Exchange 2007 introduced the ability to access file shares on the local network remotely either from a PC web browser via Outlook Web Access (OWA) or directly from your Windows Mobile device without the need to first establish a VPN connection.

For details on how to configure Outlook Web Access, read this article HERE.

Configuring Exchange

File share access must be enabled on the Exchange Server within the Server ActiveSync mailbox policy. This is done within the Exchange Management Console, browse to Organisation Configuration --> Client Access:

Ensure that the option to enable Windows File Shares is ticked.

Specific shares can be defined within Server Configuration --> Client Access:

The details of the file servers that should be available to OWA users are defined on the Remote File Servers tab. Click on the Block button to define those servers that should NOT be accessible. Any servers that are not explicitly blocked are automatically allowed.

The Allow list does not define those file shares that should be accessible to users, rather it defines the hosts FROM which users are connecting that should be allowed to access file shares:

As users will typically be connecting from the Internet at large, if you want your users to have access to file shares from wherever they are, the Unknown Servers option should be set to Allow rather than block.

To enable users to enter only the NETBIOS name of the file server they wish to access rather than its FQDN (Fully Qualified Domain Name), the Domain Suffix configuration allows the administrator to add any suffixes (eg 'domain.com') that should be automatically appended to any server names users enter on their device:

NOTE - the Exchange Server should be able to resolve these domains via DNS.

Verify that the file share configured on the remote file server is configured with the correct user access permissions - ie, those users that wish to access the share from their PDA won't be able to if they are not able to locally via the LAN.

Accessing files from the Windows Mobile client

NOTE - only devices running Windows Mobile 6 or later support this feature.

Because the Windows File Share access feature uses the Server ActiveSync protocol, the Windows Mobile client must be correctly configured for Server ActiveSync and have synchronised at least once successfully with the Exchange Server.

Files can be accessed either from within Internet Explorer or directly from the File Explorer application by entering a path to the remote file share in the form \\server\share\filename.xxx
Links to files contained within email messages can be clicked on directly, provided that they are in the correct format.

NOTE - unlike Outlook Web Access which allows users to access the share itself and be displayed a list of available files within that share, Windows Mobile devices must request the specific file itself that is to be accessed.