Is Windows Firewall Blocking access

[rich]

Hello,

We run Windows XP/SP2 with a standard image at our company. Our standard
VPN solution is the AT&T VPN Network Client v5.09.

I have a user who connects to the corporate network from home (wireless at
home). He is able to connect and establish the VPN tunnel successfully.
However, he is unable to browse/see/access resource on the internal corporate
network. He can use Outlook normally when connected. He is also able to
user Microsoft Communicator, Net Meeting and a couple other applications.
However, he cannot access any Intranet sites, servers, shares, cannot browse
the network, nor use other custom & 3rd party apps that communicate with
network resources.

I am wondering if the Windows firewall could be the cause. His and my
machine have a virtually duplicate setup. In my Windows firewall on the
Advanced tab, I have as the first entry "AGN Virtual Network Adapter" and
this entry is checked. On his computer, he does not have this entry.

I am wondering if this is the reason he cannot access any internal
resources. Any ideas?

Thanks in advance,
Rich

 

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

Hello,

We run Windows XP/SP2 with a standard image at our company. Our
standard VPN solution is the AT&T VPN Network Client v5.09.

I have a user who connects to the corporate network from home
(wireless at home). He is able to connect and establish the VPN
tunnel successfully. However, he is unable to browse/see/access
resource on the internal corporate network. He can use Outlook
normally when connected. He is also able to user Microsoft
Communicator, Net Meeting and a couple other applications. However,
he cannot access any Intranet sites, servers, shares, cannot browse
the network, nor use other custom & 3rd party apps that communicate
with network resources.

I am wondering if the Windows firewall could be the cause. His and my
machine have a virtually duplicate setup. In my Windows firewall on
the Advanced tab, I have as the first entry "AGN Virtual Network
Adapter" and this entry is checked. On his computer, he does not
have this entry.

I am wondering if this is the reason he cannot access any internal
resources. Any ideas?

Thanks in advance,
Rich

The Windows firewall doesn't block anything outbound, so this is not the
likely culprit. It could be his home network config - which is difficult to
troubleshoot. If this is a laptop, I'd have him bring it to you for a
checkup, and see if it works from elsewhere.

 

[rich]

Would the firewall prevent browsing the internal network?

Thanks,
Rich

 

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

Would the firewall prevent browsing the internal network?

Thanks,
Rich

No; the firewall does not block anything *outbound* at all.

 

[rich]

yes, but what about inbound? If I attempt to browse for anything inside the
corporate network, no network resource is found. I can't \\servername,
cannot browse through MyNetworkPlaces, cannot ping..... Forgot to mention
that I cannot seem to resolve names/ip addresses of any resources on the
inside. I can ping and resolve the VPN servers, and DNS servers, but seems
that is all.

Thanks

 

[smlunatick]

yes, but what about inbound?  If I attempt to browse for anything insidethe
corporate network, no network resource is found.  I can't \\servername,
cannot browse through MyNetworkPlaces, cannot ping.....   Forgot to mention
that I cannot seem to resolve names/ip addresses of any resources on the
inside.  I can ping and resolve the VPN servers, and DNS servers, but seems
that is all.

Thanks

:




- Show quoted text -

It is by default that most VPN setups will not let any remote
"clients" browse by names but by IP address. You need to enable
NetBIOS over IP for the VPN setups in order to let the "remote" users
browse by names. Or you need to set up a "true" Windows server system
(Windows Server 2003 or 2008) with WINS settings.

 

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

yes, but what about inbound?

Yes, but his Windows XP firewall is not protecting your corporate resources.

If I attempt to browse for anything
inside the corporate network, no network resource is found. I can't
\\servername, cannot browse through MyNetworkPlaces, cannot ping.....

Sounds like he has a basic connectivity problem with the VPN.

Forgot to mention that I cannot seem to resolve names/ip addresses of
any resources on the inside. I can ping and resolve the VPN servers,
and DNS servers, but seems that is all.

Check into the VPN setup - something is wrong. Note that if he uses the same
IP subnet at home (e.g., 192.168.0.0, etc) as you do in the office, VPN
won't work. He will need to change his private IP addressing scheme to
something different. I never like to use any of the more standard stuff on
my networks as they are often used by Linksys/Netgear/whatnot .... but at
this point it probably doesn't make any sense to change the business
network, as that'd be a lot more arduous. Again, this presumes I'm on
target.