Please Help! I want to turn my old PC into a File Server

[Guest]

Hi my company is very small--we have only 3-4 employees and I have one old
PC which is Windows 2000 and 3 new Windows Vista 2007 computers. If I want
to turn the old PC into a "File Server", is it possible that when I link all
of 3 computers to the File Server then they can talk to one another? Do I
have any problem with that because of old version and new version of
Microsoft? (I know that I have to add memory and network card to the old PC
but "Do I have to buy Vista and install it in the old PC as well?") I want to
save my Access database backend in the File Server but I'm not sure that I
can do it. I'm new with Access and computer network so I do appreciate for
any suggestion. Thanks

 

[Malke]

Hi my company is very small--we have only 3-4 employees and I have one old
PC which is Windows 2000 and 3 new Windows Vista 2007 computers. If I want
to turn the old PC into a "File Server", is it possible that when I link all
of 3 computers to the File Server then they can talk to one another? Do I
have any problem with that because of old version and new version of
Microsoft? (I know that I have to add memory and network card to the old PC
but "Do I have to buy Vista and install it in the old PC as well?") I want to
save my Access database backend in the File Server but I'm not sure that I
can do it. I'm new with Access and computer network so I do appreciate for
any suggestion. Thanks

You won't have any problem using your Win2k box as a file server with so
few workstations. Just make sure it has enough RAM - 1GB should do it.
Create identical user accounts/passwords on the Win2k box to match the
ones on the Vista machines and set all firewalls to allow the LAN as
trusted. Here is a link about Vista networking to get you started:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/network/evaluate/vista_fp.mspx

I can't answer your question about Access since that isn't my area of
expertise. You might want to post your question in one of the Access
newsgroups.

http://aumha.org/nntp.htm - list of MS newsgroups


Malke

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Hi my company is very small--we have only 3-4 employees and I have one old
PC which is Windows 2000 and 3 new Windows Vista 2007 computers. If I want
to turn the old PC into a "File Server", is it possible that when I link all
of 3 computers to the File Server then they can talk to one another?

With so few computers, you almost certainly shouldn't really have a
file server (which implies a server operating system, and a kind of
network called a domain), but yes, you can set up a network (the kind
called a workgroup) among the four computers.

A workgroup is really a peer-to-peer network, and no computer is
higher-level than the others or functions as a server, but you can
certainly keep files primarily on one computer and share those files
with the others. It's not literally a "file server," but it will
probably do what you want.

Do I
have any problem with that because of old version and new version of
Microsoft? (I know that I have to add memory and network card to the old PC

You will need a network card on all four computers if they don't
already have them. Network cards are very inexpensive. Why do you
think you need more memory on the older computer? Probably not.

You also need a four-port hub, switch, or router (preferably a router)
to connect the network cards to, and four (one for each computer)
appropriate lengths of CAT5 ethernet cable to do the connecting.

but "Do I have to buy Vista and install it in the old PC as well?")

No.


I want to
save my Access database backend in the File Server but I'm not sure that I
can do it. I'm new with Access and computer network so I do appreciate for
any suggestion. Thanks

I know comparatively little about Access, and can't really help with
any questions there.