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Secure Remote Connection

Connect to your Windows XP computer using VPN

Have you ever gotten to meeting or drove three hours to your family function, only to realize you forgot your presentation or digital photos? If you have ever wished you could access your home documents from work, school, or a friends house then you should definitely check out the VPN capabilities Windows XP already has.

A Virtual Private Network or VPN is simply an encrypted connection between two remote computers or networks. There are many ways to accomplish setting up a VPN, but few know that Windows XP actually has a built-in VPN server. Having a VPN server will allow you to establish a secure connection to your home computer, this is more than just accessing your home computer you can access your entire LAN from IP Cameras, printers, or storage servers. This means that the remote computer will be virtually connected to your LAN, don’t worry though, because it is a Virtual Private Network so your connection is secured by encryption.

This article will show you the exact method of setting up your regular Windows XP machine into a fully functional VPN server.

XP VPN Set-Up

I will break the set-up into steps…

Step 1 - Go to Start / Settings (or Control Panel) / Network Connections

Step 2 - Start the New Connection Wizard

Step 3 - Click on the Next button

Step 4 - Select Set-Up advanced connection.

Step 5 - Click on the Next button.

Step 6 - Click on Accept incoming connections.

Step 7 - Click on the Next button.

Step 8 - At the LPT1 page, skip it and just click on the Next button.

Step 9 - Click on Allow virtual private connection.

Step 10 - Click on the Next button.

Step 11 - Add user accounts that ou want to be able to connect to your Windows XP computer.

Step 12 - Click on the Next button.

Step 13 - Highlight Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and click on Properties.

Step 14 - Determine how you want the remote computers to get their IP address.

Step 15 - You can Allow callers to access your local area network or internal LAN. Check this if you would like to access all of your computers or devices.

Step 16 - Under TCP/IP address assignment you can let your DHCP server hand out IP addresses or you can assign a range of IP’s within the scope of your subnet.

Step 17 - Click OK.

Step 18 - If you are behind a router you will need to foward port 1723 to your Windows XP IP address. You may also need to configure your router for PPTP Passthrough. Port usage for IPSec is 500, 50-51.

XP VPN Client Set-Up

Now you can use another remote Windows XP machine to connect to your LAN resources. Follow these steps on the remote machine to establish a connection:

Please note you will need to know the IP address of your VPN server or you will need to have a domain name (i.e. example.com).

Step 1 - Click Start / Control Panel.

Step 2 - Open Network Connections in the Control Panel.

Step 3 - Choose the Create a new connection item from the left-hand side of the window. (The Windows XP New Connection Wizard will appear on the screen.)

Step 4 - Click Next to begin the wizard, then choose the Connect to the network at my workplace item from the list and click Next.

Step 5 - On the Network Connection page of the wizard, choose the Virtual Private Network Connection option and click Next.

Step 6 - Enter a name for the new VPN connection and click Next. (This is just an identifier).

Step 7 - On the Public Network screen choose Do not dial the intitial connection option. This option requires that a connection to the internet already be established.

Step 8 - Enter the domain name or IP address of your remote VPN Server. (the one we just created above) Click Next.

Step 9 - In the Connection Availability screen choose an option and click Next. Choosing My Use Only will allow the VPN connection only for the current logged on user.

Step 10 - Click Finish to complete the wizard. You will now see the VPN Connection icon in the Network Connections window under the Control Panel. Double-click this icon to connect to your VPN server, you will have to enter your username and password for the remote VPN server. (this is the same username and password you use to login to your computer)

That’s it! You should now be able to access your home network from a remote computer. Once connected to your VPN server you can use Remote Desktop to login to your remote computer.

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