Hi there - hoping for some help or pointers. When working from home, I access my company's system by connecting via the work VPN, and then accessing my machine based in the office via Remote Desktop connection. It's much more pleasant instead to just work using our company's O365 without the need for the VPN and the RDP (I can't print when connected this way, and I can't access the web), but that is the only way for me to access certain company files. I end up flicking between the two methods, which is cumbersome. I was wondering if there was a way I could set up my work VPN and RDP inside a VM or Sandbox, so I can have it running in a window on my PC, and have the best of both worlds... I'm struggling to see the best way to accomplish this, and would love any help anyone can offer. Many thanks.
is there any need to use it inside a virtual machine or sandboxie? or just seperating your files/system from those? for a stronger security i would set up a VM.
Hi there - thanks for the reply. I have to use the company VPN and the RDP because I need access to a piece of proprietary database software and shared spreadsheets on the work server that are used and amended by multiple users. What is the simplest and lightest weight VM I could use? - bearing in mind it just needs to be able to connect to a VPN and then RDP.
I've actually never tried to connect to a VPN though a VM. If your VM was bridged you would probably need a means to connect to the VPN though the VM. If it was NAT you'd probably need to connect with the host to share the connection with the VM. VirtualBox with a Linux VM would be completely free and should work for the RDP connection. Something like Linux Mint is easy to set up.
Thanks a lot for this - very helpful - I had thought there might be something lighter than a full blown OS - it's been a while since I used Mint, but it was very comprehensive when I did, and has surely gone from strength to strength. In terms of the VPN connection, you've flagged up a potential issue - I had hoped this would allow me to use the work VPN for accessing my office PC via RDP, while simultaneously using my home internet connection for all other traffic
No we just got sent the details to add it as a new Windows built in) VPN connection. Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4), default gateway on remote network.
I assume you are connected to a router so if you make a VM with a bridged network connection you should be able to do the same thing in a Linux VM. Shouldn't be too hard. I'm pretty sure any OS has RDP clients so it should be that easy.
