So I'm hoping someone here can help me out a bit, I'm not sure were else to ask this question without registering on some random forum which I hate doing.

The setup is a windows 2003 box as the domain controller, dhcp server, and some other things.

I don't want to join my laptop to the domain, so I connect to VPN. Which it connects fine, in fact I can use remote desktop to login to any of the computers on the network, and I can access my web server via it's host name. So I know I am connected to the network.

But my problem is I have no access to any of the shared folders! Does it have anything to do with the VPN connection using a different subnet mask than my LAN?

Different subnet mask or different ip range?

I have my home and office networks connected via 2 Netgear VPN endpoints. Office is 10.1.1.x/24 and home is 10.1.2.x/24. Subnet is the same. I can see all the shared folders from my mac at home, but on windows at home they don't show up. If I do //10.1.1.1 I can see it though...

I'm at the office, connected to the same switch. Just not on logged into the domain, the IP range is consistent.

But I just added a network drive, using \\server\share and then I choose the option to connect as different user: domain.com/admin and pass and it worked. So I'm thinking maybe this is some kind of windows sharing permissions issue

well yes, you do have to connect as a user with permission to access the folder

Let me confirm a couple things I'm not 100% sure about from your posts:
1) The VPN server can itself connect to other SMB servers (aka folder shares).
2) You cannot connect through the VPN to these same SMB servers, but you can connect to other resources such as remote desktop on the VPN server's network.

Assuming those are true... it's probably a permissions issue, as NoESC said. I don't know anything about domains, you might have to join the domain to get access to the SMB shares. Otherwise you need to be sure your usernames and passwords match up... or that you explicitly specify them while connecting using net.exe.

My diagnosis steps for SMB servers:
1) Try to connect via computer name: Start > Run > \\phoenix
2) If 1 fails, connect via IP address: Start -> Run -> \\192.168.0.6
3) If both fail, ensure your routing tables are correct.
3a) Type "route print" in the command prompt and see where the IP you are trying to access is being routed, make sure it's through the right interface... if you use OpenVPN it might not be.
3b) If not, fix it with route add or route update. With OpenVPN, add the routing information into your .ovpn file so you don't have to do it manually every time you connect.
3c) Go back to 1.
4) If you can view the shared resources, try accessing one.
5) If you get an access denied at any point during the access without a password prompt, try explicitly entering your username/password using the command prompt:
5a) Use "net use * \\192.168.0.6\sharename * /user:[domain\]username"

* - There is no footnote, you really type a star there... or you can explicitly put a drive letter in the first star's place. The second you can replace with the password... but it's best to leave it a star and use the prompt that appears instead.

5b) Type "net help use" for the full command syntax and more help
5c) Open My Computer if it was successful and use the newly mapped drive letter.
5d) Use the username Guest with a blank password for anonymous access.

6) If you still cannot access, your permissions on the SMB server are screwed up. Make sure you are allowed access on BOTH the share name, AND the folder being shared. This really tripped me up a couple times... if you are allow yourself access on the share permissions, but deny yourself access on the folder (easy to do when setting up access for Guest on XP Home or Vista Homes, where you have to use a third-party tool like ShareEnum to manage share permissions, which DOESN'T change the underlying folder permissions) you will get access denied errors trying to access the share.
6a) If you are trying to access as Guest, be sure the Guest user exists, is enabled, and has no password on the remote system. Not to mention be sure that user (or the group Everybody... Guest isn't a member of Users...) has access to the share and folder.

Ok well since I added a network drive, now I can access my share via \\servername in run, or windows explorer. I thought the VPN would supply the user access permissions to folders.

I'm going to play around with this some more when I get home and I am connected to a different network

Probably depends which VPN software you're using. Even if you're using some MS stuff, it may just act like a dumb tunnel... making your computer appear connected to the remote network directly, but you still need to log onto a domain or provide proper credentials.

You have to use the drive letter once you map it, and if you want to access a different share you'll need to map another drive letter.

I found the UI for doing the net use command line stuff. Tools > Map Network Drive. It will allow you to specify a different username and password. I don't think connecting to the SMB share directly will let you (at least not in XP and up).

wait wait... you're using a vpn to tunnel into the network you are already in because you don't want to join the domain?

what?

Well how else am I supposed to access domain resources (and it's my laptop so I could be connected at the office, or at paneara bread). I wont join the domain because I want to do all my work from my local administrator account and desktop environment

Yeah I think you're right. Thanks for the help.

Mapping network drives gets the job done

if you are connected to the network at work already, you don't need to vpn into it. you're already there.

Well you can if you want to test the VPN. You just gotta set it up so all your traffic goes through the VPN and not the normal network (possible with some route.exe magic).

yeah, not for daily use though. it's insane.

right, I know what you mean now