# Trying to Share a Drive through VPN



## nickelartistic (Feb 23, 2011)

Hi I just set up a VPN connection from my laptop (Win 7) to my office network using Netgear Prosafe VPN client software to my Netgear Prosafe VPN router. I can connect successfully to the router and can successfully ping any of the devices on my work network. Currently, there are shared drives on the work network that I'd like to access from the laptop. All file sharing options are set so that other local machines can access through the network (the drive I'm trying to access runs off of an XP machine). Any attempts at mapping or using \\ipaddress\file come back with a "windows cannot access" message. What am I missing?


----------



## visseroth (Oct 25, 2010)

Are those files or folders being shared on the other end? Are they accessable if you are plugged into the local network?
If so then it sounds like the firewall is blocking you. Usually a firewall will only allow access to sharing via the local network, not other networks or subnets. You'll need to allow an acception to the firewall if that is the case for your network and subnet for the remote network.


----------



## nickelartistic (Feb 23, 2011)

Yes, the files can be shared no problem within the existing network. I will look into the Routers firewall settings to see if an exception can be made, but I was under the impression that the point of the VPN was to bypass the firewall settings. Either way I will look into it. A suggestion that was made to me from a separate forum was the possibility that an IP address was not being assigned to the VPN by the router. I'm looking to see if thats a possibility as well.


----------

