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Shared drive access

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by dnvrtechgrrl 1 view

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We have half the pc's on win98 and half on win2000 pro. They won't let me install win2k server, so I "think" I made a server out of one of the spare workstations. From this, I should be able to access the drive in Dallas, and give everyone here access to the shared portion. Problem is, the server isn't showing up on all the computers, and on the few 98 machines it will show up on, I can't get the path to the shared folder on the user station to take.

If anyone knows what I'm doing, I could sure use a hand. As of this moment, I don't have a clue.

Thanks

5 replies

by timwalsh

Since you don't have any "true" servers, you don't have a domain environment. You are using a peer-to-peer networking environment in which there is no centralized user management.

You have 2 issues you need to deal with: user access and share mapping.

User access: In a peer-to-peer environment, all computers hosting shared resources must have user accounts created on them for all users wishing to access that shared resource.

Share mapping: All computers in a peer-to-peer network must have the same Workgroup name in order to "see" the other computers on the network. However, Win98 computers have problems seeing other non-Win98 computers sometimes. They may or may not be able to find other computers by name. You can usually get around this by using the "server" IP address instead of name in the share path (but only if all computers have the TCP/IP networking protocol installed - Win2K installs this by default; Win98 does not). You do not need to "see" other computers inorder to be able to map shared resources from them (as long as you know either the computer name or IP address and the share name). If you can't "see" the host computer in Network Neighborhood, go to the Tools menu in Windows Explorer; choose "Map network drive;" Use whichever drive letter you wish; in the path window use the format "\\serverIPaddress\Sharename"

Hope this helps.

by ctmoore1998

First of all check to make sure all the workstations are in the same network i.e. you're probably using TCP/IP so your network should be a private IP such as 192.168.0.xxx s/n 255.255.255.0 this will allow 254 computers to be 'local'. A good rule ofthumb for IP networks is 192.168.0.1-20 reserved for servers .21-199 are for workstations .200-254 is for routers and printers and other network devices. But whatever addressing scheme your peer server should be the default gateway for all the other PC's unless you have broadband access also then your access device is your default gateway. It also sounds as if your trying to access via a WAN if so what are the connecting equipment are you VPN through the internet or a dedicated point to point???? There are several IP ports that need to be open to do file and print sharing via WAN or VPN - So really need more information on the topography to give more info if you are trying to connect 2 or more networks.

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