connecting to an outside network neighborhood

[mblauste]

My friends live in another house than me and have a DSL connection. I was wondering if it is possible for to me to use my dialup modem to connect to the internet, and then somehow be able to access their network neighborhood and share files with them? They are using win98 and so am I. Thanks for any help.

 

[jeans2nd]

I believe you need Virtual Private Networking to connect to another PC like that, and you would need to be able to get behind the ISP firewall(s). I think it would be easier for them to get a phone modem and for you to call their PC.

 

[sohcrates]

there's a good chance you could edit your "lmhosts" file and be able to see your buddies shares. you need to find out their IP address and computer name, and then go into your lmhosts file and add their info. then you go to start...run and type in "\\theircomputername "
and it should find what they're sharing. this works for printers and cd-roms if you share them too.

 

[mblauste]

ok...do they need to add anything to their lmhosts files or just me? also do i have to make my computer in the same workgroup as there's?

thanks

 

[sohcrates]

you don't have to be in their workgroup

and they don't have to edit anything, unless THEY want to see YOU

as long as it's just you seeing them, you're the only one who needs to edit that file

i'd say open lmhosts in notepad and see how the ip's and computer names are formatted, then put in your friends info EXACTLY the same way, else it won't work

good luck

 

[mblauste]

cool thanks alot

 

[MrX]

yo...lemmie kno if this works 4 u

 

[Mierdaan]

Is there an analogous solution in Win2k? I posted a thread earlier that I believe boils down to this same problem, but it doesn't seem like the Imhosts file exists in the same capacity under a Win2k setup as it does under Win98...

-Mierdaan

 

[Rifter]

And whats wrong with a VPN????

 

[Mierdaan]

Nothing, just seems like opening a .txt file and adding an IP address would be easier, if it's still possible under Win2k...

-Mierdaan

 

[sohcrates]

last time i checked, it's all good in win98, nt4, AND win2k

 

[Mierdaan]

So where would this mysterious Imhosts file be located? Does it masquerade under another name in Win2k? I can't seem to locate it.

-Mierdaan

 

[sohcrates]

E:\WINNT\system32\drivers\etc (for win2k boxes)

one more thing, to use it properly, you have to rename it "lmhosts" (plain vanilla)

i.e. get rid of the .sam at the end

 

[jeans2nd]

OK so does it work or not? Editing the lmhost file, that is ????

 

[MrX]

any luck?

 

[Mierdaan]

I'm not overly sure on the syntax for the lmhosts file; namely, I'm not clean on whether or not the #PRE modifier is required or not. My modification to the lmhosts(.sam) file didn't work, and moreover, mIRC would crash on connection attempt with the modified file in place. The two may be totally unrelated, but I've never had mIRC mess up before, and removing my modifications, putting the .sam back and rebooting fixed the mIRC problem... strange times.

-Mierdaan

 

[sohcrates]

well, i'm not lying to you guys. i've gotten this to work lots of times...just keep trying.

and YES, you do want to use that #PRE (it allows you to pre-cache certain entries)

 

[mblauste]

yeah i tried it too, and I couldn't get it to work...does it matter that in my room I already have a network set up? like does that screw up the network neighborhood stuff because I would belong to different workgroups?

I didn't use the #PRE modifier so I will try that too...

 

[mblauste]

never mind that last post...i got it to work...thanks sohcrates...i didn't know that it wouldn't show up in network neighborhood, but when I did \\computer name it worked...

one other thing...since i only know the ip address of the host computer, and all the other computers in the house get their IP address from that computer through the proxy, is there any way to be able to see them too? it wouldn't let me do a share on the networked computers from the host computer so i can't do that way...any suggestions?
thanks

 

[Mierdaan]

Well, now that you got it, I feel dumb... did you know the name of the computer you're trying to connect to or did you just assign it an arbitrary name in the lmhosts file? I just assigned an arbitrary name as I didn't know the real one, and when I tried to map the web folder shortcut it still told me the network path couldn't be found.

-Mierdaan

 

[sohcrates]

unfortunately, the point of a proxy is to keep external computers (like yours) from "probing" internal computers (like the one's hiding behind the firewall)...so using this lmhosts thing could get ugly to try to connect to them...

you MIGHT be able to get your friend to open up a port or two on the proxy that will allow you to get through, but i'm not sure.

 

[spidey07]

You could always type \\IPADDRESS in the command line under start--->run

this will access shares on IPADDRESS without the need for netbios/TCPIP browsing.

 

[mblauste]

No I didn't just assing the computer an arbitrary name...i think you need to know the name of the machine to get it to work...good luck