Win2000/Win98se on home LAN newbie 1

[NedThePsycho]

Greetings all - Last night I set up a small network at home. 2 pcs (1 win200, 1 win98se) talking through a Linksys 10/1000 switch/internet router that is connected to the internet with a cable modem. The Linksys is configured as a gateway and is also a DHCP server that the LAN pcs get their IP's from. I created a workgroup and both pcs are members. Here's the thing... They can ping each other and surf the internet, but they cannot browse each other's shares and are not visisble in the net 'hood. I have gone through and checked the tcp/ip settings, and the only thing I can't figure out is DNS. Do I even need to use DNS? Many thanks in advance - Ned [sig][/sig]

 

[dxd]

The easiest method to get what you want is to install the Netbeui protocol on each unit. This would allow the Netbios names to be resolved and should allow for your internal browsing.
[sig]<p>Doug<br><a href=mailto:dxd_2000@yahoo.com>dxd_2000@yahoo.com</a><br><a href= > </a><br> [/sig]

 

[NedThePsycho]

Doug - Thanks for the reply! Since NetBeui is a non-routable protocol, will I still have the functionality I desire on the LAN? [sig][/sig]

 

[dxd]

Yes, as long as you keep TCP/IP. The Netbeui protocol would just be used internally.

You may be able to get the computers to show up in network neighborhood by accessing them by name once.

For example, go to Start Run and type \\computername and see if it can access the computer. At that point the computer may start showing up in the hood.

Since you are not running the domain model, anyone in the workgroup can be the master browser and essentially they fight over who will be. Without a WINS server you have no way to resolve the Netbios (computername) name. The master browsers job is to keep this info and provide it to whoever may be browsing. Take at look at the W2K event log and see if there are warnings/errors talking about forced browser elections.

You can prevent the 98 box from trying to be the master browser by changing the properties of File & Printer sharing. The settings are either AUTO (default) YES or Disable. Try setting it to off/disable.

You can also modify the lmhost file on each computer and enter their IP address to Netbios name mapping. This will prevent the boxes from having to broadcast to get the info.

I am rambling too much. Try Netbeui and see if it fills your needs.

[sig]<p>Doug<br><a href=mailto:dxd_2000@yahoo.com>dxd_2000@yahoo.com</a><br><a href= > </a><br> [/sig]

 

[NedThePsycho]

Hi Doug, Sorry for the tardy reply, but I have been playing around with the network settings and NetBeui worked as far as browsing each pc, but now my over-all network speeds seem to be really bogged down. ???? My cable modem is kind of dogging as well (could be a neighborhood bandwidth problem). I know there is some tweaking needed on the pc end to take full advantage of the internet speeds of a cable modem connection, and will get to those. Back to the original subject (now who's rambling?) Are there broadcast activities with NetBeui that could be slowing things down? [sig][/sig]