[Suguru]

I have been trying to connect to a Win 2000 server via the VPN on OS X 10.2, without any success.

I found a relevant topic in this forum and there seem to be other people experiencing the same problem.

http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.p...hreadid=124752

I mean, I am able to establish PPTP connection using Internet Connect. But when I try to connect to the server from the Finder, I always get error -36. This is what Prijker and Voodoo mention here.

Prijker said he made it by using smb://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx syntax, but I can't connect to the server using this. Did anybody experience the same problem and find a solution?

Thanks for your advice.

Suguru

[piracy]

This has nothing to do with PPTP. You either have successfully established a tunnel, or you haven't. This is completely separate from the inability to connect via afp, smb, or any other protocol in the Finder.

For smb references, see:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107096
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106471

[Suguru]

Thanks for the links. I at least learned that error -36 means refusal by the server. Hmmm... Looks like I got to dig into smb further.

[DVD Plaza]

As already said above, your PPTP either makes a connection or it doesn't - in your case it does so it is working and doesn't relate to your problem.

Actually talking to a Windows server, regardless of through a VPN or not, is something OSX is hardly crash hot with - always brings up a stupid -xx error of some kind.

Only way I've found to make it work reliably is to use the IP address, EMPTY the domain field on the logon dialog, and then enter your username/password - works every time for me.

Not that SMB access is entirely stable - it worked brilliant before, yet 10.2/Jaguar which claimed to IMPROVE Windows access has utterly screwed it... try transferring anything larger than 20-30K and you'll see what I mean. Problem could be specific to dialup speeds, not sure, but definitely unstable. Haven't been game enough to try under 10.2.3 yet, I fire up my PC and do the transfers now (I run a business, I need things to work and can't afford the hell).

[Suguru]

Thanks for the comments.

I finally was able to connect to the server via VPN. As pointed out in the above two comments, VPN itself had been working good.

The problem was the IP address(es) I used. When I establish VPN connection, I have to use the 'outer' IP address of the server, the one used to locate the server in the Internet. But in the next step, when I actually connect to the server using 'Connect To' menu in the Finder, I have to use its 'local' IP address, which usually begins with '192'. In my case, the typical syntax for smb is like this:

smb://192.XXX.XX.X/SharedFolderName

I figured this out because both commentators mentioned VPN and SMB are separate issues, so I thought I might have to use the local IP address. And that's it. The connected folder(s) appeared on my desktop!!

If anybody has the same problem, try this.