Windows 7: Win7 to Win7 VPN connects but no ping or file share access

I've been able to make this work in a test environment but can't make it work in a real situation. My test environment has two Windows 7 Pro PCs. One PC is behind a Linksys router with port 1723 forwarding to it. The other PC is on the WAN side of the Linksys and I can connect with VPN and ping the host, see the shared folder/files and remote desktop. Great......BUT

When I do the same thing as stated above but the VPN server is located behind a Linksys router across the Internet I can connect but can not ping, remote desktop or anything on the far side LAN.

I've disabled IP6, unchecked "Use default gateway on remote network", and a few other things but can't make any progress in fixing this issue. My routing table appears to be fine when compared with the one that works.



What am I missing? Any help would be appreciated.

1. On the incoming connection properties dialog, have you checked the box that says "Allow others to make private connections to my computer by tunneling through the internet or other network."?

2. Have you added the proper user in the Users tab?

3. This fix worked for me when I had this issue -- on the Networking tab, make sure that you specify an IP address range rather than using DHCP. Make the range something that is well out of your router's DHCP range--for example, many routers default to 192.168.1.100 as the starting IP. Make the VPN starting IP something like 192.168.1.50-55. Hope that helps!

The answer to #1 and #2 were Yes so I then moved on to #3 and after setting the IP range outside of what the Linksys router uses it worked. I can now ping, RD, and see shared files via VPN!!! I can't communicate via PC name and have to use the IP address but that is okay. I'd like to use the name but again I can live without that. Thanks again!!! I didn't think that setting needed adjusting since I was getting a proper IP in range. I wish I understood why this fixed it but am just glad it did.

Glad it helped! I know that one stumps people when setting up Windows VPN because it isn't very apparent what's causing the issue. The reason behind it is that you cannot have two DHCP servers on one network. Since the host PC is acting as a VPN server, it also was set to act as a DHCP server, which creates a conflict with the router.

Also, in regards to your DNS issue, that is very common--home routers like Linksys or Netgear usually don't have a built-in DNS server, or have crappy DNS support. I built my own router using the freeware Untangle (google) and it is the best thing I ever did. I also did away with Windows VPN using this router software and switched to OpenVPN. So much better! And the built-in DNS server is great as well.

Okay, I understand the DHCP conflict. I was thinking that the server must of been getting my assigned IP from the Linksys since what I was being assigned fell within the range it was using. It's good to have that cleared up.

I started to try OpenVPN but had a lot of trouble getting it setup and it just didn't seem to be built to run on Windows 7 as a server. I could be wrong because I did abandon the idea early on due to its complication. I was just too concerned that even if I got it working that it wouldn't work fully and I'd never figure out why. If you have tips or steps on how to do it on Windows 7 (server & client) I'd love to read through them and might give it another try as I'm sure it is more secure than the built in Windows 7 VPN, but for now I can at least operate even if it is less secure.

OpenVPN is pretty complicated, especially with Windows. My Untangle router has a built-in OpenVPN server, and you just configure it and then you can download a client package that sets it all up for you on the client side. Real simple! I'm afraid I can't help with using Windows 7 as the server though. I tried that as well and gave up. I wanted OpenVPN so I could connect multiple clients to my home network.

Good to know. Thank you again for your help.