hooking up to a 2000 based network

I have heard that windows XP home will not work on a 2000 based network and have been unable to make it work with my home network running a 2k server as a domain controller. Howerver, at my brother’s law office his pc tech was able to make xp home hook up to that 2k based network without a domain controller. Is this because of Active Directory or am I missing some steps at home?