Windows Vista Business Edition Networking Problem

[cygan]

I have recently purchased a Sony VAIO laptop. The laptop comes preloaded with Windows Vista Business edition. My office computers are connected as a workgroup with an ip range 192.168.x.x. , and a server running win2003 enterprise edition.

The problem is getting my laptop onto the office network. I have assigned an ip address in the same range, and assigned the same workgroup, but the laptop refuses to be connected to the network.

I spoke to the Microsoft guy on their toll free no. He told me that it is not possible to get a Windows Vista Business edition machine on a network, unless I purchase a volume license for windows vista business edition and activate it through the server that I have, since Windows Vista Business is meant to be a volume licensing software.
Honestly speaking, I couldn't understand what crap he was talking, but frankly I think he was talking crap. Does that mean I shall never be able to connect the laptop to my office network, if I do not have another windows Vista machine on my network, or unless I purchase a volume license.

The guy from MS also told me that this was a limitation only with the business edition. Is it true.

Please help. How can I get my laptop on the network. I am already cursing myself for buying this Sony VAIO.

 

[RebateMonger]

I've never had "utterly wrong" statements made by a Microsoft employee over the telephone. I'm a bit shocked.

Vista Business, in its Retail, OEM, and Volume License Edtiions, can connect to virtually any office network, either joining a Domain or simply being listed in a Workgroup.

I should probably leave the networking details to someone else. I'm not a Vista expert at this moment. I suspect Stash or Smilin will jump in here to rescue Microsoft's honor.

Basically, though, it appears that Vista requires that you initially allow it to connect to both your local network and to the Internet. The required settings are in the "Networking and Sharing Center", located in the "Network and Internet" Control Panel.

Here's a short article with details on how to configure the network settings.

 

[InlineFive]

Which profile did you select for the firewall when you first connected to the network? If you selected Public network that could be your issue. Click on the network icon, click Network & Sharing Center and make sure the network profile is set to Work/Domain.

 

[Tegeril]

Potentially stupid question, but did you manually assign an IP on a network that serves IPs via DHCP?

 

[stash]

I should probably leave the networking details to someone else. I'm not a Vista expert at this moment. I suspect Stash or Smilin will jump in here to rescue Microsoft's honor.

Not much to defend. If that's what the MS guy said, that's complete BS.

How are you determining if the machine is connected to the network? Or put another way, what is not working?

 

[cygan]

Thanx all. From the link that Rebate Monger told me to refer, the LLTD protocol seems to be the culprit. I think I shall check that up, because I don't think that LLTD is loaded by default on XP Pcs. Shall keep you all posted. Thanx for all the responses.

 

[cygan]

Dear Inclinefive,

Responding to your query: I had set the network to private but still a thumbs down.

 

[cygan]

Originally posted by: Tegeril
Potentially stupid question, but did you manually assign an IP on a network that serves IPs via DHCP?

Nope. I have DHCP assignments for a very small range of IPs. The rest are manually assigned IPS

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: cygan
Thanx all. From the link that Rebate Monger told me to refer, the LLTD protocol seems to be the culprit. I think I shall check that up, because I don't think that LLTD is loaded by default on XP Pcs. Shall keep you all posted. Thanx for all the responses.

Again, I don't know much about LLTD. But I put a Visa Business (Retail) on my office network, as well as Vista Ultimate (Generic OEM), and both "networked" to all my XP Professional and Windows 2003 Servers. They were able to "see" and access shared folders on those other computers. I haven't manually installed LLTD on any of my PCs or Servers.

I haven't joined the Vista PCs to my Domain (there are a couple of Updates that must be done to join Vista to an SBS 2003 Domain. But the Vista PCs were able to see both Workgroup (non-Domain) and Domain-joined PCs that were on the same subnet. They picked up DHCP-assigned IP addresses from my SBS 2003 Server just fine.

One thing to note, though, is that my SBS Server handles the DHCP, the DNS, and WINS services, so my network has name resolution pretty well covered.

 

[sieistganzfett]

if you have a server 2003, i would believe its a domain, with dhcp and dns given by the server. join the domain. make sure the user & password the vista laptop will use is already set up on the server. then once the laptop joins the domain, reboot, and login, but make sure to choose the domain, not the local pc. i think this may be the problem for you. on the two vista laptops i did so far, this method worked for me the best..

did you fix it already dealing with LLTD protocol? in what aspect did the laptop refuse to connect to the network anyway? was it resources on the sever? some other network resources? were there errors of some kind? what you said was not clear enough for me to see the whole picture.

that MS guy is wacked. i have no idea wtf that guy was even trying to say to you, it was just crap and flat out wrong.

sidenote, if the server handles dhcp, you can set it to give those computers that need static ip's by setting it to give a certain ip to what ever MAC address the NIC has in such a pc. this could potentially be easier or quicker to maintain/ troubleshoot later on if something happens dealing with one of those static IP computers. you probably already do this do.

your posts didn't give me enough info on the vista problem, that was very hazy and i assumed things in my response the side note was also regarding something that was hazy. could you give more details on your vista problem you were having? 🙂

 

[LightninTrip]

The operating system has no effect on whether or not you can connect to a network, obviously something is mis-configured on your laptop, I would guess, assuming of course that you have configured your ip settings correctly, that your 'computer name' is not what it is supposed to be, and that is preventing authentication with the server.