I am trying to connect to my work desktop computer through a VPN connection using Microsofts Remote Desktop Connection at home. I get a successful VPN connection but when I enter my work computers name, userid, and password through Microsofts Remote Desktop Connection I get a "Cannot find Computer" error message. If I use the IP address instead of the computer name I am able to successfully log into my work desktop computer. How come my remote VPN connection cannot see my work computer's name but the IP address works fine? Also when VPN connected I cannot see other computers on the work network. I am able to remote desktop connect using my computers name when I am at work on the same LAN. I know many would say what's the problem, just use the IP address. However, I am trying to set up a remote desktop access proceedure for other employees in the company who are not that computer literate. I can easily find my remote computers IP address but it is not that simple for others. I am running Windows 7 Professional on our work desktops and VPN through our Windows 2008 R2 Server. Any ideas?
Windows – Remote Desktop Connection through VPN cannot see computers on network
vpnwindowswindows-server-2008
Best Answer
Given that you can connect by IP address, the problem is one of name resolution and is likely to be a NETBIOS/DNS issue
At work, your machines are probably on a domain such as "company.local" so when you connect to, say a machine called WORKSTATION its FQDN (Fully Qualified Domain Name) is actually WORKSTATION.company.local
At work you will likely have a fully operational DNS/WINS/NETBIOS system up and running so both the short and long versions work
At home, I suspect that the VPN is not picking up the correct name servers.
If you try connecting to e.g. WORKSTATION.company.local i.e the long name, does it work? If so then its a WINS/NETBIOS problem but if not it is a DNS issue