Vista-XP-W9x sharing

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bob Willard
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Bob Willard

My home LAN/museum has eight operational PCs: two on W9x (both W98SE),
four on XP (XP PRO, XP MC, XP HE; all SP2), and two on Vista (a wired
desktop, and a wireless laptop). {W95 and WFW 3.11 are gone. RIP.}

I exchange files via mapping net.drives to shares. XP=>Vista and
Vista=>XP work fine: read, write, expand, collapse, create, and destroy,
all work as expected. XP=>W9x and W9x=>XP also work fine.

Vista=>W9x works fine, but only after I stumbled over an interesting
nuance. My W9x shares are password-protected, with a PW that includes
upper case, lower case, and numbers; e.g., Up99Down. When I tried to
map from either Vista PC to either W9x PC using the actual PW via
NET USE X: \\PCname\ShareName$ /persistent:yes Up99Down, the mapping
failed with SysErr 86 -- password is not correct. But, if I use the
same command with the password in all caps (UP99DOWN) or in no caps
(up99down), the command is accepted and the mapping works fine. This
seems to be specific to parsing the password in the Vista PC, since
the same NET USE command works from XP=>W9x. And, the parsing problem
seems specific to the password, since the PCnames and the ShareNames
are mixed case.

W9x=>Vista does not work at all. Sometimes the W9x PC hangs when I
try to map (via Explorer/Tools/Map); sometimes the mapping seems to
work but the W9x hangs when I try to list the mapped net.drive (via
clicking the + to expand the net.drive). I think I get farther when
I map to the \\Public folder on the Vista PC than when I map to the
\\PUBLIC or \\public folder, but I haven't made many attempts since
each hang requires a time-consuming reboot to unhang the W9x PC.

M$ is still supplying us with adventures, but I must be getting older;
I used to enjoy being in a maze of twisty little passages.
 
My home LAN/museum has eight operational PCs: two on W9x (both W98SE),
four on XP (XP PRO, XP MC, XP HE; all SP2), and two on Vista (a wired
desktop, and a wireless laptop). {W95 and WFW 3.11 are gone. RIP.}

I exchange files via mapping net.drives to shares. XP=>Vista and
Vista=>XP work fine: read, write, expand, collapse, create, and destroy,
all work as expected. XP=>W9x and W9x=>XP also work fine.

Vista=>W9x works fine, but only after I stumbled over an interesting
nuance. My W9x shares are password-protected, with a PW that includes
upper case, lower case, and numbers; e.g., Up99Down. When I tried to
map from either Vista PC to either W9x PC using the actual PW via
NET USE X: \\PCname\ShareName$ /persistent:yes Up99Down, the mapping
failed with SysErr 86 -- password is not correct. But, if I use the
same command with the password in all caps (UP99DOWN) or in no caps
(up99down), the command is accepted and the mapping works fine. This
seems to be specific to parsing the password in the Vista PC, since
the same NET USE command works from XP=>W9x. And, the parsing problem
seems specific to the password, since the PCnames and the ShareNames
are mixed case.

W9x=>Vista does not work at all. Sometimes the W9x PC hangs when I
try to map (via Explorer/Tools/Map); sometimes the mapping seems to
work but the W9x hangs when I try to list the mapped net.drive (via
clicking the + to expand the net.drive). I think I get farther when
I map to the \\Public folder on the Vista PC than when I map to the
\\PUBLIC or \\public folder, but I haven't made many attempts since
each hang requires a time-consuming reboot to unhang the W9x PC.

M$ is still supplying us with adventures, but I must be getting older;
I used to enjoy being in a maze of twisty little passages.
Click to expand...

Bob,

The Vista / Win 98 hanging issue is known problem with Windows 98. You might be
better off moving your necessary data from the Windows 98 computers onto the new
computers too.
<http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2007/05/microsoft-windows-and-authentication.html>
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2007/05/microsoft-windows-and-authentication.html

There will be plenty of twisty little passages provided by Windows XP, and by
Windows Vista when it is replaced. Learn from the problems with Windows 98, and
RIP Windows 98 too. Move forward.
<http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2007/07/computer-for-virginia-usa.html>
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2007/07/computer-for-virginia-usa.html

--
Cheers,
Chuck, MS-MVP 2005-2007 [Windows - Networking]
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/
Paranoia is not a problem, when it's a normal response from experience.
My email is AT DOT
actual address pchuck mvps org.
 
Chuck said:
Bob,

The Vista / Win 98 hanging issue is known problem with Windows 98. You might be
better off moving your necessary data from the Windows 98 computers onto the new
computers too.
<http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2007/05/microsoft-windows-and-authentication.html>
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2007/05/microsoft-windows-and-authentication.html

There will be plenty of twisty little passages provided by Windows XP, and by
Windows Vista when it is replaced. Learn from the problems with Windows 98, and
RIP Windows 98 too. Move forward.
<http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2007/07/computer-for-virginia-usa.html>
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2007/07/computer-for-virginia-usa.html
Click to expand...

Thanks, Chuck. I think I'll try the registry change, since those W9x PCs will
be around for a long time (with luck). The newer (ca.1998) is still useful,
while keeping the older (ca.1993) running is a personal challenge.
 
I hope you will post a followup if you have any further success. I have
tried to share files and a printer between W98SE and Vista Home Premium. I
have had very limited success accessing a Vista file from W98 - a file of 30
bytes took 45 seconds. Larger files (greater than a few KB) hung up as you
have found. I was also unsuccessful printing from W98 to a Vista printer.

George B.
 
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