[stlbud]

I've been trying to figure this out for weeks now and cannot find any useful information. I would like to use VPN to connect to my computer at home when I'm travelling.

I'm using Windows XP Pro at home and Windows XP Home on the laptop. I have a DSL connection with a Linksys router. I'm assuming I will have a broadband connection to the laptop as well. Everything I've tried has failed without any indication to help diagose the failure.

Even VPN for Dummies let me down!

Can someone please give me a step-by-step or tell me where to find one?

Thanks,

Bill B

Edited by stlbud, 30 November 2005 - 07:43 AM.

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I cant help you on the big details, but you are going to need a server for it as far as i know, i use a vpn to connect to my university from home, once you have a proper vpn server going connecting to it is really easy with xp. Getting a server going is the tricky bit, i did a google search and came up with lots of info.

Stick in there im sure you will get it going.

[warriorscot]

I cant help you on the big details, but you are going to need a server for it as far as i know, i use a vpn to connect to my university from home, once you have a proper vpn server going connecting to it is really easy with xp. Getting a server going is the tricky bit, i did a google search and came up with lots of info.

Stick in there im sure you will get it going.

[Retired Tech]

Try here

http://www.onecomput..._vpn_server.htm

[Fenor]

What are you going to be doing exactly when you connect to your computer at home? GotoMyPC is what my dad's girlfriend uses to connect to her work computer from home. What this program does is log you into the computer connectted to and you are basically using the computer. The window that shows is your desktop on your home PC and you can do whatever you want on it from check email, send an email, make a new word document, open a database file and update/change information in it. it is a great tool and may be something you might be interested in. It's very easy to use.

Fenor

[wannabe1]

I second Fenor's solution. This has worked very well for a number of people I work with that travel a lot. They swear by it!

wannabe1

[dsenette]

that or ultra vnc.....

http://www.linksys.c...FVisitorWrapper

http://www.linksys.c...FVisitorWrapper

those are two linksys articles about vpn...the first is a vpn overview..and the second is a link to the linksys vpn client

[Kat]

ya'll rock!! Thanks for helping out!

stlbud...let me know if any of this helps, or if you need more info. You know where to find me!

[admin]

XP's Remote Desktop would also be a good solution since you have XP Pro on your home system: http://www.microsoft...emoteintro.mspx

RealVNC may also be worth a look: http://www.realvnc.com/

[stlbud]

Thanks for the suggestions. Sorry it has taken so long to get back but my life is not my own.

I went through setting up incoming connections before and tried it again based on the directions from the link Kieth provided but got the same results. I get an 800 error. When I go through the suggestions from that I get nowhere. I know the ports are all open and directed to my PC at home. Ports are also open at the remote location. I still cannot get through.

I also tried the remote desktop connections but cannot see any place where I tell the laptop to go to my home network to find the remote system. Did I miss something here?

I've tried VNC but found it extremely slow. I also didn't see where VNC would allow me to copy files from my home computer to my laptop.

Thanks again for all the suggestions. I appreciate the help everyone has offered.

Bill B

PS If anyone is interested, Leo Laporte and Steve Gibson have started a series of Podcasts that will eventually explain how this is supposed to work. I'm following along but an episode a week is trying my patience. If anyone else is interested you can get more information here or here.

[Retired Tech]

Error Message: VPN Connection Error 800: Unable to Establish Connection

http://support.micro...kb;en-us;319108

SYMPTOMS

When you try to establish a virtual private network (VPN) connection, you may receive the following error message:

Error 800: Unable to establish connection

CAUSE

This issue may be caused by a router that has outdated firmware. For example, this issue may occur if you are using a Cisco router with firmware that is dated 2000 or earlier.

To verify that this is the cause, look at a network trace. The Cisco device advertises a 0 window size in the TCP handshake on port 1723.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this issue, contact the manufacturer of the router for possible upgrades

MORE INFORMATION
For additional information about how to configure VPN connections in Windows XP, click the article numbers below to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

http://support.micro...b/314076/EN-US/

http://support.micro...b/305550/EN-US/

[Brylee]

If you want some remote software which would be really easy to install and use, then RemotePC would be a good choice. All you need to do is to install a Host application on the computer which you want to access remotely and the Viewer application in the system you have physical access.

Give a try with the trial version at http://www.remotepc.com