I have recently set up a brand new vpn server running Windows XP PRO so i can access my files at work from home. i am using the built in windows vpn. i have a linksys wrv200. i can connect to the server from my house but i can not access my shares. i am kind of new to vpn setup so i am not sure what to do. the server has a static ip of 192.168.1.105. also when i connect to my vpn i loose internet connection. thanks
I have to admit I don't actually know much about VPN's but at a rough guess I would check the network's firewall settings. Perhaps you are allowed to connect to the server from outside but the files themselves are protected behind a firewall. One thing you can do is try to find out as much of the servers settings as you can as from what I read there are many different ways VPN's can be set-up (though I'd be wary about publishing too much security information on a public forum like this). As for losing internet access, that may well be a security feature of the network. Have a look at this Wikipedia article and see if that helps to answer your questions. Otherwise, your company's sysadmin may be the best person to ask.
Sounds like you're using PPTP to connect to a corperate LAN. Make sure your gateway, routes and DNS servers are being picked up correctly, or else not much will work. This is something you should ask your IT dept. about.