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XPPro to XPPro with NetBEUI


geoff holcomb

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geoff holcomb

Have home network of 2 WinXP Pro and 2 Win98 machines. Using NetBEUI the XP machines can see the Win98's and vice-versa, but the XP's can not see each other.No info anywhere on this problem that I could find.Any help greatly appreciated.Geoff

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First, as a test, enable the guest account on both XP computers. They should be able to see each other now. If you don't want to do this, then make sure each XP machine has as a local user, the same user as the other XP machine. For example if you have a user named Geoff on one XP machine, create the same user on the other.

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geoff holcomb

Thanks for the reply.The Guest account was enabled on both WinXP machines since NetBEUI was installed.Any additional suggestions???Geoff

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Uh, let's not forget the Scot's Newsletter tip about installing NetBEUI on Windows XP. If you didn't install it exactly as described in this tip on your XP machines, you should uninstall NetBEUI (also exactly as described there) and reinstall it properly.http://www.scotsnewsletter.com/38.htm#tipadaweekThe problems you describe are the same problems thousands of people have had because they didn't follow these steps. Also, XP's version of NetBEUI is pretty bad. I recommend using the Win2K flavor. Everything you need to know about how to solve this problem is addressed in the tip above.-- Scot

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geoff holcomb

Thanks to all who have responded.Scott, some time back, I emailed to you about the woes of networking my home system because my daughter needed to print a report and the print sharing was not working. We had tried NetBEUI and IPX. You wrote back that networking would be a difficult subject to address because of the complexities and you suggested we obtain a printer server switch.Since then, you wrote the step-by-step about using Win 2000 NetBEUI article for XP. Following these steps, I have successfully networked my office PC's, one XP and three Win98 using NetBEUI with printer sharing and internet sharing and all works well.At home, I was able to successfully get one XP and two Win98 seeing each other - browsing each other folders, copying files, etc.So I felt I was doing pretty good until I started to network my son's XP Pro machine. After umpteen attempts at getting NetBeui installed on his machine, I was able get it to see the Win98 machines, and they could see his, and at the same time my XP machine can see the other Win98's and they can see mine, but the two XP's do not see each other.As far cabling, we pretty much know it works since we all share a DSL on a Netgear switch and all of the computers can see each other except for the two XP'sI reviewed the links provided by yellowpike, and no new method or solution was found which addressed this particular problem.I really haven't tried setting up user accounts type of access and was hoping for the simpler Guest account method.I was hoping to get the this working; however, it isn't a critical need since my son and I can share a folder on one of the Win98 machines for our VB code development.However, the printer is hooked to my Win XP and he can't now access it. (We haven't forked over the dough for a dedicated printer server.)So I'm not sure what magic switch needs to be thrown to get the XP's seeing each other.But I do have one question, has anyone actually got more than one XP to work using NetBEUI?Also, on each of the XP machines (office and home) except my son's, when you View "Hidden Devices" from the view menu in device manager, NetBEUI is listed in the Non Plug and Play devices. Could this be indicative of a problem?Thanks a million for any help.Geoff

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Yes, Geoff, I have gotten more than one XP box working with NetBEUI.My NetBEUI directions have changed several times. At the very end are directions for uninstalling NetBEUI. I would suggest you consider trying that to one or both of the XP machines. Follow the directions precisely. Then reinstall following directions. I strongly urge you to use the Windows 2000 version of NetBEUI on your XP machines. It's a bit of extra work, but the problem you're having *could* be cause by the XP version of NetBEUI.I have to say that this strange problem of XP not connecting to other machines is perhaps the single biggest problem in XP (besides Product Activation). I have seen this problem personally. I currently have it with one of my machines, in fact. And I don't know why. I'm not using NetBEUI any longer; I'm using IPX/SPX, so it's not related to NetBEUI.Another thing that would be interesting to try is to enabled TCP/IP sharing and see if that allows the two computers to connect. If it does, then that would point to a NetBEUI problem between the two PCs.Hope this helps.-- Scot

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geoff holcomb

Thanks Scott.I have been following your step-by-step guide and downloaded the Win2K ver of NetBEUI per the link provided. This led to the success of my home and office WinXP systems.After unsuccessfully getting NetBEUI to run on my son's current configuration after performing the removal instructions provided in your guide, we reformatted and installed a fresh copy of WinXP Pro, checked for any NetBEUI per the removal instructions just to be sure and imaged the drive. From there, we attempted to install NetBEUI before updating the any drivers, after updating drivers, after updating using Windows update, removing all non-essential cards (sound, etc.) and reformatting and reinstalling, tried another NIC used successfully in another machine, and the list goes on.Then after I let the system set for a few days, I snuck up on it and went for another install of NetBEUI after reloading the image and low and behold, it worked, at least with the Win98 machines.The only difference I could find is NetBEUI is listed in the hidden devices in device manager on mine and the office computer but not in my son's XP machine.Since you, Scott do not have NetBEUI going, does anyone else who has a successful WinXP to WinXP working, is NetBEUI listed in the device manager? Go to the Hardware Device Manager, select Show Hidden Devices from the View Menu, and then expand the Non-Plug and Play Devices and see if NetBEUI is listed.This weekend I will bring the office XP machine home and see if works - XP to XP.You know, this networking snafu seems remarkably similar to what MS did between Win95 and Win98. At our office we were successfully faxing reports as attachments from our typists using Win95, and then when we upgraded to Win98, low and behold faxing capabilities had been removed from Windows. No warning label was provided on the Windows 98 box stating that faxing capabilities had been removed. You had to find out after the upgrade was performed.Well, of course, Microsoft said faxing was unspported, but they had put a copy of MS Exchange and MS Fax on the Win98 CD in the Old Windows 95 folder, and it could installed from there.What a farce since they were so proud of Microsoft At Work faxing capabilities. I believe they were trying to push their internet business and securely sending attachments between faxes with no email server intermediary would not fit in their plans.Now with Microsoft deprecating NetBEUI, a nonroutable, highly used by many homes and offices, networking protocol, from WinXP, I wonder what their motives are. Perhaps they couldn't get it running either so they pulled it. Sorry for the rant, but to have to expend so much time, which took a only few minutes in Windows 98 to do, and have forums and all is beyond belief from a company who should want to satisfy their customer's needs.The really only saving grace is I do enjoy solving problems with computers.Thanks,Geoff

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Now with Microsoft deprecating NetBEUI, a nonroutable, highly used by many homes and offices, networking protocol, from WinXP, I wonder what their motives are.  Perhaps they couldn't get it running either so they pulled it.
That's probably not far from the truth. <_< TCP/IP is a more robust protocol and NetBEUI just doesn't scale well on large networks. NetBEUI is non-routeable so it is pretty much useless in networks that require sophisticated subnetting.
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geoff holcomb

Yahoooo!I finally discovered the solution to the problem.For some reason, when NetBEUI is installed, it doesn't always copy the nbf.sys from the system32 folder to the system32\drivers folder.Once I copied the file there, all of the computers can now see each other, even the XP to XP.Thanks to all who helped.Geoff

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