VPN and usb drive

[Jherb]

Hello,
I am very new to VPNs so please forgive my ignorance.

I am trying to access the USB drive attached to my AC86u when not at home. I set up the openvpn on the router, got the certificate, and loaded it into the openvpn gui on my laptop. Now when I am away, I can access the router setup page 192.168.1.1, but I am not sure how to access the USB drive, or other network shares.

My guess is that I need to know the Network IP address for the shares from the vpn, but I'm not sure.

I appreciate any guidance or reference I can read. I couldn't figure it out after googling.

 

[ColinTaylor]

If you're using Windows try bringing up the Run box (Windows key + R) and entering the IP address as shown below.

 

[Jherb]

Thank you! that worked for the usb drive.
I tried using the same method to access another shared folder that is on another computer in the LAN. So I checked the network list to get the IP address of the computer, then entered \\192.168.1.100 in the run box. But it timed out. And I also couldn't ping it.

Is there a way to access other computers on the lan?
Thanks alot

 

[ColinTaylor]

If 192.168.1.100 is a Windows PC then it's almost certainly the Windows Firewall that is blocking access to it. You will need modify the firewall rule to allow access from the VPN subnet (e.g. 10.8.0.x).

 

[ColinTaylor]

If modifying the client firewall(s) is too onerous and you're running Merlin's firmware you can create a custom script on the router to get around the problem by masquerading the VPN traffic.

 

[Jherb]

Thanks so much ColinTaylor. It worked when I modified the firewall, so that's perfect.
I am using Merlin on AC86U. How would you do a script? If there is a reference, I'd appreciate it.

And is there a way to access the share with its share name, or do I have to use the IP address?

 

[ColinTaylor]

I am using Merlin on AC86U. How would you do a script? If there is a reference, I'd appreciate it.

Here's a script I wrote a couple of years ago. It would probably still work. More information about scripts here.

And is there a way to access the share with its share name, or do I have to use the IP address?

Name resolution can get a bit tricky when using VPN's. You'll need to configure the server to push it's DNS servers to the client, and the client needs to be configured to accept it. Then assuming your DNS is setup correctly it should work. But you'll probably need to use the FQDN of the target machine, e.g. \\mypc.home.lan\

 

[Jherb]

That's really interesting. Thank you.
I'll have to read up and play with it.

Thanks again. I'm learning as I go, and you've been a great help.

 

[TheLostSwede]

You can also open up File Explorer, click on Computer and Add a network location or even Map a network drive, if you want to keep a semi-permanent shortcut to the drive share in question.
For a computer that isn't always on the same network, as would be the case here, mapping a drive will throw up some error messages every time you boot into Windows, as Windows will automagically look for the drive on the network, so adding a network location would be better, since Windows doesn't look for those on boot.