Only the Offline Files Are Displayed When You Use a Remote Access or Virtual Private Network Connection

When you connect to a network by using either a remote access or virtual private network (VPN) connection, you can browse the network and you can ping servers and receive a reply, but if you try to view the shared resources on a server, you can observe only the files that have been made available offline.

Also, the icon in the bottom right corner of the screen indicates that you are offline.

If you disable offline caching on the client computer, and then connect by means of either a remote access or VPN connection, all the files are visible.

This behavior can occur if you initially logged on to the computer with cached credentials and you worked offline. When you dial up and connect to a VPN, your status is still offline. Your computer does not automatically detect that it is now connected to the network.

To work around this behavior, use the Synchronize feature to instruct the computer that you are now online, and then view all of the files.

To use the Synchronize feature:

1. Double-click My Computer on the desktop.
2. On the Tools menu, click Folder Options.
3. On the Offline Files tab, click View Files.
4. On the Tools menu, click Synchronize.
5. Click OK when you are prompted to synchronize.

This behavior is by design.

By default, the Caching option is enabled in the products that are listed at the beginning of this article. To disable or enable the Caching option:

1. Double-click My Computer.
2. On the Tools menu, click Folder Options.
3. Click the Offline Files tab, and then click to select (or click to clear) the Enable Offline Files check box. You can either enable (click to select) or disable (click to clear) the check box for client-side caching.

The Caching option can also be enabled or disabled by using the Group Policy snap-in: In the Computer Configuration/Administrative Templates/Network/Offline Files folder use the Enable policy.

If you are on a local area network (LAN) connection, you have enabled the Caching option, and you plug in or remove the network cable, the computer detects that you are either online or offline, and instructs you to synchronize your computer. This behavior can occur because of the Media Sense technologies that constantly keep checking if you are either online or offline. This behavior, however, is not the same if you are offline and dial up and connect to a network by using either a remote access or VPN connection.

For more information about offline files and how to make them available offline in Windows 2000, refer to the Windows 2000 Professional Resource Kit.