As stated, I’m trying to set up a NAS that plays nice with Spectrum-provided hardware. I’m not the home owner, and the home owner will not budge on using a third-party wifi router that would just act as an access point. I’m trying to set up a small NAS that my friends can access via VPN connection, and I would remote desktop into for administrative needs. I considered Windows Server, but I wouldn’t be able to have it connected to the internet while I set routing and remote access settings, so something that can pick up a DHCP addrese on its own.
I was under the impression that a VPN connection would be encrypted, and since I’d be still making accounts that would have to be signed into in order to access the data, someone attempting to steal the data would have to have the credentials to do so. RDP access (meaning full system control) would not be set up outside the local network, and remote access would be done through Windows Server VPN.