If you’re like the countless number of small business owners who would like to have access to their office’s network without being in the office, read on! Microsoft bundled a VPN package with Windows XP that allows you to do just that. When you setup a VPN in your office, you essentially open a gateway to your offices network, you can access the networks folders that you have designated to share. In turn this allows you to work from essentially any computer with internet access from anywhere in the world. You can play the short video which demonstrates the process or follow the directions below.
“A virtual private network (VPN) is the extension of a private network that encompasses links across shared or public networks like the Internet. A VPN enables you to send data between two computers across a shared or public internet or network in a manner that emulates the properties of a point-to-point private link. The act of configuring and creating a virtual private network is known as virtual private networking.*”
1. Go to ‘Start > Settings > Network Connections‘ or ‘Start > Connect to > Show all network connections‘
2. When the Network Connection Windows opens, click on the ‘Start the New Connection Wizard‘ link on the task pane to the left.
3. When the Wizard windows opens click on the ‘Next’ button
4. Select ‘Set up advanced connection‘
5. Click on the ‘Next‘ button.
6. Select ‘Accept incoming connections‘ click ‘Next’
7. When the different devices appear, just ignore and click ‘Next‘
8. Select ‘Allow virtual private connections’ and click ‘Next’
11. Select or Add the user accounts that you want to allow to connect to your Windows XP VPN Server.
12. Click on the ‘Next‘ button to continue.
13. Highlight ‘Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)‘ and click on ‘Properties’
14. Determine how you want the remote computers to get their IP address, you can set to automatic or manual configuration, make sure you maintain the same IP address scheme as that of your computer.
15. Click ‘Next‘ then ‘Finish‘
You have successfully configured a VPN server on your machine!
*VPN Description via Microsoft’s Web site.
