# Peer networking XP pro to an existing (mostly)Win98 workgroup. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 9, 2002, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peer-networking-xp-pro-to-an-existing-mostly-win98-workgroup/131510 "2002-10-09T11:48:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2002, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peer-networking-xp-pro-to-an-existing-mostly-win98-workgroup/131510/1 "2002-10-09T11:48:20Z")
I’m tearing my hair out here; I have just taken delivery of five new PCs for the office; they have XP pro and I’m trying to attach them to the peer network, which is mostly win98 machines. The (internet obsessed) network setup wizard says it has done its stuff, but I can’t see any of the other machines, neither can they see it. I’ve set up the IP address and I can ping from one to the other and vice versa, so there would appear to be nothing wrong with the NIC or other hardware. It wants me to run the XP network setup disk on all the other machines, but I have already added my XP pro notebook to the network without having to do that (in fact that went very smoothly IIRC); I just can’t quite work out what I’ve missed out this time around. any ideas anyone? ---
**Author:** ![Urban\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Urban\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urban_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2002, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peer-networking-xp-pro-to-an-existing-mostly-win98-workgroup/131510/2 "2002-10-09T12:04:34Z")
Have you enabled NetBIOS? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2002, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peer-networking-xp-pro-to-an-existing-mostly-win98-workgroup/131510/3 "2002-10-09T12:15:57Z")
D’oh! Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2002, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peer-networking-xp-pro-to-an-existing-mostly-win98-workgroup/131510/4 "2002-10-09T14:05:18Z")
OK, now it’s working, sort of; I can see the new machine in the Network Neighborhood from the Win98 machines, but in My Network Places on the new machine, it only shows itself. I can get at the Win98 machines on the network by typing \machinename in the address bar, but I can’t seem to browse them (refreshing the view doesn’t help either…) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2002, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peer-networking-xp-pro-to-an-existing-mostly-win98-workgroup/131510/5 "2002-10-09T15:39:30Z")
Got it! The subnet mask was wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Bongmaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Bongmaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bongmaster)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2002, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peer-networking-xp-pro-to-an-existing-mostly-win98-workgroup/131510/6 "2002-10-09T16:34:58Z")
Make sure they are all in the same workgroup too. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2002, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peer-networking-xp-pro-to-an-existing-mostly-win98-workgroup/131510/7 "2002-10-10T07:46:25Z")
While we’re here, does anyone know if it’s possible to use Windows Messenger (in XP) to exchange pop-up messages on a LAN, or do they have to go through a MS server on the net? ---
**Author:** ![Urban\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Urban\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urban_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2002, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peer-networking-xp-pro-to-an-existing-mostly-win98-workgroup/131510/8 "2002-10-10T08:01:06Z")
I think you can send messages on NT-esque machines. ---
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2002, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peer-networking-xp-pro-to-an-existing-mostly-win98-workgroup/131510/9 "2002-10-10T09:51:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mangetout \* > \*\*While we’re here, does anyone know if it’s possible to use Windows Messenger (in XP) to exchange pop-up messages on a LAN, or do they have to go through a MS server on the net? \*\* They have to go thru MS I believe. We are trying to set something like that up at work. I think the newest version of Outlook has an IM type thing in it that you can use though. Not sure how it works but I think it is there. ---
**Author:** ![Urban\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Urban\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urban_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2002, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peer-networking-xp-pro-to-an-existing-mostly-win98-workgroup/131510/10 "2002-10-10T11:45:32Z")
I’d just install ICQ or something like that on the local server.