No mapped drives when connected via VPN

I'm just testing out a Win2003 Remote Access Server to allow VPN access to
our network from staff home computers.

I can get a connection from home no problem - but do not get any of the
mapped drives I normally get when I login on-site. (Drive mappings are done
using Group Policy - environment is single AD domain, XP clients, Win2003
servers).
I can still access the shares manually (ie by \\Servername\Sharename) but my
users wouldn't handle this.

Am I missing something??
Does the home PC have to be part of the domain??

Thanks

Dave

"Dave Fitton" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:C37A12ED-8283-416E-BDFA-(E-Mail Removed)...
> I'm just testing out a Win2003 Remote Access Server to allow VPN access to
> our network from staff home computers.
>
> I can get a connection from home no problem - but do not get any of the
> mapped drives I normally get when I login on-site. (Drive mappings are
done
> using Group Policy - environment is single AD domain, XP clients, Win2003
> servers).
> I can still access the shares manually (ie by \\Servername\Sharename) but
my
> users wouldn't handle this.
>
> Am I missing something??
> Does the home PC have to be part of the domain??

Of course they do. How else is Group Policy going to effect them. This is
of course not doable and you should *never* want it to be doable, it is a
whole wrong approach. Even the simplest smallest file will take excessively
long over the VPN so the mapped drive would be useless anyway.

Configure their work machines to accept Remote Desktop Connections and
configure it to allow those users that normally use the machine. After they
VPN into the network they would use Remote Desktop to "run" the normal work
machine by using their home PC as the "console". There is a Remote Desktop
Client for about every version of Windows out there. The one on the XP CD
will run on most as it is.

--
Phillip Windell [MCP, MVP, CCNA]
www.wandtv.com
-----------------------------------------------------
Understanding the ISA 2004 Access Rule Processing
http://www.isaserver.org/articles/IS...cessRules.html

Troubleshooting Client Authentication on Access Rules in ISA Server 2004
http://download.microsoft.com/downlo...7/ts_rules.doc

Microsoft Internet Security & Acceleration Server: Guidance
http://www.microsoft.com/isaserver/t...dance/2004.asp
http://www.microsoft.com/isaserver/t...dance/2000.asp

Microsoft Internet Security & Acceleration Server: Partners
http://www.microsoft.com/isaserver/partners/default.asp

Deployment Guidelines for ISA Server 2004 Enterprise Edition
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/pro...isaserver.mspx
-----------------------------------------------------

Thanks Phillip

1. This would require the work machine to be on - don't really want this!!
Just want to be able to access files on the Fileserver as and when needed.

2. I work in a college and we eventually want to give students remote access
to files so Remote Desktop Connection is not an option - 1000PCs and 13000
students.

Is there another 'approach' to give them access to their files??

Only really talking about broadband users not dial-up

"Phillip Windell" wrote:

>
> "Dave Fitton" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:C37A12ED-8283-416E-BDFA-(E-Mail Removed)...
> > I'm just testing out a Win2003 Remote Access Server to allow VPN access to
> > our network from staff home computers.
> >
> > I can get a connection from home no problem - but do not get any of the
> > mapped drives I normally get when I login on-site. (Drive mappings are
> done
> > using Group Policy - environment is single AD domain, XP clients, Win2003
> > servers).
> > I can still access the shares manually (ie by \\Servername\Sharename) but
> my
> > users wouldn't handle this.
> >
> > Am I missing something??
> > Does the home PC have to be part of the domain??
>
> Of course they do. How else is Group Policy going to effect them. This is
> of course not doable and you should *never* want it to be doable, it is a
> whole wrong approach. Even the simplest smallest file will take excessively
> long over the VPN so the mapped drive would be useless anyway.
>
> Configure their work machines to accept Remote Desktop Connections and
> configure it to allow those users that normally use the machine. After they
> VPN into the network they would use Remote Desktop to "run" the normal work
> machine by using their home PC as the "console". There is a Remote Desktop
> Client for about every version of Windows out there. The one on the XP CD
> will run on most as it is.
>
> --
> Phillip Windell [MCP, MVP, CCNA]
> www.wandtv.com
> -----------------------------------------------------
> Understanding the ISA 2004 Access Rule Processing
> http://www.isaserver.org/articles/IS...cessRules.html
>
> Troubleshooting Client Authentication on Access Rules in ISA Server 2004
> http://download.microsoft.com/downlo...7/ts_rules.doc
>
> Microsoft Internet Security & Acceleration Server: Guidance
> http://www.microsoft.com/isaserver/t...dance/2004.asp
> http://www.microsoft.com/isaserver/t...dance/2000.asp
>
> Microsoft Internet Security & Acceleration Server: Partners
> http://www.microsoft.com/isaserver/partners/default.asp
>
> Deployment Guidelines for ISA Server 2004 Enterprise Edition
> http://www.microsoft.com/technet/pro...isaserver.mspx
> -----------------------------------------------------
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

"Dave Fitton" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:B703638E-BF5A-4BD6-9AE8-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Thanks Phillip
>
> 1. This would require the work machine to be on - don't really want this!!

You should. We have ordered all our users to reboot just before they leave
and to leave the machines running. The reboots are so that the Windows
Updates (WSUS) are able to take effect,...and leaving them running is so the
Anti-Virus System can run scans in the middle of the night.

> Is there another 'approach' to give them access to their files??
> Only really talking about broadband users not dial-up

VPN is too slow. Broadband doesn't matter,..it is still too slow. It only
works in the Hollywood movies and in the marketing material of someone
wanting to sell you something,...real life is another story.

Most broadband is asyncronous (slower upload speed). VPN will always sync
at the slow upload speed of the link, the faster download speed is ignored.
On top of that it won't even use the full speed of the slower upload speed
partly because of the VPN overhead, and partly because that is just the way
networking is,...even your 100mbps LAN doesn't use the full "100" speed of
the link during a file transfer,..if it did it would saturate the line
(measure it sometime and you'll see).

Of course I'm not telling you that you can't try. Go ahead, but just be
realistic about what you expect to happen. For the mapped drives you'd have
to fool with batch files,..but the time your done you could have just taught
the user to use the UNC pathes. The best thing to do is forget the mapped
drives all together (even at work) and use Shortcuts that use the UNC path.

The good thing about the Shortcuts is that they will work at home or at
work. If you place the Shortcut in the user's My Documents folder then the
network resources will simply appear as a folder inside the My Documents, so
it is kind of a no-brainer for the user to work with it.

Shortcuts also do not "timeout" and "disconnect" and fail to
reconnect,...like the mapped drives will do.

--
Phillip Windell [MCP, MVP, CCNA]
www.wandtv.com
-----------------------------------------------------
Understanding the ISA 2004 Access Rule Processing
http://www.isaserver.org/articles/IS...cessRules.html

Troubleshooting Client Authentication on Access Rules in ISA Server 2004
http://download.microsoft.com/downlo...7/ts_rules.doc

Microsoft Internet Security & Acceleration Server: Guidance
http://www.microsoft.com/isaserver/t...dance/2004.asp
http://www.microsoft.com/isaserver/t...dance/2000.asp

Microsoft Internet Security & Acceleration Server: Partners
http://www.microsoft.com/isaserver/partners/default.asp

Deployment Guidelines for ISA Server 2004 Enterprise Edition
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/pro...isaserver.mspx
-----------------------------------------------------