Incoming connections

With the Windows Server 2003 family, you can create incoming connections and allow even computers that are members of a domain to run incoming connections.

You can configure an incoming connection to accept the following connection types: dial-up (modem, ISDN, X.25), virtual private network (VPN) (PPTP, L2TP), or direct (serial, infrared, DirectParallel). On a computer running Windows 2000 Professional or XOX, an incoming connection can accept up to three incoming calls, up to one of each of these types. On a computer running Windows 2000 Server, the number of inbound calls is only limited by the computer and its hardware configuration. For information about Windows NT Server (and other operating systems) that can accept an incoming connection, see Incoming connection clients.

You can use the Multilink feature to configure multiple modems or ISDN adapters for use with incoming dial-up connections. For more information on Multilink, see Configuring multiple device dialing.

When you create a connection, the users that can connect to your incoming connection and their network protocols are selected. Each user that connects to an incoming connection must have established a local user account. For more information about user settings such as name, password, and callback rights, see To grant incoming connection access rights to your computer. For more information about configuring your connection for the TCP/IP network protocol, see To configure an incoming connection to use TCP/IP.

For information about creating an incoming connection, see To accept incoming network connections.

Notes

• For large numbers of incoming connections on a computer that is running Windows 2000 Server or a member of the Windows Server 2003 family and that operates as part of a distributed network or as a domain controller, you can use Routing and Remote Access to create a remote access server.
• To create an incoming connection, you must be a member of the Administrators group.
• Users do not need to use incoming connections to allow access to shared resources, such as files and printers, over a local area network. In order to enable shared access to resources on the local computer, you must enable file and print sharing, share the resources, and then set the appropriate permissions. For information about sharing a folder, see To share a folder or drive.
• The Guest account is disabled by default for both incoming connections and in the Computer Management snap-in. Guests can connect only after you enable the Guest account in the Computer Management snap-in and in the Users tab of the properties dialog box of the connection.