Hands on: Inside incoming connections

Ever noticed that you can configure Vista to accept incoming connections? Ever wondered what this option was all about and why you might want to use it? Well, wonder no more.

In this month’s column, I’m looking at how to configure and use Vista’s incoming connections, and what they can do for you.

It’s a VPN, stupid
Also available in Windows XP, incoming connections let you configure your PC to act as a VPN (Virtual Private Network) server.

In other words, configure an incoming connection, and remote users will be able to access the resources on that PC (and elsewhere if you have a home network) over the internet. Which is good, as it means you don’t have to fork out for a dedicated VPN appliance in order to get remote Lan access, although there are a number of caveats you need to bear in mind.

First of all, you’re limited to just one incoming connection at a time, although for most home users that’s unlikely to be an issue. You’re also limited to using the Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP), which isn’t as secure as some alternatives; such as IPsec, for example.

However, if all you want is to access your home network when travelling it’s not really going to cause a problem and, since Windows has a compatible PPTP client built in as standard, you won’t have to buy anything extra.

You also have to make sure your firewall defences are configured to allow the supporting traffic through, and sort out name resolution and port forwarding issues, which we look at later. In the meantime, let’s just run through how you get started.

Create an incoming connection
Vista incoming connections are easy to configure, although you will need to be logged on with administrative privileges and put up with the UAC prompts along the way.

There are several ways of setting about the process, but the easiest is from the Start menu by right-clicking Network and selecting Properties. This will take you to the Network and Sharing Center, where you’ll find a link marked ‘Manage network connections’ in the left-hand pane.

Click this and the next window will list all your existing outgoing connections. To add to these, click on the File menu (press Alt first if the menu bar isn’t displayed) and select ‘New incoming connection’. First off, you’ll be asked which users will be allowed to access the host computer. Either choose one or more existing accounts from the list displayed, or create new ones. You can also add or change user passwords at this point and, if you are using old-fashioned dial-up, configure the software to dial the user back to complete the connection.

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