Networking a Win2k machine into a WinXp Network

Hi,

I have a small home network consisting of Windows XP Machines. One of the XP Machines is hooked up to the Internet and is sharing this access with the network. Networking this together was pretty simple, almost everything was auto detect. XP rules as long as its an XP-only network.

Now I am adding a laptop to the network, but it has Windows 2000 on it. I ran the network setup wizard on the laptop, made sure the TCP/IP protocol was installed and the workgroup is the same. But it refuses to connect. What doesn't work:

- I can't ping the laptop from any machine
- The laptop can't ping anything
- The laptop is not getting internet access
- There is no file sharing between the laptop and any other machine

What works:

- I know the wire is fine, as it works elsewhere, and it doesn't say "unplugged "

So after a while I thought I would just create a 'network setup disk' in XP and use that on the laptop. Lo and Behold, the network setup disk says it works on ALL Windows O/S except for Windows 2000.

Possible problems, but I don't know which one:

- It takes some magical patch to get Windows 2000 to network with Windows XP (unlikely since they are supposed to be very similar)
- My laptop's adapter does not like the wire... maybe crossed wire only works with certain computers?

Thanks in advance!

 

Most likely an issue with the settings.

Please do the following from a working XP machine and the 2K machine and post the results. Also it would help to know XP-home or XP-pro.

start~run~ipconfig /all > c:\config.txt

Then open config.txt in notepad, copy the entire contents, and paste it in a reply here. Be sure to specify which OS produced which set of values.

 

Ok, this is from the Windows XP machine:

And this is from the Windows 2000 laptop:

 

Worthless with the ##### masking (or any other like *** or @@@ etc.).

Need it all like

Code:

Windows IP Configuration

        Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : newt
        Primary Dns Suffix  . . . . . . . : 
        Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
        IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
        WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

        Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . : vnet.net
        Description . . . . . . . . . . . : 3Com 3C905TX-based Adapter         
        Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-60-97-04-0F-01
        Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
        Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
        IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.100
        Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
        Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
        DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
        DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 166.82.1.3
                                            166.82.1.8
        Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Saturday, May 29, 2004 12:34:48 AM
        Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Sunday, May 30, 2004 12:34:48 AM

 

I don't see how my Internet connection's IP/MAC addresses are relevant to the networking at all?

 

I do.

 

Nevermind. Turns out Windows 2000 doesn't support peer2peer 'Workgroup' Networking, which is what I have... it needs a domain controller.

Thanks for the help anyway.

 

2K certainly does play fine on a peer network if set up properly.

 

As Newt says this is simply not the case

The problem was that your W2K laptop was looking for a DHCP server that wasnt there and thus needed a static IP address on the same subnet as your XP machines

Masking of IP addresses was just making things hard for folks trying to help - the IP address is not a security risk in and of itself !

 

Now AndyO - just because an IP address is either

- private so not reachable from outside his LAN (and duplicated on maybe 10,000 - 50,000 other PCs so how would an attacker figure out who was who even if it could be reached) or
- public/real so known to a few thousand DNS servers by IP and FQDN

how can you say listing his on the forum wouldn't be a security risk? Just because we don't know how it could doesn't mean it isn't. And the fact that I was willing to post mine just shows I'm not very careful.

After all, a person with a previously unknown/undiscovered version of Win2K that won't do peer networking might well have other unusual issues.

 

Wise words Newt

Your'e obviously the devil may care type of guy who'll post his IP address and hang the consequences - watch out you dont end up attached to a domain like that pesky Win2K insists upon !

If XP Home wont work with domains maybe Win2k was a precursor to this and MS just got it the other way ?

I'm going to find my copy of DOS 4.0 and see what hitherto unheralded features are in there (I reckon I'll stick it on my Proliant 7000 with quad processors and watch it flyyyyyyyyyyyyyy)

 

AndyO - we are a truly evil pair to post sarcasm here. I love doing it once in a while.

 

Pure evil.

However, I do know that my internet IP/MAC addresses do not help you troubleshoot my networking problems at all. For sure. So forget that.

I don't know why it isn't working... networking XP and 2K shouldnt be a problem. I think I'll just install XP on the 2K machine.

Thanks anyway guys.

 

The MAC address is rarely a help with this sort of problem.

The IP addresses (intranet and internet) and subnet masks usually are a help. Often the show the exact problem and allow for an easy solution. Other times they simply server to show they are not the problem.

You might consider that AndyO and I both do networking and networked PC support for a living. We both thought the info would have helped and that it would have been safe for you to provide. It's just possible we know some things that you don't.

However, at this point I think I'm tired of wasting time on being distrusted so I'm done with this thread unless it needs moderator-style attention.

 

The IP address of a NIC that is not connected to the network-in-question is completely irrelevant. You should know that. Don't worry about it.

Thanks anyway.