Networking Help (Windows)

[MrNewbie]

I have two ethernet 10/100mbs cards, one in my laptop (running win98se) and one in my desktop (running win2k). The windows 2k machine seems to find the network connection and says its connected at 100mbs but I cant see the laptop in network neighbourhood and cant see any evidence of the laptop being connected to the desktop from the laptop except the lights of the cable coming on etc. When I boot the laptop windows 2k knows it has connected because the cable disconnected icon goes away from my task bar and it says its connected. I installed the NWLink IPX/SPX/NetBios Compatible Transport Protocol in Win2k and the laptop has a similarly named protocol installed too. Is there something I havent done?
Thanks
MrNewbie

[Piix4]

are you doing a peer to peer through cross wired or are you using a hub? why not try and make your workgroup say 'workgroup' on both systems & install tcp/ip & if you have tcp/ip binding to your ethernet devices then maybe specify ip address' w2k box 100.100.100.101 subnet 255.255.255.251 and win98 100.100.100.102 subnet 255.255.255.252 and if you have some crosswire connect one machine to the other if that don't work then maybe it is you cards or sumthin?

[Sensei]

Moving this puppy to networking.

[MrNewbie]

Well win2k detects that it is connected to the other computer so the cards do work. What I'm doing is using a RJ45 cable to connect to computers. A Laptop which is running Win98SE and a Desktop which is running Win2k. I'm not sure what you mean by what you said about the specifying ip addresses and subnets, how do I do that? And how do I tell it which protocol to use? I have a few protocols installed but I dont see anywhere where it says which one it is actually using.
Thanks
MrNewbie

[MrNewbie]

Ok now this is weird, now win2k doesnt detect the laptop's connection and connect...

[MrNewbie]

I played around with a few settings and now the computers do connect at 100mbps, but I still have the problem of them not seeing each other even though I have made the workgroups the same. Would it be possible for someone to tell me the protocols I need enabled and settings I need set for the two computers to be able to see each other? I tried looking for the other posts about this topic but couldnt find them.
Thanks

[Counterstrike]

All you need is:

Client For Microsoft Networks
TCP/IP Protocol
File and Print Sharing (if necessary)


You can set up the IPs statically by right-clicking on Network Neighborhood and clicking "properties." Set the IPs and reboot, it should all be working fine.

IP suggestions:

Comp 1 - IP=10.0.0.1 Subnet=255.0.0.0
Comp 2 - IP=10.0.0.2 Subnet=255.0.0.0

If you are running internet connections and stuff you'll have to get your DNS and Gateways from your ISP, if necessary. As for straight file and printer sharing, that should be all you'll need. Also, remember that for you to get access onto the Win2K box from the laptop, you'll have to login with a valid user/pass for the Win2K box on the Win98 box. That is, login as your Win2K user on the Laptop (at the "Network Logon" screen). Win2K to Win98 is different though, it doesn't matter who you are, just the password you have. Anyways, if you do password a file share on the laptop and try to get it from the Win2K box, you'll get a prompt to enter a user/pass ... leave the user part blank and just enter the password for the share. You should be able to get in just fine.

Post any new problems here and we'll try to help you.

[MrNewbie]

Wow thanks a lot Counterstrike now I just need to work on the shared tcp/ip which I think I've figured out.
Thanks

[MrNewbie]

Well I selected the DUN connection to be shared and reconnected and it have me this address:

192.168.0.1

I'm not sure what its for or where I should put it in the laptop but I also noticed that I can't ping the IP I assigned the laptop.

[hndpaul]

Hi there- sound like you've had fun!

DO the following:

1. Make sure both machines share the same workgroup name.
2. If you have TCP/IP installed and are using internet connection sharing, let ICS designate the IP addresses; take out all other assigned addresses and subnets and just let Windows take over that part for now. Windows will use the "private" IP address range of 192.168.0.x That's fine and stops you needing to delve into subnets for now. The "netmask" should be something like 255.255.255.0.
3. Make sure that after rebooting you can ping each machine. Sometimes Win98SE doesn't like peer-peer networking, therefore you may need to also install (for some strange reason) IPX/SPX- this worked for me and is recommended by Microsoft.
4. Basically, make sure that you are "sharing" something. For the purposes of helping you troubleshoot, work on sharing your laptop's C: drive by right clicking on the drive in My Computer and choosing "Sahring", click "Shared As" and give it a name or go with the default. Click apply and OK; now you should have a little hand underneath your C: drive to show that it is shared. Reboot (again), and see if the Win2K box can see the C: drive on your machine.

If none of the above works, try putting information about your machines in the c:\windows\hosts file: the IP address followed by the PC's name. This may help in resolution.

Make sure you have an account on the Win2K box with the SAME name and password you use when at the box itself; also, make sure you have MS file and print sharing enabled.

Give those a go and see how you get one!!

Paul, UK

[MrNewbie]

Thanks a lot! Its all working on the Windows side, except for an annoying message, it isnt causing any problems but it is annoying it says this right after I enter a pass at the login prompt:

No domain server was available to validate your password. You may not be able to gain access to some network resources.
[Ok] [Cancel]

I press ok and it boots windows and I can access the internet from the connection on the win2k machine, the shared dir on the win2k machine and the printer on the win2k machine, so nothing is wrong, but how can I get rid of that message?
Thanks

[ndelo]

Make sure that you are not using Client for Microsoft Networks as the networking client in your network neighberhood properties. Using this will cause your computer look for a domain controller (a sever) to log you onto a network. You should be able to use Windows Family Logon in a peer-to-peer situation. The computers should still be able to see each other as long as TCP/IP is configured right and the computers are in the same workgroup. I say should, because I've never tried to set up peer-to-peer networking before. Let me know if this clear up the problem.