Accessing local network with VPN

[- Wrath of God -]

OK. I have somewhat of a situation. I have a Vista machine at home. Premium, if it matters. It is running a virtual machine with XP on it (through VMWare, Physical connection - connects to my router). The XP vm connects to my work VPN (Cisco, if it matters), which apparently blocks all local connections, and has the VPN connection as the only active one. I do this, so I can access my home computer from work, so I would remote desktop into my XP machine, for example, as my Vista machine is not connected to the VPN, but the machine that I really want to access is my Vista machine. However, since the VPN software blocks all other networks, I can't do it through my local network. My co-worker tells me that there is a workaround, but won't tell me what it is, as it's against company policy. So I ask you, the hackers of GBATemp, to help me out.

Thanks in advance.

 

[CrEsPo]

Why not just put the VPN server on the Vista OS? You never really explained why you needed the XP virtual OS. From what you posted going through the XP virtual OS is an unnecessary hassle. You could download for your Vista OS and then just do some basic configuration and you'll be set.

 

[- Wrath of God -]

My work uses a specific VPN server - that's only compatible with Cisco's client, which only works on XP, which is why I need to run the VM.

 

[Javacat]

I think what CrEsPo means is run a VPN server on your Vista computer and then connect to that from work using a VPN client. You would then be able to connect over the VPN connection to your computer for remote desktop. The advantage of this is that you could then connect to your Vista computer from any other computer on the internet, as long as you had the necessary software.
This is probably a better solution than leaving your computer always connected to your works network, which would leave it vulnerable to 'attacks' from your work (say you pissed off one of your colleagues and they decided to delete all the pr0n on your home machine).

If you do try setting up a VPN server on your home machine for access from work there are a couple of things you should note:
- Your work will probably be blocking most ports, other than standard ones needed for browsing, email etc, so you will need to use one of the available ports. 443 would probably be good as it is already used for SSL when handling https connections
- This is compromising your works network security and if you get caught/reported you could possibly end up in serious trouble, although you may be wanting a new job anyway

 

[CrEsPo]

I'm pretty sure you can run OpenVPN off a USB stick so that shouldn't be a problem. However you have me a little confused with your posts.

The XP vm connects to my work VPN (Cisco, if it matters), which apparently blocks all local connections, and has the VPN connection as the only active one. I do this, so I can access my home computer from work

The first part makes it sound like you're trying to access the VPN server provided by your work which allows you to access your work files while at home. The second part makes it sound like you're trying to access the VPN server that you have setup at home which allows you to access the files on your home network while at work.

Can you clarify what it is exactly you're trying to do?

 

[- Wrath of God -]

Well my work has a VPN server setup (Cisco), which I can connect to from home. This makes my computer part of the network, so I can access my work from home, and vice versa. This connection allows me to remote desktop into my house (the XP virtual machine, since the VPN client we're provided with doesn't support Vista). From there, I want to be able to remote desktop into my home machine, which would allow me to use unfirewalled internet, look at my files, etc.

Javacat's post was helpful, I'm not sure if it would work, but I don't see why not. I'll talk it over with my co-worker. I have a question though, I don't know much about networks, but Javacat said that 443 is used for SSL, so I can use it for my purposes, would that block other apps from using that port? If so, would that mean that I can't use any app that uses that port?