Very Computer

You might want to be sure that you've updated the firmware in the Linksys
router to one which includes UPnP functionality--i.e. the "latest."
(which is 1.42.7 if you have the popular befsr line.)

This may help out with Messenger, which wasn't a bad idea.

Now, VPN:

Ignore the screen showing devices--don't check anything, and just hit next.
On the NEXT screen is a checkbox to enable VPN.  You don't need to say
anything about the network card, it just enables it on all network
interfaces.  Be sure to go through the process of enabling a user with a
password to connect remotely, as the UI will guide you to do.

Then, you need to enable VPN traffic to make it inbound through the Linksys:

On the filters page (first one reached via advanced)
make  sure SPI is disabled, and PPTP Passthrough is enabled.
on the Forwarding page, forward 1723 through 1723, tcp, to the correct
machine, enabled.

If you have multiple machines behind the router, you can test whether VPN is
enabled on the host machine by attempting a VPN connection over the lan
behind the router.  If this works, then any further issues must relate to
the router or possibly the machine on the other end.  You can test the
router by dialling out with a machine behind the router, and using the
dialup ISP to make an inbound VPN connection through the router.

Once your friend succeeds in connecting, he should right-click the
connectoid down by the clock and choose status, details, and note the Server
IP address.

Then do Start, Run, \\ServerIPaddress <enter>
and he should see the shared resources on your machine.

Quote:> My friend who lives in the next town over is trying to connect to my small
> home network via vpn so we can quickly and easily transfer files and data.
> My network consists of 2 computers connected through lan using a linksys
> 4-port switch router. The router is connected to the internet via the WAN
> port. Originally we he was trying to somehow send a rather large file to
me.
> My first thought was to directly connect somehow, but at the time I didn't
> know how to do this. So I thought we might be able to transfer the file
> using Windows Messenger as we are both running xp home. But that didn't
work
> for some annoying reason we couldn't connect to eachother. We are both
> running the xp firewall and the 3rd party firewall Norton and we are both
> connected to lan via linksys router. So basically we have the same setup.
We
> tried disabling all firewalls and going directly into cable modem instead
of
> through router and that didn't even work. Then I read up on vpn
connections
> to directly connect to a network. It seemed actually fairly simple. I
> decided he would connect to my network. So I ran the xp "make a new
> connection" wizard and then selected "allow incoming connections". This
> seemed like it would all actually work. I eagerly hit the next button in
the
> wizard and it came up with a list of devices. Except there was only one
> device listed... my modem. It gave me the option to choose which devices
> would be used to allow the connections. Only problem was, my network
> adapter/card was not listed. I obviously want to connect through my
network
> adapter to get a good solid fast broadband connection. I tried everything,
> but I could not get it to recognize my network card as a valid connection
> device. Would someone please help me. You guys know gads more about
> networking than me. I know you will know what I should do.

Quote:> My friend who lives in the next town over is trying to connect to my small
> home network via vpn so we can quickly and easily transfer files and data.
> My network consists of 2 computers connected through lan using a linksys
> 4-port switch router. The router is connected to the internet via the WAN
> port. Originally we he was trying to somehow send a rather large file to
me.
> My first thought was to directly connect somehow, but at the time I didn't
> know how to do this. So I thought we might be able to transfer the file
> using Windows Messenger as we are both running xp home. But that didn't
work
> for some annoying reason we couldn't connect to eachother. We are both
> running the xp firewall and the 3rd party firewall Norton and we are both
> connected to lan via linksys router. So basically we have the same setup.
We
> tried disabling all firewalls and going directly into cable modem instead
of
> through router and that didn't even work. Then I read up on vpn
connections
> to directly connect to a network. It seemed actually fairly simple. I
> decided he would connect to my network. So I ran the xp "make a new
> connection" wizard and then selected "allow incoming connections". This
> seemed like it would all actually work. I eagerly hit the next button in
the
> wizard and it came up with a list of devices. Except there was only one
> device listed... my modem. It gave me the option to choose which devices
> would be used to allow the connections. Only problem was, my network
> adapter/card was not listed. I obviously want to connect through my
network
> adapter to get a good solid fast broadband connection. I tried everything,
> but I could not get it to recognize my network card as a valid connection
> device. Would someone please help me. You guys know gads more about
> networking than me. I know you will know what I should do.

Quote:> My friend who lives in the next town over is trying to connect to my small
> home network via vpn so we can quickly and easily transfer files and data.
> My network consists of 2 computers connected through lan using a linksys
> 4-port switch router. The router is connected to the internet via the WAN
> port. Originally we he was trying to somehow send a rather large file to
me.
> My first thought was to directly connect somehow, but at the time I didn't
> know how to do this. So I thought we might be able to transfer the file
> using Windows Messenger as we are both running xp home. But that didn't
work
> for some annoying reason we couldn't connect to eachother. We are both
> running the xp firewall and the 3rd party firewall Norton and we are both
> connected to lan via linksys router. So basically we have the same setup.
We
> tried disabling all firewalls and going directly into cable modem instead
of
> through router and that didn't even work. Then I read up on vpn
connections
> to directly connect to a network. It seemed actually fairly simple. I
> decided he would connect to my network. So I ran the xp "make a new
> connection" wizard and then selected "allow incoming connections". This
> seemed like it would all actually work. I eagerly hit the next button in
the
> wizard and it came up with a list of devices. Except there was only one
> device listed... my modem. It gave me the option to choose which devices
> would be used to allow the connections. Only problem was, my network
> adapter/card was not listed. I obviously want to connect through my
network
> adapter to get a good solid fast broadband connection. I tried everything,
> but I could not get it to recognize my network card as a valid connection
> device. Would someone please help me. You guys know gads more about
> networking than me. I know you will know what I should do.

XP does take care of GRE protocol 47 automagically.

I can't speak about your other firewall---don't know enough to say what to
do--nearly all firewall vendors have good info in their web support sites
about how to do PPTP VPN through them.

I'd disable the third-party firewall for test purposes to get this going,
and then figure out what needs to be done in the longer term.