Re: Accessing Multiple Desktops At Office Via XP VPN

Tech-Archive recommends: Fix windows errors by optimizing your registry

From: Nepatsfan (nepatsfan_at_SBXXXVIII.com)
Date: 12/17/04 

Date: Fri, 17 Dec 2004 15:33:33 -0500

Following up on my earlier post, the key is that you have to set
up port forwarding on your router. The following works on a
Linksys BEFSR41. Your router should have similar settings.

Let's call your office machines Comp1, Comp2, Comp3 and Comp4.
Your machine is Comp1 which you can already access. Also, all
your machines should have static IP's in the private IP range of
192.168.1.XXX. Keep in mind that anyone who wants to access their
machine from home has to do so with an account that does not have
a blank password.

Access the router's web interface by going to Start -> Run. Enter
http://192.168.1.1.
That should bring up the login box. The default password is
admin. If you changed it, enter the appropriate password. Next,
you want to access the page "Applications and Gaming". Once
you're there, click on UPnP Forwarding. Down towards the bottom
(below the list of preset applications) you want to enter the
following values:

Application: Comp2 (you can name these whatever you want)
Ext. Port: 3390
TCP: X
Int. Port: 3389
IP Address: 192.168.1.XXX (enter the correct static IP)
Enabled: X

Application: Comp3
Ext. Port: 3391
TCP: X
Int. Port: 3389
IP Address: 192.168.1.XXX
Enabled: X

Application: Comp4
Ext. Port: 3392
TCP: X
Int. Port: 3389
IP Address: 192.168.1.XXX
Enabled: X

Click Save Settings and close the router program.

If you have a firewall program running on these machines, you're
going to have to enable the correct ports for each machine. For
Windows XP's built-in firewall go to Start -> Control Panel ->
Windows Firewall. Click on the Exceptions tab. Click on Add a
port. Name it something like Home Access. Then enter the port
numbers (3390 for Comp2, 3391 for Comp3 and 3392 for Comp4).
Click on Change Scope and make sure "Any computer" is checked.
Click on OK.

With this in place, the people in your office would simply need
to append the port number assigned to their machine to the static
IP that your ISP assigned to you. Let's say that your public IP
is 123.123.123.123. Then the person who wants to access Comp2
enters 123.123.123.123:3390 in the Computer box of the Remote
Desktop Connection's General page, then enters their User name
and password and hits Connect. For Comp3 it's
123.123.123.123:3391, Comp4 123.123.123.123:3392. You should have
them modify the settings on the other pages to bring them in line
with your office network.

Malke brings up a good point about security. While Remote Desktop
transmissions are encrypted, you've still opened up a pretty big
hole to your network. If you're really concerned about it you
might want to scroll down a notch and post your question to the
Remote Desktop group. They might be able to help you set up a VPN
connection. At the very least you should follow some simple
guidelines. Don't let anyone use simple to guess passwords.
Passwords should be a combination of upper case, lower case,
numbers and symbols. Also, if you're going to open up your
network to the outside world you better have a real good backup
sytstem in place. Only share what needs to be shared and never
share the locations where your backup files are stored.

Hope this makes sense.

Nepatsfan

"FiletInTexas" <FiletInTexas@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
message
news:345734A7-295C-4AC2-B790-54EFEE0FB91D@microsoft.com...
> Yes, I tried Remote Desktop. I got right in. Only problem is I
> only have one
> static ip and when I went into Remote Desktop, I had to use
> that one static
> ip and I dont know how to get into the others.
>
> "Malke" wrote:
>
>> FiletInTexas wrote:
>>
>> > I have 4 computers at my office all on Windows XP Pro. I
>> > have a dsl
>> > connection with a static IP as well as a linksys router. I
>> > want to be
>> > able to have each of my employees be able to access their
>> > own
>> > respective computers from their home or their laptop while
>> > traveling.
>> > The home computers and laptops also have Windows Xp Pro. Is
>> > this
>> > possible? If so, can someone point me in the direction as
>> > what I need
>> > to do. I am pretty computer savvy so I am thinking with some
>> > direction
>> > I could do this myself. Where I am getting lost is I set the
>> > Static IP
>> > in the router and I put the port forwarding towards one of
>> > the
>> > computers IP and I can connect but I dont know how to
>> > connect to the
>> > other three.
>>
>> You could do this with Remote Desktop or a third-party program
>> like
>> pcAnywhere. However, be aware of the security issues. If it is
>> very
>> important that your work data not be sniffed, you should set
>> up a VPN
>> (Virtual Private Network). IIRC, XP Pro has the ability to do
>> this.
>> There are also third-party VPN programs. This isn't an area
>> where I
>> know a lot, so I'll bow out and hopefully someone else will
>> have a more
>> precise answer for you.
>>
>> Malke
>> --
>> MS-MVP Windows User/Shell
>> Elephant Boy Computers
>> www.elephantboycomputers.com
>> "Don't Panic"
>>

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