XPs built in VPN

Couple of things it could be. You mention that you are trying to connect from work. Does work have a firewall that might be blocking?

Also, keep in mind that in addition to port 1723 TCP. you need to open up and forward GRE, which is neither TCP nor UDP, but it's own IP protocol.

Probably not.

Anyway, these restrictions are on the firewall for a reason, right?

Yes, "work" does indeed have a firewall that could be screwing me up. If that is the case, is there any way to make this work without asking the network administrator to change the firewall settings? I work under the IT dept and the administrators office is right across the hall from me, but I would never ask him to change the firewall for something so unnecessary. Really I just wanted the ability to grab a file from home if necessary. Any tips? I know there are alternatives to VPN like using FTP for transferring files (which would be downright easy), but ideally I could use a VPN.

Thanks,

--Dan

It doesn't really matter if there is a specific reason. Pretty much we don't allow anything through the firewall that isn't absolutely necessary. My situation here, isn't absolutely necessary. I still wonder if there is another type of VPN that doesn't use PPTP, that WILL work given the state of the firewall at work.

--Dan

XP Home has VPN functionality. I know because I set one up.

If you are using XP Pro (I assume you are if the VPN server functionality is there)

You can use the disk sharing of the Remote desktop client to copy files between home and work.

If it is so obvious that XP Home has VPN implemented, then why did someone make the comment above which implies that the OP must be using XP Pro because VPN functionality is there?

Yeah, sorry. I should have flamed HIM, since the OP specifically said he was using pro anyway.

Probably not. I would certainly hope that the same firewall that is blocking his VPN is blocking SMB!

Disk sharing is not done via SMB on the remote desktop client. It is encapsulated within the RDP stream just like printer sharing, sound, and the clipboard. It is independent of the PPTP and SMB protocols that were being discussed. It is off by default on the client but can be enabled on the client by going to the options under local resources and checking disk drives.

It can also be disabled on the server side with group policy or registry settings:

Two other methods you can try:

2) Run IIS (better Apache) on your Home PC, map the directory you want to grab files into IIS document tree. Now, a lot of ISP block port 80 hosting. So, I suggest you use port 443 on your IIS. Port forward port 443 at your firewall to the PC. At work, to access your home web server, always use this http://a.b.c.d:443 (not https:// which will start a SSL negotiation). Please be real careful with your access control on your IIS, otherwise, your will be attracting lots of problem.

Good luck. K.