Apologies if in incorrect place. I am merely seeking suggestions or solutions on how to proceed, if possible. First up of my questions is this: is it possible to turn the Server into a Wireless Hotspot, akin to Connectify or Virtual Router? The problem with those is that I have little control over the access point. I don't have a router currently that I can configure to use a RADIUS server, to serve as an access point. I figure it might be worth asking, in the off chance it works. Secondly, I want to be able to access some network shares on the server from wherever I go. So these local network shares must be available to my laptop which can move from place to place. I am uncertain on the best approach here. I have heard that VPN is a solution to this. I have explored this option, but it seems that when I enable VPN, Windows always directs internet traffic through the VPN instead of the local network. This is not what I want. I only want access to those network shares, and not the server's internet connection. The local network connection should be used for internet. Ideas? I'm using 2008 R2. Any suggestions are welcome. Thanks!

Hello, you can use RRAS to configure a server as a router, BUT it not with a DC, this result in multiple problems. Wireless functionality has to be enabled with add/remove features. But i a m not sure if you can use that way to enable it as wireless router. For world-wide access you need to open a router and configure forwarding to the specific server so you can access shared folders. You cannot just connect shares to the internet connection, this requires the server. Another option may be to buy a NAS system that can be accessed from the internet, also configured with forwarding the required ports on the router.Best regards Meinolf Weber Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees , and confers no rights.

Out of curiosity, what problems would making a DC act as a router cause? Well, I just tried setting up normal normal file shares in the network and using port forward for port 445. But that didn't work very well, seeing as at least two ISPs block that port. So that leaves VPN, I guess? But how do I router internet traffic via the local internet connection and not through the VPN?

Hello, "Out of curiosity, what problems would making a DC act as a router cause" A multi-homed DC will, if not explicit configured for this, not resolve DNS correct, replication problems can occur, clients will have trouble to connect to the domain, GPOs are not applied correct and still some more problems can occur. Also a DC should not be connected direct with the internet what you actually do if you use shared drives on this server. If your ISPs block ports, please contact them. AFAIK they should not do it. But a VPN should solve that problem which, from my point of view, is the more secure solution then just sharing over the more or less open way. Without being able to forward the required ports over the router you are not able to access the shared folders.Best regards Meinolf Weber Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees , and confers no rights.

Thanks. I understand it may be a security risk, but this being a home server and the only server in the network, I don't think the security risks are so great, and I want to bring out as much potential out of it as possible. Still, this leaves me with two problems going forward, which I'm probably going to need help with setting up. I am going to need a VPN. I doubt ISPs would easily listen to one individual who isn't even a customer among them when they block ports out of security concerns. That leaves the problem of figuring out how to route internet traffic via the local internet connection. Also, though I have another router (this is a wireless access point), I can't seem to find a way to configure it to work as a switch, which leaves me with a problem. Either I configure it to work as a DHCP server, which would probably conflict on the network since I want the server to act as a DHCP for all wired connections, and possibly wireless, too. Furthermore, it would mean having two subnets, and neither routers I have being enterprise routers, they can't forward traffic to flow between the subnets. Any wired computer would be unable to communicate with the wireless computers since they would sit on a different subnet. And if I disable the DHCP server, the wireless clients will be served the incorrect default gateway and can't use the network at all. Do you have any recommendations on how to proceed? Should I open specific threads to ask for assistance or might you (or anyone else) have any specific advice?

Hi Natsuki, and neither routers I have being enterprise routers, they can't forward traffic to flow between the subnets Router could forward traffic across different subnets or vlans. Generally, the network topology is wireless computers---Wireless AP---Router---Wired computers/server. It's ok that wireless computers get IP addresses from wireless AP DHCP. You issue is on router configuration. Please check the route protocol or add static route on your router.Regards, Rick Tan

Like I mentioned, the critical router in question does not have the ability to change route protocol or add static routes.