What's the Purpose of a Network Workgroup?

[jim evans]

I don't understand the purpose or value of a workgroup. When I
connect my laptop to any friends network with any workgroup name (not
the same as my laptop) I connect and have access to their files. The
workgroup doesn't seem to add/do anything.

What am I missing?

jim

 

[Gordon]

I don't understand the purpose or value of a workgroup. When I
connect my laptop to any friends network with any workgroup name (not
the same as my laptop) I connect and have access to their files. The
workgroup doesn't seem to add/do anything.

What am I missing?

jim

then I would suggest that your friends are running totally unsecure
machines.....

 

[Lem]

I don't understand the purpose or value of a workgroup. When I
connect my laptop to any friends network with any workgroup name (not
the same as my laptop) I connect and have access to their files. The
workgroup doesn't seem to add/do anything.

What am I missing?

jim

In Windows XP, not much. You can, as you've discovered, you can access
resources of networked XP computers *as long as they're in the same
subnet* whether or not they're in the same workgroup. This has nothing
to do with security -- resource sharing is controlled by mechanisms such
as firewalls and NTFS permissions. One can also, of course, uninstall
the "File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks" service for the
NIC that connects a computer to the LAN.

AFAIK, in XP, a "workgroup" is only a convenience feature used in
connection with the "My Network Places" display. I've also seen
comments to the effect that MNP is a somewhat flakey and unreliable
method of accessing network computers; I never use it, so I have no
comment on that.

OTOH, in Vista, computers apparently *must* be in the same workgroup in
order to be properly networked with each other and share resources.

--
Lem -- MS-MVP - Networking

To the moon and back with 2K words of RAM and 36K words of ROM.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer
http://history.nasa.gov/afj/compessay.htm

 

[jim evans]

AFAIK, in XP, a "workgroup" is only a convenience feature used in
connection with the "My Network Places" display. I've also seen
comments to the effect that MNP is a somewhat flakey and unreliable
method of accessing network computers; I never use it, so I have no
comment on that.

OTOH, in Vista, computers apparently *must* be in the same workgroup in
order to be properly networked with each other and share resources.

 

[jim evans]

In Windows XP, not much. <snip>

AFAIK, in XP, a "workgroup" is only a convenience feature used in
connection with the "My Network Places" display.

Thanks.

 

[smlunatick]

Thanks.

Expanded inof: Workgroup is a "feature" which will group together PCs/
other hardwarefor easy "listing" and access. It is for us "humans" to
be able to see mostly every "locally" access PCs/hardware. In a large
corporate "entity," it is possible to have more than one work group
lien:

Accounting
Marketing
Sales

but as previously stated, not very secure.

 

[Steve Winograd [MVP]]

In Windows XP, not much. You can, as you've discovered, you can access
resources of networked XP computers *as long as they're in the same
subnet* whether or not they're in the same workgroup. This has nothing
to do with security -- resource sharing is controlled by mechanisms such
as firewalls and NTFS permissions. One can also, of course, uninstall
the "File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks" service for the
NIC that connects a computer to the LAN.

AFAIK, in XP, a "workgroup" is only a convenience feature used in
connection with the "My Network Places" display. I've also seen
comments to the effect that MNP is a somewhat flakey and unreliable
method of accessing network computers; I never use it, so I have no
comment on that.

OTOH, in Vista, computers apparently *must* be in the same workgroup in
order to be properly networked with each other and share resources.

I agree that workgroups serve no real purpose in Windows XP. In
Windows 95/98/Me, clicking "Network Neighborhood" shows the computers
in a computer's workgroup. Computers in other workgroups are
accessible in all versions of Windows. Workgroups have never provided
any type of security or access control.

I, too, recommend not using XP's "My Network Places", which I've found
to be quite unreliable.

I've had no difficulty sharing resources between Vista computers in
different workgroups. It works fine in my tests.
--
Best Wishes,
Steve Winograd, MS-MVP (Windows Networking)

Please post any reply as a follow-up message in the news group
for everyone to see. I'm sorry, but I don't answer questions
addressed directly to me in E-mail or news groups.

Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Program
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com

 

[GTS]

That's a widespread misimpression. Some MS documentation on Vista
incorrectly implies a need to be in the same workgroup. It actually works
the same as XP and is not required. This is correctly explained in
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb727037.aspx#EEAA (For easier
and faster discovery of computers on your home network, it is highly
recommended that all computers on a home network be configured for the same
workgroup name. If computers are in multiple workgroups, it can take
additional time and effort to discover all of the computers on the network.)
but misstated elsewhere.