Connecting 2 PCs On Different Windows Version

Hi,

Several months ago I posted a same question but on Windows 98 Se. By the help of the experts in this board I successful in connecting 2 PCs at last. But now, one PC using Windows XP Professional, while the other one still using Windows 98 SE.

My questions are:

1. Is it possible to connect two PCs on NIC using different version of Windows (Windows 98 SE and Windows XP Pro)?

2. If the answer to question number 1 is possible, I think I don't need to change the network setting in Windows 98 SE and just setting the network in Windows XP. Is this correct?

3. If the answer to question number 2 is correct, then what should I do to setup the network in Windows XP Pro? I need a step by step guidance for this solution. I tried to check the network setting in Windows XP Pro, but it seems more complicated than Windows 98 SE. So I think better to ask the experts again in this great board.

Any guidances is munumber 1 is possible, I think I don't need to change the network setting in Windows 98 SE and just setting the network in Windows XP. Is this correct?

3. If the answer to question number 2 is correct, then what should I do to setup the network in Windows XP Pro? I need a step by step guidance for this solution. I tried to check the network setting in Windows XP Pro, but it seems more complicated than Windows 98 SE. So I think better to ask the experts again in this great board.

Any guidances is much appreciated.

Thank you.

Cheers,

Yasmin

 

It is possible to network connect any of the Microsoft operating systems that do networking (so pretty much Win3.11 [windows for workgroups] through Windows 2003).

How do you have the PCs physically connected? I.e., hub, switch, direct cable from network card on 98 to network card on XP.

Do you want/need both to connect to the internet at the same time?

How many total PCs do you want to connect to each other?

 

How do you have the PCs physically connected? I.e., hub, switch, direct cable from network card on 98 to network card on XP.

Direct cable using NIC

Do you want/need both to connect to the internet at the same time?

No at all.

How many total PCs do you want to connect to each other?

Just two PCs.

Furthermore, it only use to share files and folders.

Thanks, Newt.

Yasmin

PS:

Sorry for late response. I have problem to connect to my ISP. It always has problem on holidays because no staffs come on holidays to control the ISP and it's two days holiday on last Sunday and Monday.

 

Thanks for the information. With the setup you have, I think the easiest would be to do as follows:

• Give each PC a different computer name
• put both PCs in the same workgroup
• load NetBeui on both PCs. Easy on 98 since it's one of the options when you set up networking. On XP, do it This way.
• Always log on to the 98 PC with a username and non-blank password. On the XP PC, enable the Guest account. XP-pro has it disabled by default when the OS is installed. To get to the accounts, right-click on the My Computer icon then left click on Manage and drill down to the users section.
• On XP, open Windows Explorer then tools~folder options~view and go to the bottom of the listed options and turn off Simple File Sharing.

That should pretty well do it for you.

 

Newt

I think I remember Mr (I believe) Yasmin. If I'm correct, He is the one that choose to network by Crossover Cable. I was going to give him the Neworking Wizard and Floppy Disk procedure to do this. Of Course your explanation was more in detail than mine. For what he wants to do would the Wizard not be the easiest for him? Once he set up the Pro, a floppy to the 98 would change all, wouldn't it? That's the way I set up my Crossover Cable rig.

 

Mudd - I have almost zero experience with the networking wizard. Maybe even zero but I could have done something I have forgotten about.

From reading, the floppy that XP builds to set up other operating system versions seems to have problems at times. Flawless for setting up other XP systems though. And it may only be ME it has bad problems with.

 

From Day 1 my two XPs didn't like the Network Wizard. You may remember me asking for help and you walked me through a procedure that did work. I used that for months and when it was time to reformat, before I did the 'Newt Thing" I tried the Networking Wizard and it worked like a charm and has since. Really easy when it works. If Mr Yasmin has trouble with the "Newt Procedure" maybe this might work. Happy Fishing!

 

A different perspective, perhaps ...

I have two XP Pro computers networked with a 98 SE computer via ethernet and router, and have never used anything BUT the networking wizard to set up or repair the network. Installing the necessary files on the 98 computer via floppy disk takes only seconds, and NETBUI is not installed on any of the three computers.

That said, the 98 computer will not see, or connect to, an XP computer, unless "Use simple file sharing" IS checked on the Windows Explorer > Tools > Folder Options > View tab on that XP computer.

 

Firda,
I had a similar situation.
everyone told me how easy it was to do.
it was not.
in the end took the computers to a more knowledgable person.
in hte end the easiest way was to get an SMC Barrricade router and simply use its setup routine.

 

Thanks to everybody for your attention and suggestions.

I can setup the network for both PCs.

The first PC is Windows 98 SE
The second PC is Windows XP Professional.

From Windows XP, I can open and read, copy and paste shared files easily without any problem.

Not the case with the Windows 98 SE PC. From this PC, I can see the second PC. But when I tried to open the second PC from the first PC, it first asked to enter the network password to access 2nd PC. Since I don't know the password, so I deleted the network on first PC. And then re-setup the network. This time I can see the second PC. But when I tried to open it, it again asked the password. I restarted the PC. This time, when I tried to open the 2nd PC, it didn't asked the password. Instead, there is an error said that the second PC (\\2nd PC) is not accessible. This device does not exist on the network.

My questions are:

1. What is meant by the error? How to fix it?
2. How to find and delete the network password and then recreate the password?
3. In 2nd PC (Windows XP), it's easy to delete the networked PC. But it's not with the 1st PC (windows 98 SE). How to delete the networked PC in Windows 98 SE in order I can create the new one?

Once again, thank you very much for your kind attention and guidance. I really appreciate you all.

Cheers,

Yasmin

PS:

Mudd, you are right. It's me who asked the help to connecting two PCs under Windows 98 SE on early last February 2004. I'm a girl and I'm still in high school.

 

Firda

Please accept my apologies for the "Mr" as I was unaware that you were a Lady. Not being familiar with names of people other than the US, I made a guess and I was wrong. I meant no offense.

I'm not familiar with the network password problem you are having. Rather than giving you advice that might well be incorrect I'll not offer any information on that. I feel sure that someone with more knowledge about this will post a reply soon.

Congratulations on your progress so far.

 

XP handles network security in a totally different fashion than 98/ME. It demands to know 'who' wants to connect. Try this:

- Log on to the 98 PC with a username and non-blank password.
- On XP, enable the Guest account (will have been disabled by default when the OS was installed).

My guess is that 98 will then be able to connect to XP. If it still can't, you may have a firewall on XP blocking 98 from connecting.

 

Newt,

Thanks for the suggestion.

The Windows 98 SE has a user name and password for connecting with the other pc on network. It's made when I setup the networking for both PC using Windows 98 SE on both. Everytime I start Windows 98 SE, it always ask this password. The problem is that when I try to open the other PC, it ask another password. But now, the other PC was broken and replaced with new PC using Windows XP. And Firewall on Windows XP is disable during the installation. And I already enable the Guess account as you suggested before. As I remember, when Windows XP start, it's the Administrator account that request the password which is blank. Should I log on to Guess account? And should I make a password for the Administrator account?

Any other suggestion or ideas?

For Mudd, that's OK. I understand the situation and I appreciate you for your guidance so far, as it's impossible I can connect two PCs without your expertise help.

Thanks again.

Cheers,

Yasmin

 

A password for the administrator account is a good idea in general.

The Guest account is only there to allow other PCs to connect. Not an account you should try to use.

I am also not a fan of using the administrator account except in unusual circumstances when you need to do some major repair work.

Try this:

- on XP set yourself up an account to use when you just want to use the PC rather than repair something. Make it match the 98 logon and give it the same password - case sensitive too so an exact match on both username and password.

- add the account to the Power Users group. That way it will have rights to do most things you need to do like adding programs and similar.

- you can copy quite a few of the settings (favorites, startup, etc.) from your administrator account to your new account and save yourself some time.

- I understand from what you posted that when you boot the 98 PC it has you enter a username and password to log on. That should continue. One thing you might try is deleting the .pwl file(s) and creating the password again since it may have a problem.

With the above done, the two PCs should be easily able to share any folders, printers, etc. that you set as shared.

 

Hi Yasmin ...

You haven't posted back to tell us if you've solved your problem but, if you haven't, try this...

1. Run the Network Setup Wizard on the XP computer and copy the files required for the 98 computer to a floppy disk when you're given that option.

2. Insert the floppy in the 98 computer, open Windows Explorer, click on the A: drive, and double-click on "netsetup.exe ". Reboot the computer when instructed.

3. Run the Network Setup Wizard when it opens.

4. On the XP computer, open Windows Explorer and, on the View tab of Tools > Folder Options, make sure that "Use simple file sharing" (last item at the bottom of the list) IS checked.

5. On the XP computer, in Windows Explorer, right-click on each drive or partition and select "Sharing and Security... ". In the "Network sharing and security" section, make sure that the upper box is checked. Check the lower one, as well, if you want to be able to work on XP files/folders from the 98 computer.​

Now, you should be able to access the files/folders on the XP computer from the 98 computer.

BTW, if you're the only user of your computers, you don't need to use a logon password, although you'll have fewer problems if you do use one on the 98 computer. If you'd like your computer to boot completely without having to enter the password, download and install TweakUI 1.33, if you don't already have it. It will place a TweakUI applet on your Control Panel which will give you access to all kinds of tweaks. On the Logon tab you can enter your username and password. Be sure to check the box for automatic logon.

TweakUI will run equally well on your XP computer, even though there's a newer version, TweakUI 2.10, written specifically for XP. They run side by side very nicely, and each offers features that the other doesn't.

Good luck and, even if you don't need these suggestions, be sure to post back.

 

Hi, Jim.

Thanks for your suggestion and sorry if I'm not replying yet. At this moment I'm preparing for the examination. However, I will post the result, whether the problem is solved or not. (But I hope I can solve the problem now).

Thanks also to Newt for the last suggestions.

Cheers,

Yasmin

 

Jim and Newt,

Further my reply this morning, I just try to follow your guidances. In Jim's guidance no. 5, there is no upper box nor lower one in the "Network sharing and security" section.

Further, back to my previous message, how to delete the shared folders in Windows 98 SE, so I can start again from the scratch? It's easy to delete it in Windows XP, but not in the Windows 98 SE.

Since it seems so difficult to setup networking 2 PCs in Windows 98 SE when connecting to Windows XP, I consider to install Windows XP in the Windows 98 PC. The question is what data should I key in on the LAN section for:

1. Obtain IP automatically? (check or not?)
2. Static IP address?
3. Subnet Mask?
4. Default gateway?
5. Obtain DNS automatically?
6. Preferred DNS?
7. Alternate DNS (optional)?

Thanks.

Cheers,

Yasmin

 

Hi, Newt, Mudd, Jim and the others,

My problem solved now. I installed Windows XP Pro on PC 1, so it's now a multi-boot system. And everything runs smoothly!

Thank you very much to all of you for the professional and expertise support.

Cheers,

Yasmin

 

Hi Yasmin ...

My apologies for not responding sooner. I'm glad you got your networking problem solved, and I think you'll be much happier with XP on both computers, anyway.

The only reason I keep 98 SE on one of mine is because I'm responsible for the maintenance of several computers belonging to friends and relatives. They still use 98 SE, so I use my computer as a reference unit and test bed when they run into problems.

Thanks for posting back.

 

Miss Yashim

Congratulations to you. Hope all will goes well and you have a good experience with the Networked Computers.

The People on the BBS Forum will always be glad to answer your questions and to help with any future problem. There are some very knowledgeable folks here and very generous with with their expertise.