E
Evan
I have the following odd situation:
2 XP machines – 1 Dell desktop (name: "Dell") with XP Home, 1 Sony
notebook with XP Pro
Connecting to internet over D-Link wireless ADSL router using DHCP &
NAT firewall – seems pretty solid. 64-bit encryption at the moment.
Printers are on the Dell
From the Sony, if I use (from "run") \\Dell (or \\Dell\my documents
etc) I can see all the Dell shared resources, access files & folders,
print etc. There's a Guest account on the Dell.
I can browse to the Dell as well, but it's very tedious.
Can't see the Sony from the Dell & have never been able to but that's
a non-problem so never tried to resolve it. There's no Guest account
set up on the Sony because our sysadmin set it up and won't allow
them.
All fine so far.
Complication: the Sony has a VPN connection to the office network,
using the built-in XP facility. Works fine over the wifi/router/ADSL
link, never fails.
However, recently I have not been able to connect properly to the Dell
desktop from the Sony if I have connected the VPN. The odd thing is,
I used to be able to with no problem. I can connect to the Dell if the
VPN isn't running – it's just when it is. Can't print to it, see files
or folders, nothing.
If I type the usual \\dell in "run" I get a message that says
"\\dell is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this
network resource. Contact the administrator of this server to find out
if you have access permissions.
The user name could not be found"
Printing fails with an error message if I try to print while connected
to the VPN.
Disconnecting the VPN & trying again gets me back my connection to the
Dell.
Weird bit: if I then reconnect to the VPN, I can access the Dell for
up to 10 minutes before it refuses me again, including printing.
Another weird bit: if I use the IP address instead of "Dell" (it's
usually 198.162.1.6) I can access files & folders on the Dell
regardless of whether the VPN is connected. However, there's no way I
can print, even then.
The Dell is called Dell and belongs to WORKGROUP, the Sony is called
myname.ourcompany.local and belongs to a domain "ourcompany.local".
I'm not allowed to change this.
Up to then I could work just as well with the VPN as without. However,
the other day 2 unrelated problems happened, one on each machine that
necessitated remedial action. Since then I've had the problem. I've
reinstalled the network adapted (Linksys USB) on the Dell, & the VPN &
wireless networking on the Sony. No good. I've rolled both machines
back (using System restore) to well before the problem occurred. No
good, again. I've searched Google & tried all the changes I could see,
but couldn't find anyone in exactly the same boat as me.
Given that accessing the Dell via the IP address works, my main need
is to get it printing again while I'm still on the VPN – closing down
Outlook, logging off the VPN, printing whatever it is & then logging
back on is very long-winded for juast a one-page email.
I think the wireless network is OK, because apart from the VPN problem
everything works fine, talks to everything else etc. I think there
isn't a basic compatibility problem between the Dell & the Sony as
without the VPN they are fine together, at least for what I need to
do. And I know that it is possible to have them happily sharing over
the VPN because until a couple of days ago they had been doing just
that perfectly happily.
I've trawled through all the settings on the Dell & the Sony
(authentication, DNS, WINS, Netbios etc), & while some things have
made it worse nothing has made it better.
Sorry to be so long-winded, but I know that solutions are easier if
people give a fairly full description.
If anyone has got this far, thanks, and I'd appreciate any help you
can give.
Thanks,
Evan
2 XP machines – 1 Dell desktop (name: "Dell") with XP Home, 1 Sony
notebook with XP Pro
Connecting to internet over D-Link wireless ADSL router using DHCP &
NAT firewall – seems pretty solid. 64-bit encryption at the moment.
Printers are on the Dell
From the Sony, if I use (from "run") \\Dell (or \\Dell\my documents
etc) I can see all the Dell shared resources, access files & folders,
print etc. There's a Guest account on the Dell.
I can browse to the Dell as well, but it's very tedious.
Can't see the Sony from the Dell & have never been able to but that's
a non-problem so never tried to resolve it. There's no Guest account
set up on the Sony because our sysadmin set it up and won't allow
them.
All fine so far.
Complication: the Sony has a VPN connection to the office network,
using the built-in XP facility. Works fine over the wifi/router/ADSL
link, never fails.
However, recently I have not been able to connect properly to the Dell
desktop from the Sony if I have connected the VPN. The odd thing is,
I used to be able to with no problem. I can connect to the Dell if the
VPN isn't running – it's just when it is. Can't print to it, see files
or folders, nothing.
If I type the usual \\dell in "run" I get a message that says
"\\dell is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this
network resource. Contact the administrator of this server to find out
if you have access permissions.
The user name could not be found"
Printing fails with an error message if I try to print while connected
to the VPN.
Disconnecting the VPN & trying again gets me back my connection to the
Dell.
Weird bit: if I then reconnect to the VPN, I can access the Dell for
up to 10 minutes before it refuses me again, including printing.
Another weird bit: if I use the IP address instead of "Dell" (it's
usually 198.162.1.6) I can access files & folders on the Dell
regardless of whether the VPN is connected. However, there's no way I
can print, even then.
The Dell is called Dell and belongs to WORKGROUP, the Sony is called
myname.ourcompany.local and belongs to a domain "ourcompany.local".
I'm not allowed to change this.
Up to then I could work just as well with the VPN as without. However,
the other day 2 unrelated problems happened, one on each machine that
necessitated remedial action. Since then I've had the problem. I've
reinstalled the network adapted (Linksys USB) on the Dell, & the VPN &
wireless networking on the Sony. No good. I've rolled both machines
back (using System restore) to well before the problem occurred. No
good, again. I've searched Google & tried all the changes I could see,
but couldn't find anyone in exactly the same boat as me.
Given that accessing the Dell via the IP address works, my main need
is to get it printing again while I'm still on the VPN – closing down
Outlook, logging off the VPN, printing whatever it is & then logging
back on is very long-winded for juast a one-page email.
I think the wireless network is OK, because apart from the VPN problem
everything works fine, talks to everything else etc. I think there
isn't a basic compatibility problem between the Dell & the Sony as
without the VPN they are fine together, at least for what I need to
do. And I know that it is possible to have them happily sharing over
the VPN because until a couple of days ago they had been doing just
that perfectly happily.
I've trawled through all the settings on the Dell & the Sony
(authentication, DNS, WINS, Netbios etc), & while some things have
made it worse nothing has made it better.
Sorry to be so long-winded, but I know that solutions are easier if
people give a fairly full description.
If anyone has got this far, thanks, and I'd appreciate any help you
can give.
Thanks,
Evan