# Connected to VPN ok, but can't map network drives



## AlexandraQ1 (May 24, 2007)

I would really appreciate any help that anyone can give me on this problem.

Today we changed our ISP in our office, and it all seemed to be working fine until I got home and tried to access the shared files on our server that I could access before. 

I can connect to the VPN with no problems with the new IP, it allows me to log on, authenticates me etc, but when I tried to connect to the folders, it wouldn't let me. I disconnected them and tried to map the network drives again by using \\server\data and it comes up with 'The network path \\server\data could not be found'.

I know the folders are being shared because I am able to access them on my client PC in the office. Can anyone help get them to work?

One of my colleagues works from home and without access to our files, well, she can't work, so obviously it's pretty urgent!

I'm not sure what other details I should mention here, I would just really appreciate some help.

Thanks in advance.


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## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

Probably one thing to mention it the exact network interface at work, like the make/model of any modem, router, firewall appliance, etc. Are you using a hardware based firewall?


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## ar550n1c (Nov 19, 2008)

AlexandraQ1 said:


> I would really appreciate any help that anyone can give me on this problem.
> 
> Today we changed our ISP in our office, and it all seemed to be working fine until I got home and tried to access the shared files on our server that I could access before.
> 
> ...


Sounds to me like this is just a DNS issue. Your PC is not doing IP resolution from the Servers name. try \\ipaddress\\data. This way you are requesting it by IP instead of name resolution. Have you tried it this way?


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## AlexandraQ1 (May 24, 2007)

Thank you for the suggestion - I ended up finding the solution. I needed to go to My Computer> C: > WINDOWS> System32> drivers> etc> 

Open 'hosts' with notepad and add my server IP to the bottom of the document and servername underneath where it says localhost.

Saved it and that was it!

Now I'm out of the office and I'm getting error 721 when I try to log onto the VPN - it seems the problems don't end!


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