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I'm a little confused as to how to access the VPN network I've just connected to on a mac.

I've successfully connected, but don't know what to do now.

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closed as not a real question by splattne Jan 19 '12 at 9:15


3 Answers

up vote 2 down vote accepted

Depends upon what you are trying to do.

If you want to connect to a network share you can use the connect to server option from the finder. You can enter smb://servername and you will be presented with a list of available resources on the server.

If you want to control another computer you can use the MS RDP client for the Mac.

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Where is the connect to server option? –  kylex Aug 16 '09 at 3:39
@kylex It's under the Finder Go menu, or Cmd-K. Now that I've answered that, and even though RTFM is frowned upon as an answer in this forum, I would like to say that the Mac Help menu would have been your friend on this one... –  avstrallen Aug 16 '09 at 10:25
Perhaps, but using a Mac has been my last option. My original question was how to imitate the l2tp/ipsec settings that the mac has on a Windows box (XP or Vista). Unfortunately while I can connnect to the VPN on a mac, really, I want to connect to via a PC, but have had no luck. My Mac experience in networking is zilch. Thanks for your answer though, it's much appreciated. –  kylex Aug 17 '09 at 22:47
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So, Hank, are you saying that the shared folders will NOT automatically show in Finder? Rather, I must connect to the server, first, and then shared resources will be available?

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Right, you need to manually connect them. You can set them as a login item in you account preferences. I haven't had much luck with them sticking when doing that. One other thing you can do is create an automater script to connect to them. In Automator, choose Files & Folders, then drag "Get Specified Servers" to the right, you can then add the servers in the form of smb://servername/sharename. Once you get the servers entered you can drag "Connect to Servers" to the right. Give it a test run. –  Hank Aug 16 '09 at 18:02
Hey Hank, perhaps you know the answer to my original question: serverfault.com/questions/54590/… –  kylex Aug 17 '09 at 22:45
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my question exactly: I can VPN in to my OSX home network, but I cannot browse the network, even though I've enabled file sharing. I assumed that the shared folders would show up in finder!

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Once you initially connect to the server it should show as a shared item in the finder. Make sure your finder preferences has the "Connected Servers" option checked. In the Finder choose Finder -> Preferences, or Cmd-, to get the preferences. If you want to see the help file search for "Browsing for shared computers and file servers on your network" –  Hank Aug 16 '09 at 18:05
Steve L, I guess you're the same account as "kylex". Please edit your question instead of writing new "answers". That helps keeping the site clean and people don't get confused. Thank you! –  splattne Aug 17 '09 at 6:33
We are not the same account, obviously just someone else who has the same issue. –  kylex Aug 17 '09 at 22:44
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