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WinXP file sharing with Win98


lawton_kid

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:) I have been pulling my hair out for the last few weeks trying to get my Win98 computers to view files on my XP machine. I can easily view files on the 98 machines FROM the XP, but not vise versa. I can share files between the 98’s easily, and have had no problem with connecting to the internet and mail on any of them from the day I put in my broadband and router.Here’s my setup:1. Wireless broadband2. Linksys router with 4 port switch (BEFSR41 V.2 with latest firmware upgrade)3. One Dell P4 2gig with WinXP Home Edition4. One machine with Win98SE5. One machine with Win98 First Ed.6. 5 port switch between the two 98 machines.Every time that I try to access files or folders on the XP, I get a dialog box asking for a networking password (for the share: \WinXP computer name\IPC$). I have always logged on to MS Networking on the two 98 machines with a username and password (as I had them networked previously, with just a crossover cable). When I bought the Dell XP Home machine, I just logged on with a username and no password. I have tried everything that I can think of to remedy this problem to no avail. From the router ‘DHCP clients table’, I can see the XP, but get the dialog box for the password every time that I try to access it. I have contacted Linksys to no avail, read about a hundred more pages on networking and still can’t figure it out. Do I need to install and enable ‘Simple File Sharing’ on the XP and go that route or am I missing the point? I have uninstalled NetBEUI from the 98’s. I even tried to install the W2K NetBEUI on the XP, but remvoved it when it didn’t help.I have ‘File and Printer Sharing’, Client for MS networking, and TCP/IP enabled on all, plus Q of S on the XP. Also, do the Upnp need to be enabled or disabled???? I have seen so much conflicting advice, that I am totally confused. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.Thanks,Allen
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Check to see if the 98Se machines are running NetBeui... If so install it on the XP machine....Alsi you may need to ahve a user on the XP box the same as the user on the 98SE's-- Mike

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You have to either enable the Guest account on the XP machine or add the computer names as Windows accounts on the XP machine. Either one will work. I'm actually trying to get Microsoft on the record about which of these two ways is recommended. Guests is much easier (and less confusing when you boot your XP computer). But I'm concerned that enabling Guests opens a security loophole. It's a common account name on every computer.I'm 98% sure this will solve your problem.To test it quickly, just open the User Accounts control panel and use it to enable the Guests account. It should work right away, although you may have to reboot cranky Win9x machines.-- Scot

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:) Been there, done that, at least once. The only thing is, as per a suggestion in PCWorld. I password protected the 'Guest' account by going to a command line and typing in: " Net user guest password", then <enter>. Then if you go back to the 'guest' account (in User Accounts), it will allow you to put in a password for the guest account, reboot and done. I quote them: "From now on, any attempt to log on to shared folders from the Guest account will require the Guest password for access-even if the Guest account is turned off!-KK Maybe this messed up my 'Guest' account some way? :) As a side note, I don't remember you or other readers saying too much about WinXP. Myself, I am about ready to trash it and go back to W2K. I have had nothing but problems with this OS on a Dell P4 2gig since day one. I never have gotten Outlook 2002 to work the same from one day to the next either (Office XP worked fine when I ran W2K with it). Seems like XP is sooooooooooooo fussy about what programs you have installed and, to me, it is Super slow. My old Celeron 500 with W98 is much faster in many general areas, such as bouncing around from window to window. Of course for certain other tasks it is slower, but wow. A fellow at work said the same thing and he is the resident process control computer guy. About the only things I like are the way it reduces the size of a bunch of pictures if you want to email them and their printing wizard also is great. Other than that, I'd can it. I'm sure there must be a picture and printing program that could do the same things and cost a COUPLE dollars less. Thanks so much for a great newsletter. Allen
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I like Windows 2000. I like Windows XP a lot better. I have not had lots and lots of problems with it. But ... the one place where it does have issues is in the networking area. I have been able to overcome those issues, but I know that some people wrestle with them.About the Guests account, I like and respect PC World. But I've learned to always suspect the thing that is less common on any given PC. So, I guess I would advise to disable the password protection. (It is a cool idea.)A couple of other thoughts. Given that you have three PCs, you should be able to eliminate your router. Just plug all the PCs into the Linksys router. First rule of troubleshooting is to simplify as much as possible.If you are running a software firewall on any or all your PCs, I would strongly advise you to disable it on all while you figure this out. I have seen these sorts of problems caused by ZoneAlarm in particular.-- Scot

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B) Thanks a lot Scot. Let me respond to your post first:The 'guest' account info was from PCMagazine, not PCWorld, sorry. I enabled the guest account, but didn't help.I had tried uninstalling Zonealarm also, but didn't help either.I had tried running just one of the 98 computers and running it straight to the router, leaving out the hub, but that didn't help.To make a long story short, I went back to a previous Drive Image 5 image that I had made shortly after a fresh install, had just the basics. Lo and Behold it worked. Not even signed in with the exact same username on both machines, but the same password. I didn't have an antivirus program installed yet on that XP Home image and very little else except office and a few odd programs. I'll have to compare the 'services' and other settings on both images and see how they differ. Maybe I can add things a little at a time and check the network in between. I had messed with some 'services' settings here and there, but even tried going back to the 'default' settings that they give you in the 'Help' section. One other thing that I noticed right away that is different, is that now I have an icon for the Linksys router in the 'Network Connections' whereas I didn't before. Also before I only had an icon for the 'Local Area Connection' in the system tray, and now, I only have an icon for the router in the tray.Thanks for all your help. Hope I can pinpoint it better some day soon.Allen
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Grasshopper

I have had the same problem.I've tried everything as previously posted except for the imaging (don't have one) and a direct connect thru the router.I have a router/switch and a separate Linksys router. I have 4 machines---two wired to the router and two wireless. I can see and browse all except that I cannot browse (I can see...sometimes) one wireless from the other. One is a laptop with Win98SE and the other is a desktop with Windows XP. I've followed the Win2K NetBEUI install (I run that for local browsing) and have tried the guest account. I can see the other computer on the network but cannot browse. I would try the direct router hook up ( I still may, who knows) but that would have me lugging it upstairs and installing a wired NIC. Yes, simple but I'll have to get around to it sometime.An interesting thing on Zonealarm. I had ZA running at first with this problem. I was not able to ping between wireless computers. After shutting it down, I was able to ping but still not able to browse. Very strange.It sounds more like an IP problem, but I've been over all that in the wireless setup. It sounds like one of those problems that will have to be settled by a drastic measure. <_< Oh well....Allen

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This is a common problem with wireless, that you have browse problems. I see it all the time on my networks. For me one thing that almost always fixes it is if I allow TCP/IP to be the primary or only protocol on my LAN. If you have disabled TCP/IP sharing on some or all of your PCs, this may be the issue. If you can ping, you have IP addresses. But are they in the same range? Are you using DHCP or statically assigned IP addresses? That's another area to look for. With NetBEUI, you don't really need that -- technically -- to be able to browse. But these network browse problems are notorious. By the way, Windows ME in particular has this problem, especially in a mixed environment with 2K or XP.-- Scot

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Only thing that worked for me in a similar LAN configuration was to make all the PCs belong to the same "workgroup". Then I created accounts (same names, same passwords) for the users on my Win98 PCs on the XP box. Almost like a mini domain. After that everyone could see each other's shares Win98 <-> Win98SE <-> WinXP.

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Allen & allI had the same problem & it drove me nutts ! I'm a PC pro and I can't get my own network working????I had tried NETBEUI, checked user names, and all the MS-KB published tips. I had not tried GUEST, because I wanted to share my accounting to another machine for access from my workshop, but did not want my kids to accidentally get into there and cause problems.Finally, I found a solution for me. (I'm running XP/PRO on my main box and Simple File Sharing DISABLED --Windows Explorer > Tools > Folder Options > View > Scroll to Bottom Entry & UNcheck Use Simple File Sharing -- I haven't tried this with XP/Home.) [Note: I edited this for clarity. Please accept my apology for intruding. But I feel this could be very useful information! --Scot]Create a NEW Share & give it a DIFFERENT Share Name, go to Permissions Entry, and add the user name for each user/machine that you want to allow access. You MUST explicitly give permission, "Everybody" doesn't seem to work.Regarding general comments about XP: Yes, it's bigger and more bloated than ever before, and yes, there are some issues when networking with Win98. However, networking with other XP machines is ALMOST too easy. And I haven't had any problems with program compatability. And, of course, it is much more stable than Win98 -- not perfect, but much, much better.Mark

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Well one thing is for sure, I'm not the only one that had problems getting XPPro and two W98SE getting to communicate.But now that it works ( I cant explain how I did it) a new probleme occurred : the first time I connect between WP and W98 it takes about 5 minutes to get in to the partition. Once connected I can download fast enough.I eliminated HKey loca machine/Software/............/Name space/ something....task( the french term is "taches planifiées" 'cause I live there) as advised but that didn't change a thing.Does any one have that problem?

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I am running a 3 & sometimes a 4-machine network. 1 XP Pro & the rest ME. I use Norton's Firewall. I tried to add my ME machines to Norton's friendly list manually, but that didn't work. Ran the wizard to detect other machines & that worked. You must turn off XP pro's firewall on the connection over which you are sharing files & printers. My internet connection which I share is through a 2nd Ethernet card for security - firewalled with both XP firewall & Norton's. I also turned off Browse master within the network settings on my ME machines. The browse master conflicts make it so nothing shows up in network neighborhood for a long time, or maybe never, but if you've mapped a drive, it will go right there. Found lots of good networking info at practicallynetworked.com.

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That browser-master thing is a known problem with Windows Me, although other Windows 9x users should check into it too.About the problem with new connections to another workstation on an XP network, I have seen this too. For me, though, the problem is intermittent. I find that with NetBEUI this happens far less often. But there are other issues with NetBEUI (hibernation and tougher installation, and some people have issues with wireless).-- Scot

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Related to this topic:Use NWLink protocol for your local network instead of IP. Use IP only for talking outside your network. Pros and Cons have probably been discussed here many times (security, ease of use, et). They also are talked about at http://grc.com/su-bondage.htm . A nice link with pictures to set up NWLink is located here: http://www.mcmcse.com/windows_xp/guides/nwlink.shtmlUnrelated to this topic but an XP<->Win98 thing is "Easy Fix For Sloooooow Launching XP/2K Apps" or printing. From LangaList (who makes nice references to Scot's newsletter on occasion. I searched for this solution for a long long time. Disable LMHOST lookup.

Reader "Robert" wrote about a problem he encountered on a peer-network setup he had with an XP machine:While using the Win XP machine - If I use windows explorer (or a shortcut to the my documents folder on the win 98 pc) and open the My Documents folder on the Win98 pc I get there with normal speed - a couple of seconds. If I try to open a word document - word XP starts, but then stops responding for anywhere from 1 to 5 minutes. 50% of the time word XP will open the file after the delay. 50% of the time word XP will just stop working. The same thing happens with Excel XP, Powerpoint XP, Access XP. Is it me? I never had any problems connecting existing win 98 machines to any peer to peer network and sharing the files and printers. Any help?I saw something similar on my XP and Win2K systems: certain apps would take forever to open, and for no obvious reason. But I had a clue to go on: I had set up my system to place a network connection icon in the notification area (by the clock), and I noticed that when I launched certain apps, the icon showed furious network activity. However, my ZoneAlarm icon simultaneously was showing *no* activity at all. That told me that something was triggering a huge amount of purely local (not Internet) activity when I tried to launch certain apps.I eventually traced it to the local network's "lmhosts lookup" and NetBIOS settings, which were installed by default, but not needed on my office's 10-system peer network. Disabling those settings solved the problem completely.Here's how to disable the unneeded settings: Right-click to network connections/properties, then right click on your "local area connection"/properties, then click to Internet Protocol and select properties/advanced/wins. Once there, UNcheck the "enable lmhosts lookup" then click "disable NetBIOS over TCP."With "lmhosts lookup" and "NetBIOS over TCP" disabled, the bogus network activity stopped, and my apps opened normally.
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  • 2 weeks later...

Hey, scottf200:First, you're right IPX/SPX with NetBIOS (or NWLink) has been discussed heavily here on the Forums and also in the newsletter. That is the protocol that I use on my LAN for file sharing, printer sharing, and so forth.

... an XPWin98 thing is "Easy Fix For Sloooooow Launching XP/2K Apps" ...
I saw this tip when Fred ran it originally, and made a mental note at the time to check it out (but somehow forgot to go back and "read" the note).My experience has been different, though. I helped to beta test Office XP and this problem was definitely apparent, especially under Windows 98, with the Office XP applications in the early going. (I still see an unrelated long pause like that sometimes when I paste a part of a Web page into Office XP apps, esp. Word.) But all the other slow-downs I saw initially were fixed by patches and updates that Microsoft has released for Office XP. Sometimes I wonder whether folks are aware of this Office Updates site:http://office.microsoft.com/ProductUpdates...es/default.aspxBut, because Fred and you mentioned it, I'm checking out the LMHosts thing now, and will investigate whether it has any benefits. Maybe there are other advantages to this. I am definitely seeing occasional problems with XP networking.I also believe there's an issue to do with "simple file sharing" (any Explorer window > Tools > Folder Options > View > scroll to end) that is causing problems with XP-to-XP peer networking. I just haven't been able to put my finger on it fully. I may have mentioned this issue earlier in this thread, in fact.Thanks for the post!-- Scot
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Sometimes I wonder whether folks are aware of this Office Updates site:http://office.microsoft.com/ProductUpdates...es/default.aspx
Thanks for the reminder. Since Office does not automatically update like Windows, I tend to forget. At least I only had a couple of updates. Sure wish I did not have to dig out the CD every time I update though!
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  • 2 weeks later...

I finally found the solution to my personnel problem that was the long time taken to open à hard drive on a W98SE PC from a XP PC : The culprit was my anti virus ( KAV 3.5) that was originally installed in the LAN configuration. Every time I wanted to open something on another PC KAV verified every folder before letting anything in ( in fact you can't bame it, thats what its for).So try uninstalling your AV and install it back again in an 'individual' setting.

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I can't tell if you solved this or not but here is my 2 cents.I had the same issue with one of each WinXP, Win2Kpro, Win98SE. Every PC could see each other in the Network Neighborhood but could not browse.I got it to all work by using the following options:1. In both the XP and W2K PC I have the user names of the other PC's set as users.2. The user names of the primary user on all 3 PC's are identical.3. All 3 PC's are on the same workgroup.4. Keept the shares down to less than 10 characters with no spaces or special characters.5. On the Win98SE PC I had installed the Lexmark MarkNet Software to admin my Laser printer. 6. Turned off the remote registry and task service on the W2K and XP boxes.After that they all browse and connect rather quickly.I have since removed the W98 PC cause it basically just takes up space and added another W2K box for stabilty and file size pluses that NTFS brings.Chris

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  • 2 weeks later...
<snip>I also believe there's an issue to do with "simple file sharing" (any Explorer window > Tools > Folder Options > View > scroll to end) that is causing problems with XP-to-XP peer networking. I just haven't been able to put my finger on it fully. I may have mentioned this issue earlier in this thread, in fact.Thanks for the post!-- Scot
"Disable LMHOST lookup." Sure worked for me. Hopefully it helps others. You are very welcome for the post. I like to include links that explain things better than I could in a short amount of time...plus I like pictures <g>. I'm learning good stuff from your newsletter. Good office link too!Your 'simple file sharing' is a new one on me. I have to check out what GOOGLE says about it. -- Scott Fauque (scottf200)
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I can't help but diagree with the IPX/SPX use on a mixed LAN where Win95/98 boxes are present because of a known condition with the MS "NWLink IPX/SPX/NetBios Compatible Transport" protocol. It just doean't always play nice on a mixed LAN, but the definitive symptom if this is the culprit is an Error 55 being genned by NET USE.Go to a DOS window on the W98 box and run NET USE \WINXPBOX\SHARE where WINXPBOX is the WinXP Computer Name and SHARE is the name of a shared resource on that box.See if NET USE returns an "Error 55"...If so, go to the WinXP box and see what NWLINK protocols are installed and active. If present, disable "NWLink IPX/SPX/NetBios Compatible Transport Protocol".This is a common problem in the NT environment that goes back to the Win95 (and even the Win3.11) days -- see MSKB Article 161080 for more info. However, I recently encountered this problem with Win98 boxes trying to access Win2K and WinXP boxes...

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Guest LilBambi

Chris --Welcome!If I am reading this right, maybe Microsoft would better serve their customers by updating their KB article to include Win98. Or does it not reliably fix the problem?

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If I am reading this right, maybe Microsoft would better serve their customers by updating their KB article to include Win98. Or does it not reliably fix the problem?
The real difficulty here is that the problem does not occur with any real level of predictability.For example, I was recently called in to solve a mixed LAN resource sharing issue. This LAN was constructed as follows:
  • Two Win98SE workstations, identical in every respect. Hardware was identical, BIOS'es were configured exactly the same, and one system's HDD was a clone of the other's.
  • Two Win2K Pro workstations. Hardware again was identical between these two boxes, though there were differences in the user apps installed on them.
  • One Win98FE workstation, configured with the same apps as the Win2K pro boxes
  • One WinXP Pro workstation, also with the same user apps as the Win2k boxes
  • All workstations connected with CAT-5 cable to a D-Link DI-707P 7-port broadband router
  • All workstations had LapLink installed -- LapLink 7 was on the Win98 boxes, and LapLink 11 was on the NT-based boxes
  • Netware protocols were installed on all boxes for use with LapLink. All other protocols were disabled in the LapLink environment.
  • All workstations were using the D-Link DFE-530TX+ NIC at the time of my arrival there. This was a recent attempt to solve the connectivity problem. Previously, there had been a mix of NIC's in use there, mostly generic with Realtek chips.

This LAN had been working fine since its inception. The most recent workstation addition was the WinXP Pro box, and all still worked OK when that box was installed. The problem started when a group of Windows "Critical Updates" were installed.The immediate symptom was the inability to reliably access the WinXP box and one of the Win2K boxes from any of the Win98 boxes. Some attempts would be met with a "computer does not exist on the network" errmess. Others would allow the connection initially, but would then drop it during the session. During the entire troubleshooting period that their internal IT folks ran, connectivity to the second Win2K box was never lost. In addition, at no time was conncectivty (or access) to the Win98 boxes by the NT-based boxes lost.Also throughout this period, full connectivity was afforded through LapLink. Even when Windows would report that the target PC was not available on the LAN, LapLink could and did access it with no problems.Disabling the NWLink IPX/SPX/NetBios Compatible Transport protocol on the NT-based workstations restored full Windows networking connectivity for daily operations. Note that the NWLink NetBIOS protocol remained active. Note also that making this protocol change does not require a restart on the NT-based boxes, meaning that it can be done on the fly, and that I said "disable" -- not "remove".The basic difficulty here is the lack of consistency with this problem... which is probably why there is no one clear-cut fix, and no clear statement of affected configurations. In the incident that I cited above, running NET USE on the Win98 boxes revealed the "Error 55", which led me to the fix for that LAN. What is a puzzler is why the two Win2K boxes with identical hardware should not have the same problem. Because of the differences in the user apps installed?? Who knows? Certainly not Microsoft! :)

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  • 3 years later...
I hear ya! LOL!
old thread but I have same trouble. With win98 only it accepted any user name and group name and showed and accessed them all.Reading this thread I am still having trouble, trying updated drivers, tweak here, tweak there, nothing.
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Hello,You may wish to start your own message thread describing the problem in as much detail as possible. That is one of the best ways to get high-quality replies from forum members.Regards,Aryeh Goretsky

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  • 3 weeks later...
welcome, dinwitty! whoa! wow! methinks this is the oldest resurrected thread i've seen in a while! jeez! and to think, i've been hanging around here for 4 years! how cool is that?!so... dinwitty what ya got? any progress?
Starting a new thread when I dont have a clue where to start...?I poured over some over some other info on the net, it comes down to that there isnt any clear cut step by step resolution doing this.The Win98 machines see each other just fine.Its a WinXP issue.I found a netbios thingy on the XP disk and installed it, nothing positive.Basically I set the IP on the XP machine to like 168.156.10.1, 192.168.0.1 works alsoallowing the WInXP connection to say " CONNECTED" so it likes that.But it seems WinXP is only liking TCP as a net protocol.I have installed all the available protocols on WinXP.I tried turning off the firewall while offline, no dice.I set the Firewall to TRUSTED for the LAN card (zonealarm free)I am reading hints about tweaking this or that but some things I cannot find at all.One suggestion was to log in as the same username on both systemsand same workgroup.dunno there yet.Why WinXP has to be this bugger, I dunno.I seriously need the Win98 system working for now.
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