Windows 7 / Networking

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Configuring Incoming Connections

Windows 7 also supports incoming connections of both the dial-up and the VPN types. In this scenario, Windows 7 is acting as a mini-VPN or RAS server to other client computers on the network.

Creating an incoming connection on a computer running Windows 7 requires administrator credentials on the computer and is supported only in workgroup environments. To create a new incoming connection, follow these steps:

1. Open the Network Connections folder.
2. Press the Alt key to make the menu bar visible.
3. Select New Incoming Connection under the File menu option.
4. Select the users you want to allow to connect to the computer. You can also click Add Someone to add additional users to the local user database on the computer.
5. Click Next and then specify whether the selected users will connect to the computer through the Internet (using a VPN connection) or directly (using a dial-up modem). For this scenario, we will assume that the VPN option has been selected.
6. Click Next and then specify which networking features to enable for the incoming connection. By default, IPv4 and File And Printer Sharing are enabled, and IPv6 is disabled.
7. Select Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) and click Properties to configure the following:
   • Whether the calling (connecting) computer can have access to your LAN using your computer as a gateway
   • Whether the calling computer is assigned an IP address for its tunnel endpoint from a DHCP server on the network or is assigned an IP address from a range of addresses that you specify
   • Whether the calling computer can specify its own IP address for its tunnel endpoint
8. Click OK and then click Allow Access to enable the incoming connection.
9. The new incoming connection will be displayed in the Network Connections folder. Note that incoming connections are not displayed in the View Available Networks (VAN) UI.
10. To further configure an incoming connection, open the Network Connections folder, right-click the connection, and then select Properties.

Note You can also view and configure some properties of incoming connections from the command line by using the Netsh command. For example, to show which users are allowed to connect to the computer, type netsh ras show user at a command prompt. For more help, type netsh ras ? at a command prompt.