Windows 8 In Depth

Enabling Incoming VPN Connections with NAT

Microsoft’s Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) and DSL/cable-sharing routers use an IP-addressing trick called Network Address Translation (NAT) to serve an entire LAN with only one public IP address. Thus, incoming connections, such as from a VPN client to a VPN host, have to be directed to a single host computer on the internal network.

If you use a shared Internet connection, only one computer can be designated as the recipient of incoming VPN connections. If you use Microsoft’s ICS, that one computer must be the one sharing its connection. It will receive and properly handle VPN requests.

If you use a hardware-sharing router, the VPN server can be any computer you want to designate. Your router must ...