This worked for me
I already have two computers running Win 98 networked together using a hub. I added a new computer with Win XP Home also adding it to the hub. I setup the Win XP computer to be my internet connection (modem) and used the system disk it created to setup my two old computers. All units had different file names, the same workgroup name, and were set for file sharing.
When I was all done, the two old computers (with Win 98) could “see” the shared folders of all three computers. But the new computer (with Win XP) could only “see” the shared folders of one of the old computers (Unit#1). The other old computer (Unit#2) did not show up anywhere on the XP computer. No folders in Network Places and no Network Connections were shown.
In other words, Unit#2 would only share files with Win 98 and not with Win XP.
I read through several forums and tried a bunch of stuff:
- Rerun the network setup multiple times.
- Verify User names and accounts.
- Enable Guest Account.
- Local Security Policies.
- Turn off Firewall.
- Verify “File and Print Sharing” in my Win 98 Network setup.
None of this helped. Until I took the “File and Print Sharing” one more step. Since one old computer could share its files and the other one could not, I compared all the network protocol settings. To make a long story short, I had to click the “File and Printer Sharing for MS Networking” button on the Bindings Tab for my TCP/IP protocol for my network card. Here is the step-by-step:
On the Win98 computer (that dose not share it’s files with the Win XP computer):
- Open the Control Panel using Start/Settings.
- Double-click “Network” icon.
- (You can check the File and Print Sharing button on this screen to verify you are already set for “sharing” but the setup disk probably took care of that for you).
- Highlight TCP/IP protocol for your network card and select properties.
- Select the Bindings tab.
- Check box for “Client for MS Network” and box for “File and Printer Sharing for MS Network”.
I don’t know why the XP setup disk didn’t take care of this. And I know it may seem rather simple for all you computer experts. But, as a novice, it caused me hour of computer time and frustration. I hope this can help someone else.
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All my computers communicate now, but I do still have a lingering problem. After running the XP network setup disk so many times on my Win 98 computers, I have many extra “printer” icons in my Printers Window. (i.e. Print, Print1, Print2,....Print6). I see this when I open the Printer window using: Start / Settings / Printers. I know the standard method to delete these icons is to right-click and select delete. But the “delete” option is not available. And the delete button (big red X) on the tool bar does not work either.
All these extra printers show up as “Network” printers on the Lan. How do I delete these non-existent, nuisance printers??
