I have a friend who wants to be able to connect to their small office network using a VPN link. We tried going with a new Netgear router & their Prosafe VPN software which turned out to be a complete disaster (never did link up). I then read about adding an incoming VPN connection to a Windows 7 PC. I know that only 1 incoming connection is allowed at a time, and that I need to port forward tcp 1723 to the "vpn server" from the router. My question is, how does this role of a vpn server affect the Windows 7 PC? Does this need to be a dedicated PC or can you use a standard workstation, set it up properly for VPN server and still be able to use the workstation as normal AND allow a single VPN connection to it at the same time? Thanks. Bill

Hello, Windows 7 can not be used as a VPN server. You have to use a Windows Server OS to perform that. Maybe there is other third party softwares that can achieve your needs. This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees , and confers no rights. Microsoft Student Partner 2010 / 2011 Microsoft Certified Professional Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator: Security Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer: Security Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Windows Server 2008 Active Directory, Configuration Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Windows Server 2008 Network Infrastructure, Configuration Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Windows Server 2008 Applications Infrastructure, Configuration Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Windows 7, Configuring Microsoft Certified IT Professional: Enterprise Administrator Microsoft Certified IT Professional: Server Administrator

Really??? I've read dozens of postings on other forums and websites that detail how to to do it step by step for Windows 7. Most of them mention only 1 incoming VPN, but nothing about using it at the same time as a user on the workstation itself. http://ultra-it.blogspot.com/2009/10/setup-vpn-serverclient-in-windows-7.html http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-networking/vpn-set-up-for-incoming-connections-to-my-server/31c2821f-5484-459e-beed-f72ede8b200b http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/w7itpronetworking/thread/6f8fa874-07e0-4c6a-a5b6-22c50e858d3b http://www.howtonetworking.com/VPN/win7vpn1.htm I guess I will step through these completely and try it. Again, I'm only needing 1 incoming connection, not supporting multiple users or connections. Thanks. Bill

Hi, In this scenario, Windows 7 acting as a mini-VPN or RAS server to other client computers on the network. You don’t need to set a dedicated PC for this function, and you could use this workstation as normal. Here is some information about Incoming Connections: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc755008(WS.10).aspxPlease remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.