Can not map network drives

[ljCharlie]

My vpn client is able to connect and authenticate on the VPN server fine. The VPN server is able to ping the vpn client fine, but the vpn client can not ping the vpn server nor does it able to map any network drives. The VPN client is able to access the Internet fine at this point but can not access network resource. Will anyone tell me what's going on and how do I go about troubleshooting this problem?

Thank you,

ljCharlie

 

[ljCharlie]

Okay, here's something I found out. When I click on the Details tab of the VPN connection, WAN Miniport(PPTP), I see that the VPN server's IP address is now a local address with 192.168.0.2 instead of the public IP address. I am able to ping and map to the VPN server's shared folders. However, I am unable to map to our file server. I tried the server name and also the file server's public IP and still not working. Obviously there is something I need to configure..but I'm not sure what it is. But I did find out that maping the VPN server shared drives works if using the private IP address. There is something fishy about this but I'm not sure what it is yet.

ljCharlie

 

[chronos1]

Hi ljCharlie,

yeah this stumped me for a LOOOOONG time! Could create a VPN session but couldn't map a drive or anything.

There's a hint to this in the FAQ for this forum - I found in order to map to other shares - i had to enter the IP address of the WINS server into the TCP/IP properties of the VPN connection.

Mapped without any problems.

Good luck!

**************************
I am serious. And don't call me Shirley.
**************************

 

[ljCharlie]

Many thanks for the response. Yes, I had a person in another forum suggest that for mapping network drives, WINS server has to be installed. I got the WINS to installed on my domain controller but there is nothing in the Active Registratios and Replication Partner folders of the WINS MMC. And by the way, the WINS server IP address is the ip that's showing in the WINS mmc, correct? So I can just enter this IP in the vpn client's WINS tab and that should do the trick, correct?

ljCharlie

 

[chronos1]

Yup that should do it. Bit funny that there aren't any ip addresses in the wins database - but effectively because network neighbourhodd uses netbios - which isn't routable, you need the wins server to resolve local netbios names to ip addresses. Then you can map to a share.

Good luck

 

[ljCharlie]

Still not working. Here's what have so far. The Routing and Remote Access is on a separate server than the domain controller. Routing and Remote Access server (local)'s Property/IP tab is configured to use Static Address Pool:

192.168.0.2 to 192.168.0.5

Now the WINS server is setup on the domain controller. Right now in the Active Registration, it showed the following Type:

Other
Domain Master Browser
Workgroup
Domain Controller
Normal Group Name
WorkStation
File Server

The IP Address and Owner address are the same and they are both public IP address.

The vpn client can not ping the WINS server IP address nor the domain controller IP address. The only thing the vpn client can ping is the server that host Routing and Remote Access which I believed is the VPN server. And this vpn client and map to this VPN server and that is it. And yes, it is able to access the Internet too. But why is it not able to map the File Server for all my network drives?

ljCharlie

 

[pmf71]

This may be a stupid question, but is your windows server RAS service set up for both VPN and routing?

 

[cazulp]

We use VPN but also have two Wins servers. Sometimes when my mapping does not work for a specific drive, say the V drive, I run a bat file with the Net Use command, eg

net use v: \\servername\userdata

Not sure if this would still work without a Wins server defined.

 

[ljCharlie]

Yes, I believed both of those are already setup. However, how do I verify if it is really setup?

I did try mapping through command prompt and it's not working either.

 

[ljCharlie]

Ok, I just checked and indeed it is setup as a router as well.

 

[ljCharlie]

I believed it has something to do with packet filtering. I was able to connect to the vpn server fine but just unable to access anything other computer/servers on the network. However, I'm not sure how to about verifying the filtering.

 

[jcurtiss]

i assume your vpn clients aren't on a network that is using the same subnet, 192.168.0.x? and why are you using wins instead of dns, is this an NT4 setup?

 

[ljCharlie]

No, it is not an NT4 setup. I had many suggestions and articles that suggest using WINS when setting up vpn with clients.

 

[chronos1]

hi ljcharlie

been doing abit of poking around - and 2 things microsoft recommends when setting up the VPN (or configuring PPTP) on the server:

1.enable IP routing
2.establishing static routes to the private network.

I didn't think much about it before - but when configuring our office laptop it had been on the private network previously and so (i think) had a memory of routings - but once wiped, that prevented it from connecting - always getting timed out responses.

So basically - i think it's a routing issue - but my routing skills aren't the best - so still working on it - so please let me know how you get on.

hope this helps

 

[pmf71]

I assume you're using the MS PPTP client?

Make sure the VPN server's DNS IP is also entered in the settings.

Check it with IPCONFIG /ALL in the command console while connected.