At this point, my real question is whether or not anyone has actually
managed to get Vista and Win98 to share files with each other, both ways.

I have a Win98 peer-to-peer network with 2 win98 machines and their
associated printers. I have not had any problem getting Vista (or even a
visiting Mac machine) to see and access the shared folders on the Win98s.
However the Win98 machines can only see the existence of "Public", "Users",
and a third folder I added called "share". The Win98 machines can see the
folders being shared by Vista in Explorer and in "net use". When right or
left clicking on either of the Public or Users Vista folders, Win98
immediately freezes and requires a cold reboot to recover. In the case of
the "share" folder, Win98 Explorer can see the files in the folder but upon
attempting to open them only manages (after a long delay) to open the
associated application but filled with blanks or an error message stating
that the file is not accessible.

I've simplified the problem to trying to see only one simple folder called
"share" on Vista from one Win98 machine. I've tried the following:

1) Checked firewalls ( there are none on 98 and on Vista the NetBIOS and SMB
ports are all open by default for private networks). Turning off Vista's
firewall made no difference either.

2) Added "guest" and "Win98user" accounts to Vista. Made sure the
"everyone", "guest", "win98user" accounts appear in both the "share" and
"security" tabs for all 3 shared folders. Also added the "Vistauser"
account to Win98. The "Win98user" and "Vistauser" accounts have the same
password on both systems. The "guest" account on Vista does not have a
password. (See #12 for trial use of Password Protected access.)

2a) Note on using the "share" and "security" tabs for shared Vista folders:
Besides "Everyone" the list includes the names of the users on each
computer. However each of these names is prefixed by "VistaMachineName".
There seems to be no way to create a name in the list prefixed by
"Win98MachineName". The "security" tab includes a location option, but the
only option shown is the name of the local Vista Machine. Do not know
whether this is normal, as I do not have any other computers besides Win98
to test. (What is the point of having a location option when the only
option available is the local machine?)

3) Shared the Vista folder with "full control" since Tim (above) said it
solved his problem, although he was only networking 2 Vista machines.

4) Upgraded a Win98 machine to use NTLM2 to correspond with Vista.

5) Returned the Win98 machine to NTLM and downgraded Vista to NTLM to
correspond to Win98. Details described in 8 & 9 below.

6) Specifically enabled NetBIOS over TCP/IP on Vista since it can't be
turned off on Win98 (option selected and grayed out).

7) Disabled Vista's Browse Master since it is supplied by Win98 machines.

8) Verified 4 registry changes to Vista's LSA key (LMCompatibility=1,
NoLMHash=0, RestrictAnonymous=0, EveryoneIncludesAnonymous=1).

9) Looked at all 77 "Security Options" in
AllPgms/AdminTools/LocSecPol/SecSet/LocPol and read the "details" tab for
each one. For anything that sounded more restrictive than Win98, I changed
it from the default to the less restrictive option. I did not change
anything that seemed irrelevant or confusing, so I may have missed
something. Also in the Local Policy Editor, under User Rights Assignment, I
verified that the "users" group is included in the list for "Access from
Network".

10) "Net view", like Windows Explorer, shows the remote and local
computers. "Net use" shows a disconnected or ok status for the remote shares
in the remote column when executed from Win98. But on Vista, it shows only
its own local shared folder in the remote column and does not list the
remote shares from Win98 even though they are fully accessible from Vista to
the same extent that they're accessible from another Win98 machine.

11) "Browstat" can only be used on Vista. "listwfw domain" shows the other
Win98 computers and even shows that one of them is running the master and
backup browser. "Status domain" shows the 3 servers on 1 domain. It also
includes an error message "Could not connect to registry, error=53. Unable
to determine build of browser master:53."

12) Up to this point, all of the above observations were made with Password
Protected Sharing turned off. With PPS turned on for Vista, the shared
folder no longer appears in Win98 Explorer, only the VistaMachineName. Upon
clicking on this name, a dialog box appears asking for a password to access
\\VistaMachineName\IPC$. After typing in the password an error message
appears saying "The password is incorrect. Try again." This is surprising
since it is the correct password for logging on to both Vista and Win98 from
the local machine.

13) FWIW I've attached the Net Config results for the two machines.

None of these checks or changes helped. Windows 98 either crashes or is
simply unable to open the shared files when accessing shared Vista folders
clearly shown in Win98 Explorer. Hence, my initial question: Does anyone
know from personal observation that it is possible to view and open a shared
resource on Vista from a Win98 machine?

On Tue, 19 Jun 2007 02:48:14 -0700, "RonC" wrote:

At this point, my real question is whether or not anyone has actually
managed to get Vista and Win98 to share files with each other, both ways.

I have a Win98 peer-to-peer network with 2 win98 machines and their
associated printers. I have not had any problem getting Vista (or even a
visiting Mac machine) to see and access the shared folders on the Win98s.
However the Win98 machines can only see the existence of "Public", "Users",
and a third folder I added called "share". The Win98 machines can see the
folders being shared by Vista in Explorer and in "net use". When right or
left clicking on either of the Public or Users Vista folders, Win98
immediately freezes and requires a cold reboot to recover. In the case of
the "share" folder, Win98 Explorer can see the files in the folder but upon
attempting to open them only manages (after a long delay) to open the
associated application but filled with blanks or an error message stating
that the file is not accessible.

I've simplified the problem to trying to see only one simple folder called
"share" on Vista from one Win98 machine. I've tried the following:

1) Checked firewalls ( there are none on 98 and on Vista the NetBIOS and SMB
ports are all open by default for private networks). Turning off Vista's
firewall made no difference either.

2) Added "guest" and "Win98user" accounts to Vista. Made sure the
"everyone", "guest", "win98user" accounts appear in both the "share" and
"security" tabs for all 3 shared folders. Also added the "Vistauser"
account to Win98. The "Win98user" and "Vistauser" accounts have the same
password on both systems. The "guest" account on Vista does not have a
password. (See #12 for trial use of Password Protected access.)

2a) Note on using the "share" and "security" tabs for shared Vista folders:
Besides "Everyone" the list includes the names of the users on each
computer. However each of these names is prefixed by "VistaMachineName".
There seems to be no way to create a name in the list prefixed by
"Win98MachineName". The "security" tab includes a location option, but the
only option shown is the name of the local Vista Machine. Do not know
whether this is normal, as I do not have any other computers besides Win98
to test. (What is the point of having a location option when the only
option available is the local machine?)

3) Shared the Vista folder with "full control" since Tim (above) said it
solved his problem, although he was only networking 2 Vista machines.

4) Upgraded a Win98 machine to use NTLM2 to correspond with Vista.

5) Returned the Win98 machine to NTLM and downgraded Vista to NTLM to
correspond to Win98. Details described in 8 & 9 below.

6) Specifically enabled NetBIOS over TCP/IP on Vista since it can't be
turned off on Win98 (option selected and grayed out).

7) Disabled Vista's Browse Master since it is supplied by Win98 machines.

8) Verified 4 registry changes to Vista's LSA key (LMCompatibility=1,
NoLMHash=0, RestrictAnonymous=0, EveryoneIncludesAnonymous=1).

9) Looked at all 77 "Security Options" in
AllPgms/AdminTools/LocSecPol/SecSet/LocPol and read the "details" tab for
each one. For anything that sounded more restrictive than Win98, I changed
it from the default to the less restrictive option. I did not change
anything that seemed irrelevant or confusing, so I may have missed
something. Also in the Local Policy Editor, under User Rights Assignment, I
verified that the "users" group is included in the list for "Access from
Network".

10) "Net view", like Windows Explorer, shows the remote and local
computers. "Net use" shows a disconnected or ok status for the remote shares
in the remote column when executed from Win98. But on Vista, it shows only
its own local shared folder in the remote column and does not list the
remote shares from Win98 even though they are fully accessible from Vista to
the same extent that they're accessible from another Win98 machine.

11) "Browstat" can only be used on Vista. "listwfw domain" shows the other
Win98 computers and even shows that one of them is running the master and
backup browser. "Status domain" shows the 3 servers on 1 domain. It also
includes an error message "Could not connect to registry, error=53. Unable
to determine build of browser master:53."

12) Up to this point, all of the above observations were made with Password
Protected Sharing turned off. With PPS turned on for Vista, the shared
folder no longer appears in Win98 Explorer, only the VistaMachineName. Upon
clicking on this name, a dialog box appears asking for a password to access
\\VistaMachineName\IPC$. After typing in the password an error message
appears saying "The password is incorrect. Try again." This is surprising
since it is the correct password for logging on to both Vista and Win98 from
the local machine.

13) FWIW I've attached the Net Config results for the two machines.

None of these checks or changes helped. Windows 98 either crashes or is
simply unable to open the shared files when accessing shared Vista folders
clearly shown in Win98 Explorer. Hence, my initial question: Does anyone
know from personal observation that it is possible to view and open a shared
resource on Vista from a Win98 machine?

Ron,

That's quite an amount of diagnostics that you've done.

Looking at #2, I have to wonder whether you actually activated the Guest account
for network access. And in #12, when you mention the dialogue requesting IPC$,
again that looks like a Guest account not activated.
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2006/05/older-operating-systems-windows-98.html
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2006/0...indows-98.html
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/06/file-sharing-under-windows-xp.html#Activate
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/0....html#Activate

Now in 2A, where you question the meaning of the local computer included in the
account name, that's the correct designation for workgroup authentication. If
you had a domain setup, you'd have the option to use a domain account. With a
workgroup, you use the local account. Authentication is always against a local
account, with authentication cached by certain editions of Windows XP / Vista.

So looking again at #12, I have to wonder whether you activated any local
accounts, on the Vista computer, for network access. I don't have a lot of
experience with Windows 98, I know that Windows 98 is not so sophisticated in
workgroup authentication but does use domain authentication. Maybe unactivated
accounts, on the Vista computer, is part of the problem.
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/06/file-sharing-under-windows-xp.html#NonGuest
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/0....html#NonGuest

See if any of these thoughts bring you any closer to your goal.

--
Cheers,
Chuck, MS-MVP [Windows - Networking]
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/
Paranoia is not a problem, when it's a normal response from experience.
My email is AT DOT
actual address pchuck mvps org.

"Chuck" wrote in message
news

Looking at #2, I have to wonder whether you actually activated the Guest
account
for network access. And in #12, when you mention the dialogue requesting
IPC$,
again that looks like a Guest account not activated.


So looking again at #12, I have to wonder whether you activated any local
accounts, on the Vista computer, for network access. I don't have a lot
of
experience with Windows 98, I know that Windows 98 is not so sophisticated
in
workgroup authentication but does use domain authentication. Maybe
unactivated
accounts, on the Vista computer, is part of the problem.

Doesn't the following quote imply, if there is no guest account on either
computer, that Vista would ask for a login password if Pasword Protected
Sharing is being used?

"If neither automatic non-Guest, nor Guest, access is possible, you will
have to supply the token manually. You will have to login to the server,
interactively, using a non-Guest account that is activated for network
access on the server, with correct password."

In my case the Win98user and Vistauser accounts are activated. (In Network
and Sharing center the first two lights are green for Network Discovery and
File Sharing). Of course, the PPS light is also green.

I'm confused about "domain authentication". I thought that with a simple 2
or 3 computer network I don't have a domain but a workgroup. Are you using
domain to mean workgroup or suggesting I should configure the small network
as a domain and somehow reconfigure Vista as a domain controller?

On Wed, 20 Jun 2007 03:17:18 -0700, "RonC" wrote:


"Chuck" wrote in message
news

Looking at #2, I have to wonder whether you actually activated the Guest
account
for network access. And in #12, when you mention the dialogue requesting
IPC$,
again that looks like a Guest account not activated.


So looking again at #12, I have to wonder whether you activated any local
accounts, on the Vista computer, for network access. I don't have a lot
of
experience with Windows 98, I know that Windows 98 is not so sophisticated
in
workgroup authentication but does use domain authentication. Maybe
unactivated
accounts, on the Vista computer, is part of the problem.

Doesn't the following quote imply, if there is no guest account on either
computer, that Vista would ask for a login password if Pasword Protected
Sharing is being used?

"If neither automatic non-Guest, nor Guest, access is possible, you will
have to supply the token manually. You will have to login to the server,
interactively, using a non-Guest account that is activated for network
access on the server, with correct password."

In my case the Win98user and Vistauser accounts are activated. (In Network
and Sharing center the first two lights are green for Network Discovery and
File Sharing). Of course, the PPS light is also green.

I'm confused about "domain authentication". I thought that with a simple 2
or 3 computer network I don't have a domain but a workgroup. Are you using
domain to mean workgroup or suggesting I should configure the small network
as a domain and somehow reconfigure Vista as a domain controller?

Ron,

No, you can't make a domain controller out of a Vista server. You're going to
be using workgroup authentication.

What you've quoted, and my articles, are mainly written with computers running
Windows NT and up (NT, 2000, 2003, XP, Vista) in mind. Those operating systems
support network access, using authentication in any one of 3 modes:
1) Authentication against a non-Guest account, verified by a 3rd party server
(aka "domain" authentication).
2) Authentication against a non-Guest account, verified by this server (aka
"workgroup" authentication).
3) Authentication using the Guest account.

Now none of the above 3 possibilities are magic, and both the client and the
server have to support the 3 possibilities jointly. A server running XP Home
won't support #1.

If a client is running NT, 2000, XP Professional, or some editions of Vista, it
will also support token caching. With token caching, if you enter a non-Guest
account and password, and you select "Reconnect at logon", you the user won't be
prompted for logon account / password again.

Steve Winograd, another MVP, knows the details (and knows Windows 9x) more than
I do. From what I can tell, Windows 9x (95, 98, probably ME) supports just 2 of
the above 3 authentication modes.
1) Domain authentication.
3) Guest authentication.
And it doesn't support token caching.

Does all of this make sense?

--
Cheers,
Chuck, MS-MVP [Windows - Networking]
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/
Paranoia is not a problem, when it's a normal response from experience.
My email is AT DOT
actual address pchuck mvps org.

RonC,

To answer your initial question of whether anyone has been able to network
Vista with Windows 98, the answers is yes... Depending on the exact
configuration, several or many things may be required but it works without
difficulty. I have networked Vista Business and Ultimate with everything
ranging from MS-DOS 6.22 (running TCP/IP), to Windows for Workgroups 3.11,
to Windows 95, 98, 98SE, ME, Windows NT 3.51, 4.0, 2000 and XP. They all
work and can all see and share files, as well as printers.

I will start by saying that the connections I have are within a Windows 2003
server domain, which is certainly not the same as a workgroup, but the
domain merely makes it easier, nothing more. There several things which need
to be done, including network protocol (TCP/IP is perhaps easiest), user
names and passwords (Vista really likes having user accounts and passwords)
as well as permissions.

If you use NTLM it makes life easier; it is not quite as secure, but is more
compatible. In Vista Control Panel, under Network and Sharing Center, be
sure that Network Discovery and File Sharing are enabled. Perhaps the
greatest issue is with Permissions for the Shares. In Vista, for the share
permissions having "Everyone" present can typically be a problem. This is
where having explicit user accounts comes into play. In the Share
Permissions, add the individual user accounts that you want to have access
(Domains make this easier by having Groups and common accounts, among other
things), then remove the "Everyone" share name.

Provided that nothing else has gone awry, then this should enable sharing
between machines. What I have described has worked repeatedly without
difficulty, but the machines involved were all new, with no existing
modifications. Your milage may vary.

Sharing printers depends on such vagueness as printer drivers, which can
range from easy to impossible. I have seen 12 year old drivers which work
flawlessly, and 1 year old drivers which don't.

Best of luck,
John Baker

"Chuck" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 20 Jun 2007 03:17:18 -0700, "RonC" wrote:


No, you can't make a domain controller out of a Vista server. You're
going to
be using workgroup authentication.

Steve Winograd, another MVP, knows the details (and knows Windows 9x) more
than
I do. From what I can tell, Windows 9x (95, 98, probably ME) supports
just 2 of
the above 3 authentication modes.
1) Domain authentication.
3) Guest authentication.
And it doesn't support token caching.

Considering your first and last observations (above) it sounds like my only
option is Guest authentication. You also had mentioned previously that the
Guest account must be enabled for "Network" access. I presume that this
means that the PPS green light should be off (not using password protected
sharing) and that the first two green lights should be on (Network discovery
and File sharing). However my new Vista computer won't allow me to turn
them on in the Guest account. When I try, I get a UAC message that says I
must select one of my admin accounts and enter the appropriate password.
After doing that the password dialog box goes away (no error message about
an incorrect password) but the option I tried to
enable remains off. I checked with tech support for my computer and he said
he had the same experience and that you probably can't raise privileges in
the Guest account. Have you had the same experience?

Getting back to questions about the basics of Workgroup vs. Guest
Authentication:

Questions about Guest authentication:
Is it true that when logged in to the Guest account, the Network Discovery
and File sharing lights must be green?
Is it true that the PPS light must be off or is it optional?
Is it true that that the matching accounts on Win98 and Vista must be
"Guest" with a blank password on Win98? (Perhaps, instead, the matching
accounts rule only applies to Workgroup authentication.)
What is the minimum number of accounts needed on Win98 and on Vista
(counting Guest).

Questions about Workgroup authentication (where used and supported):
Is there a need for a Guest account on any machine?
If token caching were not used or supported, does this mean that every time
a user clicks on a share located on a different machine, he would be given a
dialog box to enter a password?
If there are n computers in the workgroup must there be at least n different
accounts in the workgroup with all n accounts listed on every computer as a
possible login and appearing on the "share" and "security" tab of every
shared folder.
Alternatively, would it be possible for all n computers to have the same
username/password combination so that there could be only one possible login
and the "share" and "security" tabs would have only one entry?

How can I contact Steve Winograd? It looks like he hasn't posted here since
April.

"Chuck" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 20 Jun 2007 03:17:18 -0700, "RonC" wrote:


No, you can't make a domain controller out of a Vista server. You're
going to
be using workgroup authentication.

Steve Winograd, another MVP, knows the details (and knows Windows 9x) more
than
I do. From what I can tell, Windows 9x (95, 98, probably ME) supports
just 2 of
the above 3 authentication modes.
1) Domain authentication.
3) Guest authentication.
And it doesn't support token caching.

Considering your first and last observations (above) it sounds like my only
option is Guest authentication. You also had mentioned previously that the
Guest account must be enabled for "Network" access. I presume that this
means that the PPS green light should be off (not using password protected
sharing) and that the first two green lights should be on (Network discovery
and File sharing). However my new Vista computer won't allow me to turn
them on in the Guest account. When I try, I get a UAC message that says I
must select one of my admin accounts and enter the appropriate password.
After doing that the password dialog box goes away (no error message about
an incorrect password) but the option I tried to
enable remains off. I checked with tech support for my computer and he said
he had the same experience and that you probably can't raise privileges in
the Guest account. Have you had the same experience?

Getting back to questions about the basics of Workgroup vs. Guest
Authentication:

Questions about Guest authentication:
Is it true that when logged in to the Guest account, the Network Discovery
and File sharing lights must be green?
Is it true that the PPS light must be off or is it optional?
Is it true that that the matching accounts on Win98 and Vista must be
"Guest" with a blank password on Win98? (Perhaps, instead, the matching
accounts rule only applies to Workgroup authentication.)
What is the minimum number of accounts needed on Win98 and on Vista
(counting Guest).

Questions about Workgroup authentication (where used and supported):
Is there a need for a Guest account on any machine?
If token caching were not used or supported, does this mean that every time
a user clicks on a share located on a different machine, he would be given a
dialog box to enter a password?
If there are n computers in the workgroup must there be at least n different
accounts in the workgroup with all n accounts listed on every computer as a
possible login and appearing on the "share" and "security" tab of every
shared folder.
Alternatively, would it be possible for all n computers to have the same
username/password combination so that there could be only one possible login
and the "share" and "security" tabs would have only one entry?

How can I contact Steve Winograd? It looks like he hasn't posted here since
April.

"JRB Associates" wrote in message
...

I will start by saying that the connections I have are within a Windows
2003
server domain, which is certainly not the same as a workgroup, but the
domain merely makes it easier, nothing more. There several things which
need
to be done, including network protocol (TCP/IP is perhaps easiest), user
names and passwords (Vista really likes having user accounts and
passwords)
as well as permissions.

If you use NTLM it makes life easier; it is not quite as secure, but is
more
compatible. In Vista Control Panel, under Network and Sharing Center, be
sure that Network Discovery and File Sharing are enabled. Perhaps the
greatest issue is with Permissions for the Shares. In Vista, for the share
permissions having "Everyone" present can typically be a problem. This is
where having explicit user accounts comes into play. In the Share
Permissions, add the individual user accounts that you want to have access
(Domains make this easier by having Groups and common accounts, among
other
things), then remove the "Everyone" share name.

Provided that nothing else has gone awry, then this should enable sharing
between machines. What I have described has worked repeatedly without
difficulty, but the machines involved were all new, with no existing
modifications. Your milage may vary.

Chuck's response to my question explained that there are the 3 types of
authenication: Domain, Workgroup, and Guest. For the case of one Vista
machine talking to one Win98 machine, he says that Domain is not an option.
He also says that he believes (but is not certain) that Win98 only supports
Domain and Guest authentication, but not Workgroup authentication. Based on
your advice (above) it sounds like you are describing Workgroup
authentication since you mentioned explicit user accounts but not the Guest
account. So I have two more questions:

Is it true that you are describing Workgroup authentication without the use
of the Guest account on the Vista machine?

Have you any opinion about the possibility of using Guest authentication
instead?

On Thu, 21 Jun 2007 03:01:32 -0700, "RonC" wrote:


"Chuck" wrote in message
.. .
On Wed, 20 Jun 2007 03:17:18 -0700, "RonC" wrote:


No, you can't make a domain controller out of a Vista server. You're
going to
be using workgroup authentication.

Steve Winograd, another MVP, knows the details (and knows Windows 9x) more
than
I do. From what I can tell, Windows 9x (95, 98, probably ME) supports
just 2 of
the above 3 authentication modes.
1) Domain authentication.
3) Guest authentication.
And it doesn't support token caching.

Considering your first and last observations (above) it sounds like my only
option is Guest authentication. You also had mentioned previously that the
Guest account must be enabled for "Network" access. I presume that this
means that the PPS green light should be off (not using password protected
sharing) and that the first two green lights should be on (Network discovery
and File sharing). However my new Vista computer won't allow me to turn
them on in the Guest account. When I try, I get a UAC message that says I
must select one of my admin accounts and enter the appropriate password.
After doing that the password dialog box goes away (no error message about
an incorrect password) but the option I tried to
enable remains off. I checked with tech support for my computer and he said
he had the same experience and that you probably can't raise privileges in
the Guest account. Have you had the same experience?

Getting back to questions about the basics of Workgroup vs. Guest
Authentication:

Questions about Guest authentication:
Is it true that when logged in to the Guest account, the Network Discovery
and File sharing lights must be green?
Is it true that the PPS light must be off or is it optional?
Is it true that that the matching accounts on Win98 and Vista must be
"Guest" with a blank password on Win98? (Perhaps, instead, the matching
accounts rule only applies to Workgroup authentication.)
What is the minimum number of accounts needed on Win98 and on Vista
(counting Guest).

Questions about Workgroup authentication (where used and supported):
Is there a need for a Guest account on any machine?
If token caching were not used or supported, does this mean that every time
a user clicks on a share located on a different machine, he would be given a
dialog box to enter a password?
If there are n computers in the workgroup must there be at least n different
accounts in the workgroup with all n accounts listed on every computer as a
possible login and appearing on the "share" and "security" tab of every
shared folder.
Alternatively, would it be possible for all n computers to have the same
username/password combination so that there could be only one possible login
and the "share" and "security" tabs would have only one entry?

How can I contact Steve Winograd? It looks like he hasn't posted here since
April.

Answers, generally bottom up:

Unfortunately, Steve doesn't accept email.

The ability of the Guest account, like other security settings, is made from the
Local Security Policy Editor. You should have seen those settings, as you
checked all of the others earlier.

There is no need for the Guest account, if you setup enough non-Guest accounts.
My personal advice is to NOT use Guest. Guest classically was one of the first
access methods tried by hackers when attacking a computer.

Token caching is useful across sessions. If you authenticate to a remote
server, that token, though uncached, is still valid until you reset the client
(ie, log off or restart the computer).

You have accounts for people, not computers. You should have one account for
each person. If all of the people have the same legitimate need to access
certain folders on any computer, you setup a Group on that computer, and define
it with the individual people as members. Any folders, with appropriate access
needs, you mention the appropriate Group in Share and Security.

But yes, you will have to have all individual persons defined on each individual
computer in a workgroup. This is why my personal recommendation is to have a
workgroup of maximum 10 persons. Depending upon how fluid the group of people
is, and how much serial sharing of computers, I will recommend a domain for as
few as 5 computers or people. Domains are scalable; workgroups aren't.
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/08/setting-up-domain-or-workgroup-plan.html
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/0...roup-plan.html

And yes, you CAN have 1 account / password combination on every computer, if you
don't care about security. But I didn't say THAT.

You can have the Guest account, and it can be used for access with PPS active,
IF Guest is activated.

Not to be facetious, but the minimum number of accounts required on any computer
is 0. With 0, you won't be able to use the computer. To use the computer, you
must have at least 1. Depending upon which 1 account you have, you may be able
to do the work desired.

You can raise privilege level in the Guest account, using the LSP Editor, and
permissions in the shares. Guest is an account, like every other account.

Is that a good start?

--
Cheers,
Chuck, MS-MVP [Windows - Networking]
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/
Paranoia is not a problem, when it's a normal response from experience.
My email is AT DOT
actual address pchuck mvps org.

Ronc - I have the same problem with w98 locking up.

I have been through all the steps you describe above (lots of research
also) with vista setup except I have set lmcompatibilitylevel=0 as used
in w2k computer. I have access using a workgroup, not a domain.
Browser is another w98 computer (service disabled on vista). There is
an account on the vista computer with same user name as logged onto the
w98 computer. I have had to reset the password on the vista computer
after setup to get it to allow w98 access (same as w2k computer). I
have a folder shared on the vista with permission set to the w98 user
only (deleted everyone). Network discovery, sharing, and password
settings are on.

I can transfer (drag) a file to the vista computer from the w98 only if
it is less than 5Kb, otherwise I get a long wait and then "Cannot create
... The specified network resource or device is no longer availabile".
This seems to be a packet size issue or something related.
Same thing happens even if I map the vista share in w98 (net use..).
Also happens when I try to get the properties of a vista file.

Anybody have any ideas???


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KKG
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