Can't access shared folders over IPSec VPN Tunnel (RVS4000)

I've been through tech support with Linksys, and paid support with Microsoft over this and NOTHING! No one has been able to help me.

MY CONFIGURATION:

Two LANs at different locations with static IP assignments like this:
LAN1 machines : 192.168.1.x , subnet mask 255.255.255.0
LAN2 machines : 192.168.2.x , subnet mask 255.255.255.0

I have Bellsouth ADSL at both locations with Linksys RVS4000s.

I have Linux servers and WinXP Pro SP2 workstations on either end,
for this discussion let's just focus on the WinXP Pro PCs.

With my successfully established an IPSec VPN Tunnel between LANs:
* I can ping machines on either end by IP address
* I can FTP between machines on either end by IP address
* I can SSH between machines on either end by IP address
* I can use applications like Laplink & ODBC databases on either end by IP

MY PROBLEM:
I cannot access ANY shared folders from one LAN to the other over the VPN connection. A shared folder that exists, and is available on LAN1 cannot be accessed on LAN2. I realize NetBIOS browsing and naming doesn't work over VPNs, but even when I try and access the share directly with the IP address as such: \\192.168.1.5\Sharename it says it cannot find the share.

I've seen other issues like this posted out there on various forums but not one solution. I've turned off all WinXP firewalls.

MY QUESTION(s):
Has anyone out there successfully shared files between WinXP machines over their IPSec VPN Tunnel?
Can anyone tell me what my problem is?

Linksys says it's a Microsoft problem, Microsoft says it's a Linksys problem.

What do you say?

Thanks for your reply.

Yes I can Ping the routers over the VPN, and even remotely configure them over the VPN. I swear, everything is working except windows file sharing.

Any other ideas?

Yes you can successfully share folder via ip across an ipsec tunnel. Though as you have found out it can be tricky. Frist and foremost attempt to just connect to the ip of the machine that you have files shared on, in your case \\192.168.1.5, if all permissions are setup correctly you will see what folders you have available. If you do not get anything then permission have not been set properly on the machine you are trying to access or windows firewall is blocking the request. If you get the access window showing the shares you can access it there, you can also access it via the run line and ip but you need to tell your machine where it is, why i do not know by here is the example. I have a backup folder on the F drive across the tunnel if i try to access any other way but the following i cannot, i get share not found. Syntax for the backup folder on the F drive is, \\192.168.100.101\backup (f) Let us know how that works out.

Thanks for the reply. If you look at my original message I stated that I have tried to locate the share directly by using the format \\192.168.1.5\sharename with no luck. I have turned off the windows firewall on the machine that houses the shared folder, and on the computer that is trying to access the share. Also, if I try and access the share from a machine that resides on the same LAN (i.e. same side of the tunnel) using \\192.168.1.5\sharename it works! But on the other side of the tunnel- nothing! It seems to me, if it were a permissions/configuration problem within windows, I would have the same problem from another PC on the same LAN as well, which I do not.

Other info: It has been suggested to me that I set the MTU size manually on both routers to 1300, which I have done but it didn't help.

Also: I realized that it is possible that LAN1 and LAN2 might have some machines with the same 'name' (albeit different IP addresses)- could this be what's messing it up? The two machines on either end that i'm experimenting with (192.168.1.5 & 192.168.2.5) are named differently, but elsewhere on the LANs there are duplications, i.e. there is a machine called 'linuxbak' at 192.168.1.3 AND 192.168.2.3 but neither of these are being used in our "experiment".

Any other ideas?

Sorry for the delay, and thanks for the responses (much more helpful than anyone at linksys or microsoft have been). We don't use an internal DNS (if I understand properly what that is exactly). I am going to go through the task of renaming all the computers on both LANs to make sure that's not causing this problem... but I really suspect (since I am trying to just access the machines using the IP address) that it won't help. I will post here when I've completed this task. Any further comments/ideas would be welcome in the mean time- including setups/configurations where people have SUCCESSFULLY mapped WinXP shares over a VPN would be great.

thanks,
Jason Boardman

Ah! Thank you for the wealth of information! I am going to start down the road of configuring users and trying this. I haven't set up other users on any of the machines hosting the shares, because I haven't needed to before while on the same LAN, and I just thought that it would work the same way over the VPN.

For instance, if all the machines on LAN1 are configured as being on the workgroup "WORKGROUP", I can share a folder on PC1 and access it from any other PC on LAN1- without setting up user accounts on PC1 for any of the users trying to access the share and it works fine. I simply go to network places and it's there to be accessed. I assumed that once LAN1 and LAN2 were connected via VPN that we were all essentially on the same LAN and it would work the same way.

(I just turned on the 'Guest' account on both WinXP machines to see if that took care of the problem and it hasn't)

Does this make sense? Can you explain to me what the difference is?

I can't thank you enough. I'm learning volumes from this thread.

Jason

I am having the exact same problem as OP but am using 2 Draytek routers. Have you managed to fix the problem at all? I even have a VOIP phone on network 2 that connects via VPN to commander phone system on network 1 working fine.
But no file sharing. when using \\192. etc it doesnt even seem to go anywhere??
Any ideas greatly appreciated.

#%@$!

It really seems like this shouldn't be so difficult. I lay before you the results of my most recent experiment: to rule out naming conflicts / linux conflicts / what have you, I had all the PCs on both LANs (including the linux servers) shut down, except two: one XP PC on either LAN. I power cycled the router on both ends. Checked that each PC was named differently and on the same workgroup. Created a user named "jason", with administrator privledges, on both machines. logged in as "jason" on one, tried to map a drive (using the IP address) to the shared folder on the other (clicking log in as different user, supplying "jason" and password) still nothing. It could not locate the shared folder!!! I even tried (using Laplink over the VPN i might add) to map a share going in the other direction with the same result. I had the windows firewall turned off on both machines.

Could this be an issue with the RVS4000? It doesn't seem like it should be as everything else over the VPN is working great. But I have to, have to, have to access a shared folder for one of the things we must use in our business. what can I do? Any other ideas?

Jason, the exasperated; nee exhausted.

One other thought. The firmware on both routers is 1.0.11. I noticed the latest version on Linksys' site is 1.0.15. It seems unlikely, but do you think upgrading to the newer firmware version will help??

Jason

RVS4000 Firmware v1.0.15 Release Note

Issues Fixed:

1. Allowed Winodws Explorer to search computers by Names over gateway-to-gateway IPSec tunnel. Users would need to enable NetBIOS Broadcast in the advanced section of the IPSec VPN page.

2. Improved the peak UDP throughput to 600Mbps.

3. Improved the response time of pinging the router.




But dont count on it, I could not find the "NetBIOS Broadcast in the advanced section of the IPSec VPN page" setting.

I have this unit on a shelf for other reasons, it REALLY is not ready for prime time.

Joe Powers

Looks like the new beta firmware will do the trick:

http://www.linksysinfo.org/forums/showthread.php?t=51479

I installed the beta firmware just now. On the "IPSec VPN" tab, if I click the "Advanced +" button at the bottom of the page, there is an option there for "NetBios Broadcast".

I would suggest hiring someone to set up the networks. You'll save yourself hours of head banging and maybe some security issues. I don't know this router but if a VPN is up properly then Win traffic is no different than other traffic. Netbios isn't needed over the VPN to share folders.

I can't believe it. I almost don't believe it. I upgraded both routers' firmware from v1.0.11 to v1.0.15 and now file sharing works. Same settings, same configs, I just don't believe it. (I didn't enable NetBIOS broadcast - and I'm still accessing shares using the IP which is just fine.)

Thank you everyone for your help!

I am donating to linksysinfo right now.

Jason

Folder sharing doesn't work wiht firewall turned on (WRVS4400N)

I use the WRVS4400N (V1.00.15) for setting up VPN. I use the 'VPN Client Accounts' for setting up VPN accounts. And then I connect with the LinkSys VPN Client 1.2.5 from a Windows XP Pro SP2 PC. Everything works great except for accessing shared folders.

I try to access shared folders on Vista Ultimate PCs. This is with the Windows Firewall turned on. When I turn the firewall off on the Vista PCs (where the shared folders are), I can access the shared folders perfectly.

Any idea of what I have to configure in the server firewall (on the Vista PCs) to make this work?

I have turned on File And Printer sharing. Sharing work fine between the Vista PC's with the firewalls turned on. But through VPN I can't make it work with the firewalls turned on.

Tried to open up TCP ports 443 and 500 on the server side, but file shares are still unavailable. Still when I turn the firewall off, it works perfectly.

It's not the router firewall I'm talking about, that's fine. The problem is the windows firewall on the server side with the shared folders. The client running the Qucik VPN client software is also fine.

The problem is therefore the windows firewall on the server connected to the router. When this windows firewall is turned off, everything works perfectly, but when turned on, browsing file shares from the client doesn't work. So something in the windows firewall on the server where the file shares are must be configured. Didn't work opening ports 443 and 500.

Found the answer:
Port 445 TCP must be opened up on the server sharing the files.
TCP port 445 is used for SMB (Server Message Block) over TCP.