Accessing home pc from work.

Wavey

Afternoon all,

Was wondering what would be involved in accessing my pc at home from my pc at work?
I know it has something to do with a virtual private network.
Also how could i configure my home firewall (Norton 2003) to ask for a password when im trying to connect from work? ( so that i can leave it enabled an connected to the internet therefore protected)

Finally, if i got all this to work, is it possible to power up the home machine from work. I know the motherboard has Wake-on-LAN but not sure about getting the modem to power it up.

My home machine spec:
XP pro Sp1
Norton Firewall 2003
Mri External Serial modem

My work pc is running win2k and is on a work network.
Dont know much more about it really. I wouldnt be authorised to make any serious changes this end.

cheers lads

spongebob

run pc anywhere host on it (needs ADSL) . set authentication to PC Anwhere auth and enter a name and password

finally enable symmettrical encryption with no lower level. this will create a VPN as it answers but the username password must be entered before you get further

you also need to know the home Ip address before u head to work

then open 3 ports on the home firewall 22 5731 and 5732 IIRC , Google.

load pc anywhere remote at work, enter ip address and set to symmetrical and then Bosh , once you are asked for username and password you are talking to your home pc anywhere on your home pc

M

Typedef

I'd say that what you probably want to try to do is, to setup your home machine to answer incoming calls.

Then dial into your home number.

Cake Fiend

Why would you use PC Anywhere when XP has a (very efficient in my experience) terminal server built in? You can download the remote desktop client for 2K from the MS site.

Originally posted by Typedef
I'd say that what you probably want to try to do is, to setup your home machine to answer incoming calls.

Then dial into your home number.

Assuming you're using a PSTN modem, this would be the most sensible way to connect to your home computer, and would require you to set up some sort of dial-in remote access server on your XP machine. I've never done this, have a google and see what you can find (more than likely you'll only find commercial apps for this, XP doesn't AFAIK have an RAS built in). Your motherboard will have to support Wake On Ring (probably does, check the BIOS) for you to be able to start your computer by phoning it.

This is all very messy and not a nice way at all to connect to your home PC. If you're actually using an ADSL or cable modem, things are a lot easier (except the powering-on). Need more input.

tomk

I'd say your main problem will be getting out through your company's firewall. That was my experience in similar circumstances, although I now have it sorted. Initially, I was trying to connect to my home network from the office using ssh, but the corporate firewall blocked outgoing traffic on the required port (22). So I now have a HTTP tunnel through the firewall, which gives me full access.

Your company's firewall could be different, of course.

You can get the tunnel application here if you're interested, although you should be aware that it's not particularly easy to set up. If you need some help, PM me.

Also, if this is the case:

Originally posted by Wavey
I wouldnt be authorised to make any serious changes this end.

then it's unlikely you would be able to add the modem required for this:

Originally posted by Typedef
Then dial into your home number.

shabbyroad

thanks for that tomk - I'll give that a try

(as you can see in this thread I was getting a little confused between VPN and Remote Desktop

looks like the http solution you suggest will work for me - I definitely cannot connect beyond my office firewall (can't even Ping the public IP of my router)

_CreeD_

If you don't need encryption (Or use it through a secure tunnel), try RealVNC. It's free and allows for password protection. For actual data encryption you need the Pro version (still much cheaper than PcAnywhere).