Workgroup with 98SE unstable

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mark
  • Start date Start date
M

Mark

I've seen this question posted in serveral different ways
in this newsgroup, but non have been answered or answered
to completion. So I will try my version of the problem.
I have setup a small network, 6 Windows 98SE workstations
and a new Win XP Pro PC that will act as the resource
server. All company files are on the XP SPK1 computer,
all computers are getting an IP address from the linksys
router that is sharing the internet connection (DSL).
The XP machine however is a static IP, as it also acts as
a PCAnywhere host for any employee wishing to work from
the road or home. It seems that every morning, after the
98 computers were shutdown at night, but the XP PC stays
on, when the 98 computers are turned on and "logged in"
they cannot connect to the XP machine. It either
requires another reboot or 2 on the 98 machine or a
reboot of the XP computer. All machines have the
same "workgroup name" all machines are on the same subnet
(class C), same gateway and DNS. When the users of the
98 computers log on, they are mapped to two folders on
the XP machine, one for the office documents and one for
a software programs data files. Is there a problem with
workgrouping 98 and XP?

Also, when it finally works, meaning the 98 clients
can map to and access the resources on the XP computer,
they are being logged in as the guest account on xP. I
was able to work around that by giving the guest account
access to the resources all employees need. But that is
a security risk. I added user accounts on the XP
computer of all the usernames the employees use when
logging into the 98 machines. I also created a group
under XP and added the useraccounts to it, gave both the
group and user accounts rights to the resources they need
on the xP computer. but they still get in under guest
account. Anyway to fix that?
 
Mark

I've experienced similar problems setting up small networks for people who do not have a domain controller (be it NT or W2K) - using a "workgroup" approach and mixing XP (or W2K) machines and others on a W9x platform. My experience has been that it simply doesn't work very well. I did one about 2 months ago and finally decided to upgrade the W98 machine to XP and that solved all problems
At my office - we have a domain controlled network and although most of the client machines are running XP Pro - there are several still running W98 (due to specific applications on them that will not run under the NT/W2K/XP OS). In that type of environment - there's no problem mixing W95/W98/W2K/XP machines
I'd suggest one of two options - upgrade the 98SE machines to either W2K or preferably XP - OR - invest in a small server and establish it as a domain controller and let it handle the networking environment.
 
The issue is in how Pre-Win2k systems handle Netbios. Win2k and above do not need to have WINS installed on a server

White Paper on WIN
http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/techinfo/howitworks/communications/nameadrmgmt/wins.as

Recommendatio

Use Windows Server 2003 Small Business Server for around $200 more than XP you get SQL (databases), Exhange (Messaging), Sharepoint Portal Services (web creation for all kinds of stuff without knoing ANY html) and all of the normal security features in a server lass product

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/sbs/default.msp
 
Thanks for your post, Mark. This is exactly the problem
I've been working through. Seemed to work at one stage
and then visibility of the XP machines from the W98
machines just stopped. I thought it might have had
something to do with the maximum network shares a XP
machine could have but from the dialogue I've read here
it is a little more complicated than that.

Strange that my 2 W98 PC's can see one of my XP's but not
the other. Any suggestions on why this would happen?

An official statement on co-existence of 98 and XP on a
home network under workgroups would be very helpful, Mr
Microsoft!

Cheers
 
Two things guys.
1) The reason I did not choose to go with a "server"
installation was simply cost! It was a small environment
where there are no technical people there. They have no
plans of hosting their own website or email server, just
sharing MS Office docs and a data folder for a software
package. To go with an XP pro machine was just the cost
of the machine and XP for around $900.00. Where as
a "server" or atleast SBS with the licensing for the
other clients is just out of the question. Microsoft is
always claiming interoperability with their OS's so why
should I have believed there would be a problem going
this route???
2) Would adding the XP Pro computers info into the
hosts file on the 98 machines possibly help this issue?

Thanks guys for your quick respones and quotes!! Let's
get this resolved, it seems there are a lot of us in this
boat.
-----Original Message-----
The issue is in how Pre-Win2k systems handle Netbios.
Click to expand...
Win2k and above do not need to have WINS installed on a
server.
White Paper on WINS
http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/techinfo/howitworks/ communications/nameadrmgmt/wins.asp

Recommendation

Use Windows Server 2003 Small Business Server for around
Click to expand...
$200 more than XP you get SQL (databases), Exhange
(Messaging), Sharepoint Portal Services (web creation for
all kinds of stuff without knoing ANY html) and all of
the normal security features in a server lass product.
 
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