MS deliberately crippled Win2K to make people buy XP. XP
has it - look under WINS for TCP/IP in the VPN Client, then enable it.

If you do not have NetBIOS in the VPN Client, then use the raw IP
address of the VPN machine, e.g.

\\192.168.1.X

in Start|Run to display the shares on the remote machine. This is
bi-directional - you can do it from the VPN Client or the VPN Server.

For the VPN Server, the raw IP is the first in the range you allocated
for IP addresses on the VPN. For the VPN Client, use a static address
(you will have to permit the use of a static VPN Client address in
the VPN Server).

For example, I set up a Win2K PPTP VPN with address range
192.168.1.100 - 200. I disabled DHCP in the router for that range,
thus assuring that no one else would grab one of my reserved
addresses. This is not really necessary since MS peer-to-peer only
supports 10 users.

I also enabled a static address for the VPN Client, namely
192.168.1.150. The VPN Server grabs the first address in the allowed
range, namely 192.168.1.100.

So now I have the raw IP addresses of the two machines on the VPN.
Using Start|Run I create a window displaying the shares for a given
remote machine. I then make a shortcut for that window.


--

Map Of The Vast Right Wing Conspiracy:
http://www.freewebs.com/vrwc/

You know you are in Hell when you have to make a
distinction between what is moral and what is legal.

 

[Don]

Thanks for the responses.

I did try to map the drive using the raw IP address.

The error I get is:

The network path: \\111.222.333.444\SubdirectoryName could not be found.

I can't understand why this network path works on my Win 98 PC, but not on
XP Home Edition.

Any more thoughts?

 

[Bob]

The error I get is:

The network path: \\111.222.333.444\SubdirectoryName could not be found.

\\servername\sharename

"\\servername" is the raw IP address expressed in NetBIOS format. Make
sure it is the VPN address, e.g., 192.168.1.X. The fact that you did
not give a valid address in your example above makes me suspect you
are using a WAN address. A VPN address of the type 192.168.X.X is
non-routable over the Internet, so telling us what it is would not
compromise your LAN from the outside.

"\sharename" is the name you gave the share. Windows uses the same
name as the directory as the default when you first establish the
share. It is good practive IMO to make the share name different from
the directory name. For example, if the directory is "xyz", make the
sharename "C-XYZ" to indicate that it is on the C: drive.

Make sure you have given the VPN Client user permission to access that
share. When you use Start|Run|\\servername to get the shares on that
machine, you will literally get all the shares, some of which may not
be permissioned for a given user.


--

Map Of The Vast Right Wing Conspiracy:
http://www.freewebs.com/vrwc/

You know you are in Hell when you have to make a
distinction between what is moral and what is legal.

 

[Don]

Thank you Bob for your reply. I think you are getting me closer to the
solution. Apparently, I had been using a WAN address rather than a VPN
address.

When I click on the VPN icon after connecting, it gives me a "Destination IP
Address" of 165.170.74.41 and a "Assigned IP Address" of 165.170.8.17.

I then selected Start - Run - \\165.170.8.17 and it was accepted! But
the window that came up did not show anything on my corporate network and I
was still unable to map any drives (after trying the VPN address or a
combination of VPN and WAN addresses). So I don't know what to use for a
"sharename".

So I hope I'm on the right track, but I'm still unsuccessful.

Don

 

[Bob]

I then selected Start - Run - \\165.170.8.17 and it was accepted!

Then you now are looking at the other machine as you wanted. I do not
believe you would have gotten that window if you did not connect to
the remote filesystem as a valid user. But make sure you are a valid
user on the corporate network and that you have permission to access
various shares.

But the window that came up did not show anything on my corporate network
So I don't know what to use for a "sharename".

If there were shares available to anyone (even if you were not
permissioned) they should have shown up with their sharenames
displayed.

You would have then treated them as you would any Windows directory
scheme, assuming you had permission to open a particular share.

So I hope I'm on the right track, but I'm still unsuccessful.

Time to have a talk with your corporate network administrator.


--

Map Of The Vast Right Wing Conspiracy:
http://www.freewebs.com/vrwc/

You know you are in Hell when you have to make a
distinction between what is moral and what is legal.