1) Common protocol: Either install on all system NetBEUI protocol or TCP/IP:

Since the default

protocol for
Windows XP is
now TCP/IP,
you should also use
TCP/IP on
the
Windows95/98/ME
system.
(for details on the
selection/
installation of
protocols, please
view the Adjust the
Network
Configuration )

Check on TCP/IP
properties:
for Windows95,
you must
define manually an
IP-address,
for
Windows98/ME,
you can
select to use the
Windows 98
TCP/IP
AutoConfiguration.
however: since the
Windows98
Auto-IP-
configuration will
cause
a delay at startup, I
strongly
suggest to assign
manually an
IP-address (use an
address from
the range
192.168.x.x with
subnetmask
255.255.255.0 )

test, that you have a

working
network connection
to the
Windows2000
system by
making the TCP/IP
PING test.

Verify the Windows

XP Network.
By default, TCP/IP
is installed
and configured for
an
Automatic IP-
configuration.

Although it will not

delay the
startup, the network
will not
be ready for a
while, since the
IP-address will not
yet be
defined.
I suggest to define
the IP-address
manually, assigning
an IP-address
in the same range
 as defined on
the Windows95/98
system.

test, that you have a

working
network connection
to the
Windows95/98/ME
system by
making the TCP/IP
PING test.

2) Install File-and-Printer Sharing:

You need to install the "File-and-Printer Sharing" "File-and-Printer Sharing" is installed already by de
on Windows95/98/ME as part of the Network see the Windows XP Network Verification.
configuration.

3) make sure to be in the same workgroup:

Check in the Network-

Configuration,
tab: Identification, that
the name of the
workgroup is the same as
defined on the
Windows 2000 system.
 Check in the Properties
of "My Computer",
tab: Network
Identification, that the
name
of the workgroup is the
same as defined on
the Windows95/98/ME
system.
if required, adjust it.

4) Make the resources available by Sharing disks/folders on Windows95/98/ME and by

sharing disks/folders on Windows XP Home Edition / sharing disks/folders on Windows
XF Prof.

5) If you used Windows XP professional, create a WindowsXP Username for the user
working
on the Windows95/98/ME system:

use Windows XP User Management to create a username and password to be used to

logon
on the Windows95/98/ME system.

6) Login on the Windows95/98/ME system on startup with the username and password
defined
in the step above, when connecting to Windows XP Professional :
You can use any Username and password to connect to Windows XP Home Edition,
but you MUST define a username (and password, if required) to logon (if you select on
the
Windows95/98/ME "Enter Network Password" to "Cancel" or press the "ESC-key", then
you
did NOT logon to the network and can NOT use the network ! )

7) the Windows95 "Network Neighborhood" should allow you now to access the
WindowsXP system and the Windows XP "My Network Places" / "Computers Near
Me"
access to the Windows:

If you get the request to

enter a
password

on connection to a
Windows XP
Professional system for
the IPC$ resource,
then there is a
mismatch between the
username/password
and permission
defined on the XP-
system and the
username/password
used when making
the logon to the
Windows95/98/ME
system.
There is a new behavior with Windows XP on network access , when using usernames
without any passwords :

Although Windows XP
allows to logon
without passwords, it
requires that passwords
are defined for users, when
such users like to
connect via the network to
shared resources
on the Windows XP system :
Trying to access from
Windows95/98 to
Windows XP with matching
usernames but
using blank ( = no )
passwords will result
on Windows95 to an
"Unknown Error 31".

Solution : define on both

systems a password
for this user or use on
Windows XP the
Group-Policy Editor to allow
network access
without passwords.

About Johannes Helmig

Dr.Johannes Helmig is working as Director, Technical Knowledge Management in the
Belgium office of Gerber Technology where he is involved in Customer Service and
internal training, with special interest in Networking.

Click here for Johannes Helmig's section.

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