Access computers behind a router?

[aychamo]

Hey guys!

Is there a way to access computers behind a router? I mean.. I know I have some specific IP address that the router has, and then the router gives each of my computers an IP. Is there a way to access the computers behind the router from the internet?

Thanks :)

[megashawn]

It depends.

What OS are the computers running?

Have you set them up to be accessed from the internet? For instance, in most windows OSs, you merely right click on a folder and then click Sharing, which will allow you to configure the folder, set restrictions, passwords and what not.

Are you just trying to access certain files on the computers, or what?

[robphy]

Usually, the router must be told to forward certain ports to certain computers.

[aychamo]

Sorry, I should have given more information. The computers run WinME and WinXP. Say I have a webserver running on one computer, would I be able to access it from outside of my firewall?

And my computers have shared names, say as "desktop1", could I reference them as that instead of their specific IP? I see an option on my router for VPN, is this any use?

[dduardo]

You want to forward port 80 HTTP to your computer's IP. Depending on your router the instructions to set this up will be different. Consult your manual for details.

[aychamo]

Ahh cool, I found this with port forwarding. Thank you!