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I have a folder on a Windows 2008 Server (located at my college) that I would like to share between computers. I was able to access the shared folder from the college by mapping it and using the administrator username and password. At home however, I am not able to access the same shared folder. Why is this and how can I access it both from the college and at home?

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Because at the college, it's a local connection – Luke Sep 14 '12 at 23:21
As @Luke said, you'd only be able to do it if you had VPN or the like. – Peter Maxwell Sep 14 '12 at 23:24

closed as not a real question by Luke, Diogo, Mokubai, techie007, Randolph West Sep 16 '12 at 17:31

It's difficult to tell what is being asked here. This question is ambiguous, vague, incomplete, overly broad, or rhetorical and cannot be reasonably answered in its current form. For help clarifying this question so that it can be reopened, see the FAQ.

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A really simple solution without having to deal with a VPN and all that, would be to download and install TeamViewer on both of your computers. It comes with a file transferer built in so it's super easy to use.

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I can already connect remotely to the server. The issue is we only have one administrator account there are three of us that need to access it so I thought having the folder we need be shared would be easier. – Dan Sep 14 '12 at 23:36
Can you just create new admin accounts? I'm confused as to what the problem is. – Peter Maxwell Sep 14 '12 at 23:37
It's set so that only 2 accounts can be logged on at the same time (our administrator account) and the server administrators account. – Dan Sep 14 '12 at 23:54
Ok, but what does this have to do with being able to access it at home? What you are talking about (I think) is Remote Desktop. – Peter Maxwell Sep 14 '12 at 23:57
Yes, we are using Remote Desktop. The problem is only two accounts can be logged in at the same time. The reason why I shared that folder was so that all three of us can access it and edit files at the same time. That share I made however, I can't access unless I'm on the college's network. – Dan Sep 15 '12 at 0:00
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There most likely reason why you can not map it from home is that there is a firewall in the way. Either at your home, at the college, or at your ISP. The latter two are likely. The first depends on your own setup.

An other possible reason is that the college does not use a normal IP range but has one of the three unroutable ranges (10.x.x.x/8, 192.168.x.x/16 and 172.16.x.x/12). In that case you can not access it except from the local network. Either physically (on campus) or virtually (via a VPN).

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And also, if you're using say \\testserver\shared the DNS would try to resolve it to a local address. – Peter Maxwell Sep 14 '12 at 23:44
Well I guess the only way is VPN? Or just access it at the school... – Dan Sep 14 '12 at 23:54
True. But \\fileserver.college.edu\shared should even work from home. – Hennes Sep 15 '12 at 0:00

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