I have recently set up a site-to-site VPN connection using IPsec protocol. I have a windows 7 workstation that can communicate with a server at my main office but I cannot search for the same server in the new Windows 8 environment.
Hardware
Main Office: Netgear FVS318g / LAN 10.199.189.25 - 10.199.189.254 / Higher Gear server is 10.199.189.21:3050
Remote Office: Netgear FVS318n / LAN 10.179.169.1 - 10.179.189.254

The connection has been established and I am able to ping any LAN IP on either side in the command prompt. When setting up the windows 7 machine I searched within the start menu IP 10.199.189.21 which is the server at the main office, I found the networked folder which has a .exe for the server applet. However this is not working for windows 8. I have also tried to set inbound and outbound firewall rules without any success.

I would appreciate any in insight on this issue, it is driving me insane. I know windows 8 made a lot of changes, but didn't think the file explorer or network connections were a part of the changes.

Hi,

Please check if the Windows 8 computer can access other resources at the main office. If there is any error appeared, please let us know the details.

Meanwhile, please see if this is the issue:

Default route is used unexpectedly for a VPN connection in Windows 8 and in Windows Server 2012

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2716544

Thanks.

i hope this article may fix your problem http://solutionsurdu.com/2013/07/how-to-set-vpn-connection-in-window-7-and-8/