How to network WinXP to Win9x......simplified for everyone

[lobadobadingdong]

I am frequently seeing this question pop up, or something similar to it, like why isn't my 9x machine in My Network Places on my XP machine etc. etc. etc....

So out of the goodness of my heart here you go.

The easiest way for XP machines to see 9x machines is to install netbeui as a network protocol.
XP doesn't have netbeui you say? True, Microsoft does not support netbeui with WinXP but see here for instructions on installing it to WinXP.
Of course netbeui isn't a routable protocol, it works well for home networking where there are people with old machines connected to new machines.


enjoy!

If you see someone who is asking this question again, go ahead and link this thread to them.

 

[minendo]

NetBui = teh suck. Just my opinion. Good hint and may be helpful for those members who need very basic networking help.

 

[zCypher]

I set up IPX/SPX on the XP machine, and I installed IPX and NetBEUI on the Win9x machine. Rebooted, everything worked on each end. Also, I set the XP machines to "simple file sharing", which worked better between the XP machines as well for me. Now everything works great between all the machines, XP and 9x.

 

[Kelemvor]

Well, I'm one of the people that posted thsi question the other day and I solved it with no trouble at all. I realized that on my 98 PCs I had never turned on anythign but TCP/IP. I installed IPX and NetBeui on each of them and set the workgroup name to the same thing and they could immediately see each other.

I then went through the Network wizard on XP because I couldn't find where to put in the workgroup name without going through the wizard. Once that was done, everything could see everything else. It was really a breeze.

I'm sure there's other ways to do it as well btu that's al it took on my particular systems.

 

[OZEE]

I've never had any problem networking XPhome and 98SE and all I've ever had installed is TCP/IP. Everything worked perfect - first time, every time. Didn't realize there were any issues to have been expected...

 

[JackMDS]

Originally posted by: minendo
NetBui = teh suck. Just my opinion. Good hint and may be helpful for those members who need very basic networking help.

I have three computers on peer to peer Network.

Locally they run NetBEUI, and share files and printer using NetBEUI. TCP/IP is used for Internet not bound to File, and Printer sharing. In WinXP it takes two minute to install NetBEUI, and there is nothing to configure.

Why I do so:

1. When I don?t desire to be connected to the Internet, I can do a release of TCP/IP and my LAN will keep running.

2. I get additional security by not using TCP/IP as the share protocol.

3. My LAN works smoothly and slightly faster since there is no overhead on the LAN when the computers are also used for Internet browsing.

If NetBEUI Sucks, and I uninstall it what do I gain in my specific configuration???

I can see what I am going to lose by uninstalling NetBEUI. Will you please tell me what I would Gain???

 

[lobadobadingdong]

I'm glad to see that this will go to use for some, thanks to those not bashing the 'netbeui' issue. Ozee, your one of the few who didn't have any problems whatsoever with tcp/ip on this, I usually have to uninstall and reinstall tcp/ip and then do the same with netbios to get the two os's to see each other properly on tcp/ip, but sometimes for some screwed up still unkown reason it still doesn't work. So being the hard headed sob that I am, I use this as a last resort, I found sometime later that newbies to networking like this a lot.

FYI, if you have ipx/spx, then you don't need netbeui, and vice versa, having both protocols just wastes available bandwidth with the extra overhead. tcp/ip has by far the least overhead(one of the main reasons microsoft stopped supporting everything else), followed by netbeui, then ipx/spx taking up the rear of the three most common networking protocols.

Jack, you had good points there, since netbeui isn't routable, it does increase security by the way you mentioned, I usually forget that when explaing the differences between the various protocols.

Keep posting, bumping, whatever, I'm sure this topic will keep coming up for networking newbies for at least a year or two.

 

[faZZter]

Well if you have TCP/IP running (which you will if you access the internet) then there is NO need for the older protocols.

What do you gain by not using NetBeui? Not much, but I suppose less protocols loaded on a system = better, simpler.

NetBeui is a simple, fast, and effecient protocol.....more so that TCP/IP, but like the other guy said, it is unroutable.

 

[spidey07]

yeah, netbeui really does make windows networking SO much easier and reliable. Plus its faster as well.

 

[Poontos]

Originally posted by: minendo
NetBui = teh suck. Just my opinion. Good hint and may be helpful for those members who need very basic networking help.

NetBEUI for small MS networks works very well. Sleep comes better for me when I know that MSFPS & CFMN is not bound to TCP/IP -- nothing like having your potentially private LAN traffic being carried out of your LAN.

So to clear up the "Good hint" offered minendo:

NetBEUI for MS Networks = Good.

TCP/IP for the Internet = Good.

File & Printing Sharing and Client for Microsoft Networks traffic should not be running rampent on TCP/IP.

An MS Web Server is a nice honey pot with F&PS & CFMN bound to TCP/IP, which is on by default but can easily be fixed.

 

[Kingofcomputer]

are you asking for winxp pro?

after tried for several different setting, finally i found the way to make winxp pro and win9x networking works using only tcpip.
i found that many web sites teach you how to set up this network have missed an important point.
later i found a web site talks about various windows networking has mentioned that point (although it's not intended to teach how to set up winxp pro and win9x network).

the key point is you need to enable "NetBIOS over TCPIP" in winxp pro.

of course, don't forget to add an user into winxp pro for the win9x to get log-in,
if you don't want to set password, need to disable password security in winxp pro.
and remember to have same workgroup name for both system.

 

[Poontos]

Having NetBIOS over TCP/IP enabled, is another security layer washed down the drain.

 

[lobadobadingdong]

the key point is you need to enable "NetBIOS over TCPIP" in winxp pro.

This doesn't always work(more often than not), because of the version differences in tcp/ip of Win9x&WinNT vs Win2k&WinXP. This fix was for those who frequently run into that problem. Although Win2k seldom has as much problems as WinXP with networking, due to the slightly relaxed native security of Win2k.