I had a 4-port Linksys DSL Router with 4 Windows98 machines connected via 10/100 ethernet cards … everything was working well - sharing files, printers etc, until I replaced one of the machines with a new laptop that has Windows2000NT … when I connet this machine, I can see the other 3 Windows98 machines, and they can see each other, but not the Win98 machines can’t see the Win2000NT laptop??? I’ve swapped all the cables etc, but no luck … There are muliple file-sharings set up on the Win2000NT machine, but it acts almost like the machine is not sharing files at all … I even tried setting up the entire C-Drive for the Win2000NT laptop for file sharing but still no luck - Is there some additional trick to tie in Win2000NT to a local network? Is there another level of file sharing I’m not accessing? Seems like it should be more “network-ready” than Win98?!? Any ideas? Any input wouold be appreciated … (previous post on this subject had no text for some reason … Sorry about that!) sct-hockeytown
Windows 2000 is far more network ready than Windows 98, provided that it can authenticate the users connecting to it. Unfortunately, the inflexibility and insecurity of Windows 98 can make it difficult to communicate with Windows 2000 machines.
Windows 2000 requires that specific users have permissions to access shared files. That means you won’t be able to simply set a password to let any user get to your files like you can in 98, but instead to actually open the Users and Passwords control panel to create an account on your Win2000 machine to match the login name on the Windows 98 computer that’s trying to access it. If you use three different names on three different computers, that’s three accounts you need to set up.
Since you can access the other computers from the laptop, I’m almost certain that most of your network is working fine; you just need to set up the right permissions.
I’m a Mac user, so feel free to tell me I’m wrong, but…there’s no such thing as Windows2000NT. You’ve either got Windows2000 or you’ve got WindowsNT.
You may have to learn networking all over again, as NT and its successor Windows 2000 (and XP) are very different operating systems than Windows 95/98/ME.
Thanks KeithT and AHunter3 - Waht you say about “permission” sounds right … I’ll give it a try … and as far as Windows2000NT … I’ll check (my laptop is at work right now) … I think the log-on screen actually says “Widnows2000: Using NT Technology” - so you’re probably correct … it’s Windows2000 … Thanks! sct-hockeytown …
Windows 2000 is Windows NT 5.0. Just a different name.