network problem with a vpn connection

[ASHOKP]

hi guys

hope you can help. I have a wireless work xp laptop that I use to access my office via a vpn connection (cisco vpn client) with a domain account. all works fine. i also have a pc which is connected directly to my adsl gateway. its a standalone machine, part of a workgroup. my question is how can I see/copy files between the 2. they both have correct ip addresses (both with a 192.168.1.x address with the same subnet and dns addresses, the gateway/router being the dns server). but i am not able to see the other machine. i added the server details to each others hosts file, no luck, can't ping the other machine.

to me its an authentication issue (one a domain machine, one a standalone). i just don't know how to get around it. can anyone help?

Cheers

[philyau]

its got to be in the same workgroup iirc.

phil

[Chris Locke]

I'm a bit flaky on my knowledge of VPNs, but when you VPN in to your domain, are you logging in as a domain user?
The IP of your machine is irrelevant (I believe) as the VPN connection assigns you an IP address which is valid for the work network.
For our laptops at work, we've added details of the domain controller into the lmhosts file, with #pre on the end, which tells them who's the boss of the network.

[ASHOKP]

chris - thanks, you're right, it assigns an ip address. but when I don't logon to the work network, i've assigned it an ip 192.168.1.x, which is in the same subnet as the router and the other machine. only difference is that it is logging on with a domain account.

i assume i can't access the other machine while connected to the vpn, but when not, is there no way to see the other machine. and how do you configure the #pre, i remember this uses a #dom aswell..

[Chris Locke]

So, just to confirm some details. You've a laptop, and a PC. Laptop sees office fine, but PC connects, but sees nothing.
When you VPN to work, your PC is given an IP address that relates to that network - I'm guessing its not on a 192.x.x.x range.

[gadgetgear]

Is the adsl router being used to give out IP addresses etc. If so, you could try allowing the work PC to obtain its IP from the adsl router when trying to connect to your home PC.

Its something to do with the way the router nats the IP address that stops it from connecting to other PCs with manual assigned addresses on the local lan.

Alternatively are they both manually assigned addresses?? Then confirm with ipconfig/all. You may also have to change the workgroup of the home pc to match the netbios name of the domain on the work pc as Philyau mentioned earlier.

so many options

[ASHOKP]

let me bullet the points

1) have a laptop, which i log into with a domain account, regardless of whether i connect to work with a vpn or not. has a 192.168.x.x address when not connected.

2) have a pc, which has no logon, and is part of a workgroup. has a 192.168.x.x.

3) the router obviously has a 192.168.x.x address and is setup as the gateway and then dns server.

when trying to see the pc from the laptop, and vice versa, can't see either machine, even with both entries in each others hosts file. this is with the laptop not connected via the vpn.

what i haven't tried:

renaming the workgroup for the pc to the domain - is this enough?
any changes to the router config needed?
use manual addresses as dhcp was causing problems with leases - was having to renew leases every now and again, too much of a pain, so set manual ip's - any issues with this?

Thanks for all your help so far, please let me know if i'm missing something else here - cheers.

[Chris Locke]

Is the XP firewall turned on, on both machines? That would block file sharing. (And pinging...)

[stoneranger]

when you say you can't see the other machine, can you be more specific, is it a can't ping the name or can't ping the IP address. If you can't ping the ip address then you can forget about authentication\domains etc as your issues are a bit more fundamental than that

IP issues aside, what OS is the desktop pc?

and yes, check for a firewall on either machine

[ASHOKP]

can't ping at all, so makea sense re your authent. comments..

both xp, laptop sp1, pc sp2, yeah the firewall is enabled on the pc, i'll check the settings for this then.

Cheers!!

[Chris Locke]

You can either turn the firewall off, or add an exception to allow file and print sharing on your local lan. While testing, probably best to disable it, to make sure it works.

[ASHOKP]

ok - finally got round to trying this again - been away working..

both domain for the laptop) and workgroup (for the pc) have the same ame now. disabled the firewall on the pc (sp2), laptop has sp1, no firewall. somehow or other I am now at the stage where i can see the pc's c drive from the laptop (which uses a domain logon, but not connected to the vpn). but i can't copy the files to it. i would think the reason for this is the fact that from the pc, i still can't even ping the laptop - what the hell's going on there?? can't figure this out at all..

so

1) can ping the pc from laptop
2) can't ping the laptop from the pc at all
3) can "see" the c drive with the administrator account, but no permissions to do anything

what do i do next - getting completely stumped with this..

[ASHOKP]

ok just a quick update - I can copy from the pc to the laptop, but not the other way round..

can't get my head round the fact i can ping one way and not the other..

[ASHOKP]

any more thoughts?