Connection problem

[jimbush]

First, thanks for your time.
I have a 2003 server. This is not a Domain - just a simple workgroup shared server.
I want to to store Word and Excel files on it and I want a just few users
to be able to use it. When I do a local network view using explorer \\servername\ I get a view of the files
everything works fine I can read and write to the server.
But I need for two other locations to be able to do the same thing over the internet.
I have a Cisco router that has a connection to two other locations and they both have a vpn tunnel setup.
I have a Linux, Netware (remember that one) and a Unix server that all work just fine.
But when I try one of the remote/location PCs to get a file list \\servername\ it just say's not found.
I can ping the server by IP Address or by Host name works just fine.
I ran a capture using Shark and the server (192.168.1.2) is not responding.
I even turned off the firewall to be sure that this wasn't causing a problem.
If I try to run a RDP from the remote/location PC to the server it works just fine.
If I do a search for computer or people it finds nothing.
This is driving me nuts!
There's a probably a simple solution.
If you have any ideal pleaseeeeee help me.

Thanks,
Jim

 

[goombawaho]

What happens if you do a \\remote_server_ip_address over the vpn tunnel?

 

[jimbush]

Goombawaho,
Thanks for your reply.

When I put the address in explorer it just say's
Windows cannot find \\192.168.1.2\. check spelling etc.

I have in the host file:
192.168.1.2 \\servername

thanks

 

[goombawaho]

Well, I don't know if this is source of your problem, but you shouldn't have slashes in the HOSTS file. It should be:

192.168.1.2 servername

 

[jimbush]

goombawaho,

Oh it's not just a type-o

thanks!

 

[jimbush]

SongCloud,

Thanks for the input.

You Wrote:
Try to see if browsing to \\192.168.1.2\ shows the files.
Did that and I get "Windows can not find \\192.168.1.2

I do have the hosts file already set up with a status entry

You Wrote:
Also make sure that the remote users have an valid account on the server that they will use to access the files.
Are all of the machines in the same workgroup? What client OS are the remote machines using?

Yes I have the same user and PW set on the server and the PC.
About 99% of the PC's are XP Pro.

You Wrote:
If XP, make sure Simply File sharing is OFF. If Windows 7, make sure "Network Discovery" and "File Sharing" are enabled.
This was turned ON - and I turned it off and rebooted and still no changes.

Any other tricks in you bag!

Thank You