Cannot Navigate to File Server (via IP or Name) via VPN on XP SP3


Recommended Posts

This one really has me scratching my head because of all the conflicting information. Let me explain.

We have a non-domain based Windows Server 2003 server with a PPTP VPN set up on it. Connecting to it and accessing server shares have not been a problem on Windows 7, Mac OS X, and Linux. We can access the file server via IP (for example, smb://192.168.1.10) on OS X and Linux without any issues, and Windows 7 is able to access the file server by its name (for example, \\SERVER). There's one troublemaker in all of this: XP.

A netbook running Windows XP SP3 has this peculiar issue of being able to connect to the VPN without any issues. As soon as you try to connect to any shares (by IP or Name), it refuses to connect. Pinging the IP and Name results in Timeout errors.

As I didn't have a XP box at home to test this with, I brought the netbook home with me to figure out what's wrong. Oddly enough, I could not replicate the issue. I was able to connect to the VPN successfully AND navigate to the server via IP address without any trouble. At this point, I'm thinking there's something wrong with the owner's home network.

BUT the netbook owner also has a laptop at home running Windows 7 that's able to connect to the VPN and browse the file server (by name) without any trouble.

Needless to say, I'm stumped. I can't tell if this is an issue with her home network or something in XP in particular. With so many things that DO work, it's making figuring out what is in fact the issue tougher. Any suggestions?

Question for you -- what is the exact network your using on the vpn connection and the servers IP?

using 192.168.1.0/24 would really be a bad idea -- since that is going to match up to many home networks range.

So it worked on your home network -- and what network do you use at home, does it overlap with the vpn servers IP or vpn network?

What is the setting on the vpn connection for default gateway on the xp client?

post-14624-0-65347900-1320689262.jpg

Not be able to ping the IP of server is bad sign.. Can they ping it from the win7 box?

I would suggest we get the output of ipconfig /all and route print from the xp client when they are connected. And then the same from the win7 box they say works.

Also what are networks in use, like I said using 192.168.1.0/24 on the server is going conflict with lots of home networks! If you have home user connecting in, I would use an odd ball private network like 172.22.36.0/24 for something -- highly unlikely to conflict with any other networks with something so odd ball.

I have a couple of suggestions -

1) If both the Netbook and PC have static IPs, swap them, reboot and then try it. See if the problem goes with the Netbook or the IP address.

2) If you are DHCP, take the IP info from the PC and enter it on the Netbook as a static address and see if that changes anything. (Again, I'm just looking to see if the IP is at play here).

3) Make sure you have the exact same info (DNS, Gateway, etc) on both. Ive seen something stupid like that happen when 1 machine was pointed to a.13 gateway and the other to a .12 gateway

4) I would then also suggest checking the Internet option -> LAN settings, to make sure nothing is there that isnt supposed to be there

5) Check your HOST file on the Netbook c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts. Make sure that there isnt a line in there that was entered because of a firewall or program that could be causing this issue.

6) Also make sure you are logging in on a netbook with the same user name / pwd in windows as one that is created on the server.

-> Im not trying to be a smart ass here. However, when you said it worked for you, did you use your ID info? Because of the higher security in server 2003 / W7 from XP ive seen this kind of issue happen when the user name and password werent matching on the server box and the xp box, but a W7 box would be able to compensate for it.

Just things off the top of my head. Let us know what resolved your issue.

Good Luck

Alex

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Posts

    • Linus Torvalds releases a pretty ordinary Linux 6.16-rc3 by Paul Hill Linus Torvalds, the head and founder of the Linux kernel, has announced the release of Linux 6.16-rc3. This release comes with fixes for new features that were introduced during the merge window several weeks ago, and for old features where issues have been detected or improvements need to be made. If you remember last week, Torvalds said that rc2 seemed smaller than usual, putting it down to people going on vacation. He said this week’s rc3 seems to be in the usual ballpark for this time of the cycle, so everything looks “entirely normal.” In terms of changes, this release is “dominated” by wireless networking and GPU driver updates, however, Torvalds doesn’t think that anything really huge stands out this time. While nothing stands out Torvalds urged people to carry on testing and submitting patches. This update saw improvements to the core system and architecture. There have been improvements to ARM64 KVM that improve stability and correctness of virtualizations on ARM64. There are also improvements to RISC-V KVM and Trust Domain Extensions (TDX) for Intel which expand and secure virtualization capabilities on those architectures. On the graphics front, there are fixes for the amdgpu and amdkfd drivers that fix job handling, engine resets, display corruption, and power management features. The driver used for Qualcomm’s Adreno GPUs has been updated to improve fault handling, display timing, and driver binding. The open-source Nouveau (Nvidia) driver has been updated with fixes for GSP message queue references, potential integer overflows, buffer size adjustments, and a use-after-free bug. Finally, the Intel i915 driver has been updated to address early wedge issues, memory initializations, and build errors. There are also improvements to Wi-Fi devices (ath12k and iwlwifi), sound (ALSA), power management on AMD, and file system improvements (OverlayFS, EROFS, XFS, NFS, SunRPC). Linux 6.16 is due for release at the end of July and will then be picked up by Linux distributions, which will be the first interaction most end users have with the new features in this update. The main benefit of a newer kernel is that Linux will work on newer hardware, so if you’ve had issues with Linux, be sure to try it periodically in case your hardware is now supported.
    • Technically, it should be account-bound after activating it
    • Follow this video, and a new build will feel a lot faster. https://www.youtube.com/watch?...WLAytRBid7Qryv3&index=1
  • Recent Achievements

    • Week One Done
      urbanmopdubai1 earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Month Later
      Jim Dugan earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • First Post
      Johnny Mrkvička earned a badge
      First Post
    • Week One Done
      viraltui earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Month Later
      serfegyed earned a badge
      One Month Later
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      645
    2. 2
      Michael Scrip
      226
    3. 3
      ATLien_0
      219
    4. 4
      Steven P.
      150
    5. 5
      Xenon
      146
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!