Can't Browse Workgroups when VPN connected! Help? 2

[PacificRecords]

I have succeeded in connecting my home PC (XP SP2) running Netgear ProSafe VPN Client 10.5, to my work network via its Netgear FVS318v3 VPN Router. However, as soon as I connect, I can no longer browse my own home network, and only one of the 3 computers at work shows up (I can ping it and connect to it, but not the other two, though remote login to the FVS318 shows them as connected). Comes right back as soon as I disconnect the VPN connection.
My home workgroup is called MACNET, work workgroup is WINGNUTNET. I tried changing my home PC to WINGNUTNET, but didn't really help.
My home router and work routers use the same private LAN IP range (192.168.1.1)- is that the problem? Seems like NETBIOS is unhappy...
What do I need to do to be able to browse and connect to my home network, and the work network, when connected?

 

[msworld]

yes that is the problem. It is better to use the different IP ranges. These search results may help,

VPN server and client are using the same IP but in different subnets · VPN Browsing Issues · VPN Logon Issues · VPN Name Resolution · VPN as Router ...

http://www.chicagotech.net/Q&A/vpn20.htm

- Similar pages

VPN using same ip in the different
Q: I have the following situation. I would like my home uses to connect to the ...

http://www.chicagotech.net/Q&A/vpn38.htm

- Similar pages

Resolution for VPN server and client using the same IP range. Q1: if both (VPN Client and server) locations have same ip eg: 192.168.1.0/ , we can't change ...

http://www.chicagotech.net/Q&A/vpn49.htm

Bob Lin, MS-MVP, MCSE & CNE
How to Setup Windows, Network, VPN & Remote Access on

http://www.HowToNetworking.com

 

[airbourne]

msworld is correct, if you use the same IP addresses for both LANs, when you connect your PC through the VPN, it now tries to go through the VPN to get at those PCs because the VPN IP Addresses are the same as the ones at your house.

To fix the problem, first determine what your subnet mask is. Generally it will be 255.255.255.0. This means that the first 3 numbers represent your network and the last number is the host address.

So if your work network is 192.168.1.x and your home is the same, change your home address range to something like 192.168.2.x.

So your router at home would be 192.168.2.1 and your computers would be 192.168.2.2, etc..

Make sense?

 

[bytehd]

GOOGLE MS Network browsing and VPN

George Walkey
Senior Geek in charge

http://www.insyncva.com

 

[VPNSteve]

Ok, you actually reference two problems here. First, your local access to other systems disappearing is probably normal. I don't have experience with the Netgear Prosafe client, but if it operates like other clients then when you establish the tunnel it blocks access to anywhere but the tunnel, unless you have set up split tunneling.

Second, it won't matter that your home and work networks are using the same ip subnet if you are NOT using split tunneling, though I would change them anyway. In general it's best to have them different. So, before we address your inability to connect to the other servers at work, we need to find out a little more about your network and what you are actually trying. Are you trying to ping by ip address or name? How is the work network actually set up? Are all the servers you are trying to access attached directly to the VPN router? If you try to do a tracert to the servers, what are the results?

 

[PacificRecords]

Actually, when I changed the local network to a different IP range from the remote (192.168.0.1 vs 192.168.1.1), everything worked, and I CAN now access both my home PCs and my remote PCs without doing anything special. I am having issues browsing the remote network (which I gather may be more or less impossible), and, more importantly for me, connecting to the remote computers "c$" share from home on the remotes running XP, though the Win2K machines connect fine. See my thread above - "VPN login to remote c# share". Help with that would really be appreciated. Thanks!
Joe

 

[airbourne]

Generally when connected using VPN, by default, you don't have DNS or WINS resolution. There are ways to work around it like adding in an additional DNS server in your network adapter IP properties, but when you aren't connected to the VPN you might notice some slowness due to the fact your computer will try and resolve that address (which it won't be able to when the VPN is not connected).

The issue with actually browsing the network by going into My Network Places I don't believe works over VPN. My recommendation is one of two things:

1. If you have access to a PC at the network that you are allowed to remote control, use something like VNC or XP REMOTE DESKTOP once you are connected via the VPN. Once you are connected via a remote control tool to a PC on the network, that machine should be able to browse and fully resolve everything on the remote network, because it exists on that remote network.

2. If you only need to connect to specific machines, say a server or something, you can keep a list of IP addresses in a notepad document or something that lists what goes where. You could even go as far as putting entrys in your LMHOSTS or HOSTS file, though you might forget you put those entrys in there which could cause problems if you ever change those computer names or IP addresses.

As a side note, if you need to connect to a machine's shares and the drive is not mapped, you can go to START : RUN and type one of the following:

\\SERVERNAME\SHARE
\\IPADDRESS\SHARE

Obviously connecting to \\SERVERNAME requires that you have name resolution. The connecting directly to the server using the run line will always be faster than browsing too.