Problem accessing a mapped drive over VPN [d link di 524] [wireless router]
Q: I connect to my corporate network via VPN. In Windows Explorer, I mapped the drive and can access and open the folders. I have no problem doing this when the Ethernet cable connected directly to my laptop. However, when doing this via my wireless router (D-Link DI-524), I connect via VPN fine, I see the mapped drive in Windows Explorer, but when I try to open it, I can not. I get the following error:
An error occurred while reconnecting [my mapped drive] drive for my company [] Microsoft Windows Network: The network path was not found. This connection is restored. “
Unfortunately because of the upcoming trip, connect the Ethernet cable directly will not be an option if I use a wireless connection.
Additional info:
trying to Microsoft VPN connection on a NT4.0 Server;
my IP over Ethernet and wireless are the same;
I can access the web while VPN active;
Does anyone have any ideas about this? Im clueless about VPN and do not know what the terminology.
Thanks! All input is greatly appreciated .
Best Answer: I don't understand what you are doing. How are you mapping a drive when it is physically connected to the computer? What commands are you using? What are you doing to get the error message?
A USB drive should just plug in and get a drive letter by itself, so obviously you are in a special situation, but without a better explanation I don't think anyone will be able to help you.
-update – ok, so you map the drive… to map it you must have access to it as a drive already, so I don't understand why you can't just access it directly. You are trying to access it on the machine it is plugged into, right? When you go to My Computer it doesn't have a letter? Have you gone to Drive Management and checked to see if you can give it a letter there? How did you share it in the first place if you can't access it?
–edit 2 – I think I see what you are getting at now… have you tried the SUBST command? If the drive is letter E and the folder you are currently sharing is FOLDER you would go to a command prompt (start, run, CMD) and type in SUBST X: E:\FOLDER – this would make a new, local, X drive pointing to your folder. With any luck your program won't mind a SUBST drive and will work.
Re:Thanks to each of you for your input. I just wanted to post a follow-up, as I've resolved the problem (with the help of the IT guy on the employer side). Turns out that my IP address on the laptop fell in the same range as their IPs — I just had to change my IP and it worked!
Thanks again.
Re:Ok, I ran the ipconfig /all in both modes (with and without the wireless router). There were a number of differences in results:
Physical address
IP address
Subnet mask
Default Gateway
DHCP server
IP address (on PPP adapter side)
Default gateway (on PPP side)
What does all of this mean?
Thanks again!
Re:Once you've established the VPN tunnel (through the router), the router is no longer part of the tunnel. So at that point, it has to be a problem w/ the IP settings from the VPN switch, or Windows configuration on either the client or the server side.
Did you run the IPCONFIG commands posted earlier? And was the info they returned the same?
Re:Thanks for your suggestions. UNfortunately, none of these fixed the problem. Any other ideas?
Question- given that I can connect to the VPN but not browse the drive, do you think that this a VPN issue or a router issue? I am trying to narrow my search for a solution….and I'm confused.
Thanks again
Re:Originally posted by: guy
If its NT4, it's likely trying to use WINS.
Go into your properties on your wireless adapter and make sure you've got Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP checked, and add your NT4 server's IP to the list of WINS servers. I'd think the VPN server would hand down the WINS IP automatically, but check it to be sure.
When running a VPN on my 2k server box, I have to manually enter the IP of the WINS server. I would imagine that this is the issue here too – sounds like very similar symptoms to a problem I had. If you're using the Windows VPN client (garbage) then you'll have to enter the WINS server into the configuration of that connection. Good luck.
Re:If its NT4, it's likely trying to use WINS.
Go into your properties on your wireless adapter and make sure you've got Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP checked, and add your NT4 server's IP to the list of WINS servers. I'd think the VPN server would hand down the WINS IP automatically, but check it to be sure.
Re:While VPN connected… do: ipconfig /all (from the command prompt)
Now, do the same thing when VPN connected over the wireless. Compare the settings…they should be pretty much the same.
Also, Windows "remembers" mapped drives…Did you logoff or reboot when switching between wired and wireless connections?
If you logon to the machine when wireless connected only, and then establish the VPN, it may work right off. Not sure on thiis….I'm wondering if Windows is remembering the wired network path, and so not even attempting the wireless NIC.
DNS would be the other thing, but that should be set by the VPN connection (virtual NIC), so should be the same either way.
Re:Different DNS on the wireless card perhaps?
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Tags: d link di 524, wireless router