Shared Windows 98 not "granting permission" over BEFSR41

[whooperx]

Hi,

Our home network has three computers---two desktops and a laptop---connected to a BEFSR41 router and cable modem:
-- My Presario 2135US laptop runs XP Home (ver. 2002 with Service Pack 1).
-- My own desktop Presario 7594 runs both Win 2000 (ver. 5.00.2195 with Service Pack 2) and Win 98 SE (ver. 4.10.222A).
-- The second desktop, my wife's, a Presario 2256, runs Win 98 (ver 4.10.1998) and has our laser printer connected to it.

All three have internet access but we have a strange file and printer sharing problem with my wife's desktop.

When my desktop runs Win 98 SE, it can use the files and printer on my wife's Win98, and her machine can store and use files on mine---a very neat network.

At the same time my 98 SE desktop can share with the XP laptop and the laptop can use files on my desktop's 98 SE system---also a nice arrangement.

Here's where the wierdness begins. The XP laptop can see my wife's 98 in its network neighborhood but it cannot gain access. I get a message saying the laptop does not have permission there. My wife's 98 cannot even see the laptop.

When my desktop is running Win 2000, however, it can see my wife's 98 but cannot access it, just like the laptop. And my wife's 98 cannot see my system when it's in 2000. And of course my desktop uses the same network card whether it's running 98 SE or 2000. (The 2000 and XP systems share without a problem.)

I want to use the printer whether I'm in 98 SE or 2000, or on the laptop. And my wife wants to get to her files on my desktop when I'm in 2000.

It seems like something is up in the Windows 98 system. Can anyone help?

 

[bcastner]

For the XP Home, and 2000 Desktop, enable under TCP/IP Properties, Advanced, WINS tab, Enable Netbios over TCP/IP and remove the checkbox for LMHOSTS.

Add to computer A, all usernames and passwords of computers B & C, (on all OS versions); and vice-versa, so that each workgroup computer has as local users with passwords the username and passwords of all other computers.

Once you can see the printers, you will need to add suitable versions of the printer driver for all OS in use.

 

[cdogg]

Also don't forget to disable the firewall under the LAN properties on the XP laptop.


~cdogg
[tab]"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources"
[tab][tab]- A. Einstein

 

[whooperx]

Hi,

Thanks for the suggestions. I really appreciate it!

I followed the recommendations to enable Net Bios over TCP/IP and remove the LM Lookup on both the XP laptop and the 2000 desktop.

Now we can use the Find tool on my wife's 98 desktop to locate and gain access to both the laptop and the 2000 desktop. A big step in the right direction---my wife is happy even though she has use the Find tool instead of just looking in the Network Neighorhood.

However I still can't see her 98 desktop or the printer attached to it from the 2000 desktop or the XP laptop.

I did try creating users on her 98 system that correspond to how I "log onto" my laptop and desktop 2000 systems but that didn't change the situation. I do have a username and password on the 2000, and a user on the XP laptop without a password. My wife has her e-mail username typed into her 98 logon dialog but doesn't have a password. Adding my XP and 2000 usernames and passwords to her system didn't change anything. I did set her machine to log onto "a Windows NT" network and that changed the way her machine appears in the network neighborhoods of the laptop and my 2000 but didn't give me access to it.

The message I get when I try to get onto her machine from the XP and 2000 network Neighborhoods is very similar:

"\\Hercomputer is not accessible. The network path was not found."

(XP adds: You might not have permission to use this network resource. The 2000 doesn't say that.)

Yet there is an icon for it there in the Network Neighborhood.

Thanks for your help so far---it did improve things. Are there other things I can try? Can you discuss what I'm up against here?

Thanks!

 

[cdogg]

It just doesn't make sense that the XP laptop can access your 98SE desktop just fine, but not your wife's 98FE desktop.

There has to be a setting on her desktop that's causing the problem, or some difference between hers and yours. On your 98SE desktop, are there usernames or passwords setup? If not, then that may be the problem. We'll need to try to disable the logon prompt on her PC so that it boots directly to her desktop. To do that, there are some instructions here:
faq615-1553

 

[whooperx]

Acknowledging your suggestion cdogg

I will read the FAQ link you sent and follow through.

 

[whooperx]

Hi cdogg, bcastner,

I did follow the instructions outlined in cdogg's link to FAQ615-1553. My wife's 98 FE now boots directly to the desktop and all users share the same settings there.

This hasn't changed my access to her drive and printer: her machine shows up in Network Places on my 2000 desktop and XP Home laptop but I can't access it. '\\Hercomputer is not accessible. The network path was not found.'

If I right-click on her machine's icon in Network Places, Properties, on either machine, the systems tell me 'Server
Hercomputer could not be found on the network.'

I should probably note that for testing and development purposes I run Apache servers on both the 2000 and XP machines with MySQL, PHP, Python, XML services. But stopping the Apache servers makes no difference to access to her machine.

From her machine we can still use Find to locate and access my 2000 and XP systems. We don't just see icons for those machines in her Network Neighborhood. We did have to type in the username and password I use on the 2000; the XP presented no further problems when found.

From the XP laptop and my wife's 98, I did have to log into the 2000 user with its password. But in each case that worked. Could the fact that I have a 2000 user with a password by the problem? 2000 and XP do seem to like to have us define users.

Or could this be a hardware problem? My wife's 98's Linksys network card is plugged into her system's only PCI slot (I think). Could her card have suffered some selected failure that let's everything work (somehow) except supporting access from neighboring computers?

All the computers do have the same declared working group which may explain why her icon appears on the other two.

I hope you're still out there listening. This is both frustrating and lonely.

Thanks again!

 

[whooperx]

BTW, I had these access problems long before installing the Apache servers. Also the Apaches don't serve to the web outside our Linksys router. I use them to test code I write for work. I have site, server and storage facilities at work and excellent connections with work from all three machines here, inclucing VPN.

 

[bcastner]

Go ahead and install Netbui on all machines. There are occasionally intractible Mixed-OS name resolution problems, and yours sounds like one.

In the alternative, you could move her to 98SE and spend some time at the Windows Update site.

Netbui will cleanly resolve the issue for you.

To install Netbui:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/using/itpro/networking/netbeui.asp

So You do not feel like a wimp:

http://www.scotsnewsletter.com/40.htm#tipadaweek

 

[whooperx]

Installing NetBUI on 2000 and XP solved the problem!! Thank you very much.

Our cable modem provider had required that I install NetBUI on the first 98 system when I got the cable modem a couple of years ago, and I made sure that was installed on the 98 SE when I got it and the Linksys router. The 2000 and XP systems didn't seem to have NetBUI---I see why now---and they had connected to the router and internet without it, just not to the old 98.

Well they do now. Thanks again.

 

[bcastner]

Glad you got it sorted.

 

[cdogg]

Glad that worked for you. It still puzzles me that you would need NetBEUI, since TCP/IP should be enough. Oh well, perhaps her 98FE system had a firewall blocking access or NetBEUI was already installed on your wife's PC which can interfere with file & printer sharing over TCP/IP. Regardless, you've found your fix...



~cdogg
[tab]"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources"
[tab][tab]- A. Einstein