Unable to access Win9x computer from XP, solved

  • Thread starter Thread starter Beverly Howard [Ms-MVP/MobileDev]
  • Start date Start date
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Beverly Howard [Ms-MVP/MobileDev]

Some time ago, I posted here in an unsuccessful attempt to solve my
inability to access two Win9x computers on a network _from_ XP

I had tried all posted solutions and configurations with zero success
and totally gave up on solving it about six months ago.

The issue was made stranger by the fact that the inaccessible computers
had no problems accessing the XP computer(s) and the XP computers could
access pop3 and smtp mail servers on one of the machines that could not
be accessed using file explorer.

Today, while glancing at the list of computers on the network, I noticed
that the names of the two inaccessible computers had one thing in common
with each other that they had with none of the other computers... a
<space> in their <computernames>

Removed the space from the name on each computer, rebooted and XP had no
problems accessing them. fwiw, one inaccessable box was running Win98
and the other Win95

Additional thought... I have no way to test this, but I'm guessing that
this particular problem would have disappeared if the network had a wins
server.

Hope this helps,
Beverly Howard [MS MVP-Mobile Devices]
 
Make sure that Client for Microsoft Networks is installed and enabled in the
Properties of Network Neighbourhood, check to make sure that TCP/IP Protocol
is also installed..

Use your XP Account Username and Password to log in under those 9x machines.
Also make sure that both 9x computers are using the same workgroup name, and
make sure there is no IP Conflict, each computer should have there own
unique IP Address and computer name.

Andre
 
thanks, but please note that all of your suggestions have been applied
and verified many times over the past year without success.

I have a fully functional network where the XP machines could access
other Win9x workstations without problems and while all Win9x boxes
could access all other Win9x boxes, the XP boxes could not access
specific Win98 boxes even though they could access the XP shares.

I posted this message as I have seen others with the same problems post
here without resolution as I have and am simply posting the obscure
nature of the problem that I have been able to verify using other XP
laptops connected to this network.

Beverly Howard [MS MVP-Mobile Devices]
 
Nothing obscure about it. NetBIOS names cannot have spaces in them. Common
knowledge.
 
Beverly said:
Removed the space from the name on each computer, rebooted and XP had no
problems accessing them. fwiw, one inaccessable box was running Win98
and the other Win95
Click to expand...

According to XP Help and support:
The computer name is limited to fifteen characters and cannot contain
spaces or any of the following special characters:
; : " < > * + = \ | ? ,

Quite when 'no space' came in I don't know
 
Nothing obscure about it. NetBIOS names cannot have spaces in them.
Common knowledge. <<

then, curosity question, why did the network work between win9x machines
with spaces in their names and and not from XP?

Beverly Howard [MS MVP-Mobile Devices]
 
Makes sense in retrospect, but, as mentioned, never found it as a
solution to network connection problems either in (extensive) searches
nor posting here and elsewhere.

Beverly Howard [MS MVP-Mobile Devices]
 
THANKS!!! This was exactly my problem, although I had some other interesting
behaviour. I couldn't access a share on my 98SE computer that had a password,
but if the share was not password protected, I could. The weird part was that
XP gave no feedback at all. You clicked on "OKAY" on the password entry
dialog on the XP machine and NOTHING happened. No response of any kind.

Anyway, taking the space out of the name of the 98SE machine fixed the
problem. Thanks again.
 
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