XP client in a small network gives me log on problems

[parani]

Hi,
I am running a small network with about 20 clients most of which are win 98, a couple of Win2K and a WinXP (Home Edition)
They all share some of the server hard drives through the network.
The problems comes in right here.....
All other clients (other than XP) whenever they log on the network they are automaticaly connected to the network drives, however the XP client has to have a seperate logon to the server drive each time the user needs to access it. That happens with the email as well..... all mail come from a Microft Exchange server and all clients use Miicrosoft Outlook to view their email, when all of the other users open Outlook and view their messages the XP client has to provide UserName, Password and Domain name information on top of the initial authentication.
Is this a network configuration problem? Bad setup from my part? or something that the home edition does not support and the XP PRO does?
If anyone can help I would appreciate it...
parani

 

[ie6user]

XP Home does only support workgroups, no domains... (share level security vs. user level security)...

There are some ways to get (partially) around these limitations, but only partially, and not all that transparent and/or secure..

Your best bet is to get an upgrade to XP Professional, (you might be able to get your Home license refunded if you didn't buy it too long ago)...

Otherwise the standard things, naming your workgroup the same as the domain, disabling simplified file sharing, creating a local shadow account on the "server" for each XPHome account.

Using TweakUi Autologon (the original version), to set a domain for the autologin has been told as working, although I never tried it.

Here's another idea which just might or might not work (ok, it _is_ monday, and I am low on caffeine, so don't trust me too much on this, just an idea): name your XP Home machine the same as the domain.. when you do not use simplified file sharing, you will authenticate as MACHINE\User - which might work (but probably won't, and give all sorts of problems.. probably don't let it make broadcasts because of collisions and things...)

Or, to recap, better get XP PRo - that should do it for you... ---
saybibi();
//john
#include <stddiscl.h>

 

[comaboy]

Parani,

I agree with IE6 - Upgrade. It's a well known fact that XP Home has been crippled for networks. (You don't even get netBEUI - You have to find it on you XP CD).

Do some research before you upgrade. I'm having a nighmare with a Sony Vaio. Turns out that Sony seems to have hacked a modem driver, so the install process hangs three quaters of the way through, and REALLY gets its knickers in a twist.
We're talking endless loop, here!

I'd say go for a fresh install from scratch if you can. Microsoft upgrades simply never seem to install properly.

Have fun,

Comaboy

&quot;Every you do will be easier and more fun&quot;

 

[scholar24]

Ontop of that the win 98 machines will need a network access disk made from XP in order to communicate over a small network. These are made when the network is setup or can be made by opening Network connections in XP and select setup some home or office network and follow the wizard.

Tom

 

[ie6user]

You don't need that disk - it's just a convenience.. If your users are capable of entering the network details themselves, there absolutely no need for the disk..

But it can be quite convenient to just hand over the disk (Email, whatever) instead of actually going to the relevant machine, or talk the user through the setup over the phone, or ....

(but then again, I usually don't run any wizards for things I can do myself - that way, if something goes wrong, I know who to blame, and more important, _what_ exactly went wrong..) ---
saybibi();
//john
#include <stddiscl.h>

 

[sdh1234]

This behavior is by design in Windows XP Home. If you want password caching, you have to use XP Pro.

As a workaround, you can use the &quot;net use&quot; command in a batch file. Put the batch file in your start up folder so it will execute each time you log on. The only downside is that you have to put the password for the share in the batch file, so if physical security of your machine is a problem, you're probably out of luck.

 

[ie6user]

Indeed, XPHome doesn't cache all forms of passwords, but if you let it use normale filesharing, it will authenticate as the current logged-on user, so if you create a local account with that username/password pair on a remote machine, you will get authenticated ok, and your ACLs will be processed...; but this is only ShareLevel security (no domains), and it might work for a couple of users on a few machines, but mainaining password integrity accross your machines might turn out to be a nightmare if the volume of users and/or machines grows..

Anyway, as XPPro doesn't use up all that more resources, and is not all that more expensive, there is little excuse (in a non small/simple home environment, where XPHome _will_ work) to NOT get XPPro..

But ofcourse, you could indeed always run a series of NET USE commands w/ passwords instead of an asterix from a compiled batchfile, (or some encrypted cscript files, come to think of it) in order to not have too simple plaintext passwords... but then again you have to keep your passwords in sync, which might be cumbersome, since we're talking a corp environment here....
---
saybibi();
//john
#include <stddiscl.h>