[ALevs]

I connect to our office server remotely by typing in the IP address, then my user name and PW.

However, in MOST places I am not prompted to put in the user name and PW ...
Instead I receive a message that "Windows cannot access \\74.10......."

I would be DELIGHTED if anyone could shed any light on what I should try to be able to make this connection work !!!

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To clarify, the issue is that when I am in certain locations I can type in the IP address and connect to the remote server with no problems.
However, when trying the connection while sitting in MOST of the locations where I work out of, I am NOT prompted to put in a user name and PW...

[ALevs]

To clarify, the issue is that when I am in certain locations I can type in the IP address and connect to the remote server with no problems.
However, when trying the connection while sitting in MOST of the locations where I work out of, I am NOT prompted to put in a user name and PW...

[dsenette]

what technology is being used to facilitate this connection? is it typically connected to through internet explorer or what? what do you mean by "locations"?

[ALevs]

To make the connection I type the IP address into the 'Run' dialog box from the start menu. Alternately, I can just type the same external IP address into the web browser (Explorer, Chrome etc..) as "\\74.XXX.XX.XX" without the quotes.

By locations I mean that this works when I try to connect from our office location (where server is located)and some of our vendor locations.
However, this does not work from my home location or several others that I typically work remotely from.

In the locations where this does not work the prompt box for user name and PW does not appear...

[dsenette]

well it's going to work from inside the office because that's where the server is....i'm also going to assume that it works at some of your vendor locations because they have a persistent connection into your network...it probably doesn't work outside of the office because there's not actually a public connection into the network.

do you have an IT group?

[ALevs]

Actually the vendors that it does work at do not have any type of special or persistent connection into our network.
It seems that connecting via an external IP address works at some locations and does not work at others.

Can this have to do with the type of modem or router at those locations? Or if a port is open or closed?

We do not have an IT group...

[dsenette]

well, i'm trying to get a picture of what you're connecting to in the first place. i'm assuming what you're getting is just file access. as in, once you enter your unsername and password, you're getting some kind of shared folder or the like.

[ALevs]

yes exactly.
The issue is that the connection doesn't get to the step prompting me for my user name and PW when I try to connect from most physical locations, such as my home residence

[dsenette]

are you the one that set this up?

what are you actually connecting to? what OS is it running? is it assigned a static public IP address on the internet?

[ALevs]

We have had an IT consultant set this up.
I am connecting to a Mac Mini server through a static external IP address.
Note that my computer is a Lenovo X230 Thinkpad.

The other employees have Macbooks and have no problems connecting.
I would have just assumed it was a PC issue, however I am able to connect remotely at several remote physical locations that I've tried...

[dsenette]

yeah, it's not likely a system OS problem based on the description of what you're trying to connect to (which is ASTRONOMICALLY insecure by the way). it would be more likely something being blocked somewhere.

do you have any ways of testing alternate connections at your house? or with your computer? like, do you have a laptop that you could try at your house, and then try again at a starbucks or something?

[ALevs]

With my laptop I can't connect at my home, but some other places I can connect.
Other people have brought their laptops to my home and they have not been able to connect either.

[dsenette]

then it does seem connection specific. if other people that can connect elsewhere can't when they're at your house, or if you can connect elsewhere but not at your house. what that is, i dunno off hand as simple file sharing like that shouldn't be blocked by any default settings. it could be something at teh ISP level

[ALevs]

How would I address an issue at the ISP level?

[dsenette]

not easily...typically if they're blocking something it's kind of difficult to get them to stop doing it. it could be a setting in your home router though.