Windows XP Internet Connection Sharing and VPN Best answer on the web

  • I am working remotely from home using company laptop with MSFT VPN Client accessing VPN on Windows 2003 Server. I need to so some testing on some other machines from here. However this testing requires the machines to think they are on the local office network. I was thinking I could use Internet Connection Sharing to "share" the VPN Connection. I used the laptops wireless connection to connect to my wireless router for access to internet (over DSL)and then used the ethernet port on the laptop to connect to a 5 port switch. The other two testing machines are connected to the switch. I have successfully shared VPN and the testing machines are able to view the server and network. BUT ONLY if i use IP addresses. The names are not resolving. So instead of "OfficeServer" I have to type in 192.168.X.X to access the server. My testing requires that I be able to resolve the names. I feel I am really close but need some expert suggestions to try to resolve this.


  • You can't share a VPN with XP ICS, as the documentation clearly states and as numerous other sites have commented.


  • I do not mean to step on any previous answers however, I want you to read this post with a clean slate. Please disregard the prior comments for now.
    Firstly, in what manner are you trying to access the servers on your work network...i.e. Are you trying to access shared files and folders? Or are you trying to access network services like http(intranet) or smtp(mail). Reason I ask this is because while these previous posts are correct to an extent they may not be correct for your immediate situation. The hosts file that they speak of successfully maps fully qualified domain names to IP addresses, while another file called the LMHOSTS file, successfully maps netbios names to IP addresses. The LMHOSTS file is what needs to be properly filled out, in order to access file and printer sharing services. As with the HOSTS file it's documentation (just open the file to see) does a good job of teaching the format and the information you need to provide. By default these files have an extension, in order for them to be used correctly, once you've filled in the appropriate information, make a copy of the file in the same folder and rename the copy to be simply HOSTS or LMHOSTS respectively(without the extension). Depending on your network and the operating systems present you may be able to use only the HOSTS file even for file sharing, IF: you provide the fully qualified domain name of the server you are trying to connect to.. i.e... your company domain name is somecomp.com, and the computer name you wish to connect to is named thisPuter, the fully qualified domain name for that machine would be thisPuter.somecomp.com. In the address bar of your explorer window or even an internet explorer window you would type \\thisPuter.somecomp.com\sharename where sharename is the name of the share you wish to access.
    Thirdly, and yet the most simple, would be to provide the DNS server IP address for your WORK network statically in your IP settings on the computers you are using to access the work network from, thus bypassing the need to use either the HOST or LMHOST files.
    If this raises any questions or you are confused about any of the information I've mentioned in here, or just don't know or understand how to do some of the stuff I've mentioned, post a request for clarification stating specifically what you are confused about and I will be happy to oblige. Also, post some additional information - the OS of the servers that you are trying to access on your work network and the OS of the machines you are using in your home network.


  • I have recently been doing similar "work" myself, more for getting to my home network from work, but similar, so your question caught my attention. However, in all honesty I'm not familiar with 2003, but I use XP.
    Quick fix would probably involve the WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC\HOSTS. file. It's resonably forward in explaining itself. This, may or may not be appropriate for your situation.
    While doing a search to see if it 2003 had this file, and it seems many people are having a similar problem, most of which I read are resolved with the Microsoft Knowledge Base article Q311218 ( http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;311218 )
    Well, I hope one of those may help you in your attempts. If not, sorry for the inconvenience. :)


  • I had a similar problem when connecting to a work VPN from home to get emails through Outlook. This was off an exchange server so outlook needed the name rather than the IP address of the exchange server. I resolved this by adding the WINS server manually in the TCP/IP settings of the VPN connection. Could be worth a try. Add the IP address of your win 2003 server in the WINS tab of the Advanced TCP/IP settings of the VPN connection. Nothing to loose and might just work,


  • Needing to correct myself real quick, depending on the OS's present in your network, using the DNS solution as mentioned above may only prevent the need of creating the HOSTS file, you may still be required to use the LMHOSTS. I've already written a book, so for more info, please be specific, and provide the requested information.


  • you might want to make sure that you have enabled NetBios over TCP/IP on the internet connection sharing. if this doesnt work adding the hosts names to WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC\HOSTS should definitely work as the prev comment suggests.
    --jeff


  • Sorry... my laptop is actually using Win XP Pro, it is connecting to a Win 2003 server.









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    Posted inhznj.com July 30th, 2010 edit