Sharing a printer over the internet

[Heeter]

Hi Guys,

I would like to know if I can print stuff on my home printer from my friends place. I was thinking that if I could setup a VPN host from my friends place, would he be able to "see" my home shared printer? Which ports do I forward on my friends router for VPN? How do I setup the Host VPN from my friends computer? I know it's builtin XPPro, but I cannot locate the wizard. Will it affect his home network?

Thanks in advance.

Heeter

 

[NetRyder]

Yes, the basic VPN server built into XP should be able to handle small things like this.

Now here's the thing...if you want to print TO your home printer, the VPN host should be a computer in YOUR home network. Your friend's computer would be the VPN client that would connect to the VPN server, giving it access to your home LAN shares (folders/printers/etc.)

This guide shows you how to set up the VPN server and clients. Again, the server would be a machine on your home network that has local access to the printer you want to print to. Your friend's computer will be the VPN client.
http://www.windowsdevcenter.com/pub/a/windows/2004/03/09/vpn_connection.html

The guide is pretty straightforward. Once you have the server (and account permissions) and client set up, you'll need to configure your home router to forward TCP port 1723 to the computer on your home network that is the VPN server. This computer will have an extra "Incoming Connections" icon in your Network Connections window.

This will not affect your home network in any way. However, when your friend connects to your home network using the VPN client, he will lose connectivity to anything else. For example, he will be unable to use the web, instant messengers etc. That's perfectly normal and it's just the way it works. He can then print to the network printer using it's UNC address (eg: \\192.168.0.10\PrinterName)

Hope that was clear enough.

 

[Admiral Michael]

This will not affect your home network in any way. However, when your friend connects to your home network using the VPN client, he will lose connectivity to anything else. For example, he will be unable to use the web, instant messengers etc.

Theres a way to fix that, I use it and it works!

This is done on the client side, after its all setup.

**see attachment for directions**

 

[NetRyder]

Theres a way to fix that, I use it and it works!

This is done on the client side, after its all setup.

**see attachment for directions**

Incredible!

I looked for answers everywhere when I first set up my VPN at home, and wasn't able to find an answer.
Thanks a LOT! I'm going to have to try this as soon as I can.

 

[ming]

I've wanted to set up a VPN, but I read somewhere (I think the guide) that once it's set up, I won't be able to surf the net (or the other machine won't) so I didn't bother going through with the process. 😛
Might try it using the OS on VPC once I've finished this semester in uni. 🙂

 

[Heeter]

Awesome!!

Nets, Admiral. Thanks a whole bunch guys.

Heeter

 

[Mainframeguy]

I've wanted to set up a VPN, but I read somewhere (I think the guide) that once it's set up, I won't be able to surf the net (or the other machine won't) so I didn't bother going through with the process. 😛
Might try it using the OS on VPC once I've finished this semester in uni. 🙂

What Admiral Michael attached is absolutely correct as the fix for that - for some stoopid reason M$ have again chosen a default tick that is highly undesirable - I should know, I use VPN every day of the week to connect to FLA server to do my job! And with that box unticked it does not stop me checking into OSNN "in the office"! 😉

 

[Admiral Michael]

No Problem Guys, Glad to have helped. 🙂