REPOST : VPN woes ... i need help

Repost as I haven't seen the original show up on the server...?

I'm trying to set up a VPN between my 2 home ADSL accounts, if for
nothing else, a bit of practice!

I have 'managed' to connect to one machine from the other, by "manage",
I mean I get the icon in the system tray to show connection, but I
cannot fathom out how to actually browse files on the PC into which I am
now VPN'd!

There it sits in my system tray a 'taunting' icon saying "connected",
but how the heck do I now view/browse files (already shared) on the PC
into which i'm connected?

I've opened a window with the remote IP address entered into it (eg.
\\192.168.0.*) but all I see is a "printers" icon and "scheduled tasks",
none of the folders I've shared.

If I hook the 2 machines together on a LAN, everything is fine as all
the shares are set up correctly and I can view files/folders etc, it's
just when hooking up via VPN I can't see anything.

FWIW, the 'incoming' router (eg.the one I want to communicate to) is a
Netgear DG834 which is on fixed IP , the 'outgoing' one is a Draytek
2600 which is on a dynamic IP.

Everyone says how bloody easy VPN is meant to be, but I am going bald
working it out!

Please help !!! I'm at the point of being prepared to pay how to learn
to set these damn things up!

OS is WinXP Pro in both cases.

>
> Everyone says how bloody easy VPN is meant to be,

huh?

> Please help !!! I'm at the point of being prepared to pay how to learn
> to set these damn things up!
>
> OS is WinXP Pro in both cases.

from a cmd prompt, what does 'net view \\ip.number.of.remote.machine' show?
in my (limited) use of vpn's, using ip numbers worked whereas names didn't.
same for mapping drives - net use z: \\ip.number\share name
looks like the remote machine is treating you as a 'guest', though, so there
may be a rights issue here.

don't let the technology grind you down ..:-)

bob