Windows XP File sharing with NetBEUI

[John Smith]

Does the NetBeui comes with WinXP works at all? I installed it according
to Microsoft's KB but still unable to share file and printer.
I have Win98 PCs running NetBEUI for File and Printer sharing and they
can see each other without problems. If I enable File & Printer sharing
over TCP/IP, then I can share with WinXP as well. I have even forced
using NetBEUI under Advance Options but without any luck.

I prefer NetBEUI over TCP/IP for its non-routable character. Any success
using NetBEUI for Windows XP?

 

[Bob Willard]

Does the NetBeui comes with WinXP works at all? I installed it according
to Microsoft's KB but still unable to share file and printer.
I have Win98 PCs running NetBEUI for File and Printer sharing and they
can see each other without problems. If I enable File & Printer sharing
over TCP/IP, then I can share with WinXP as well. I have even forced
using NetBEUI under Advance Options but without any luck.

I prefer NetBEUI over TCP/IP for its non-routable character. Any success
using NetBEUI for Windows XP?

Yes, it works. It is not supported, which only means that M$ may
not help you with your problems, but it still works under XP. But
my home LAN includes NetBEUI on my XP PC (and on the rest of my
motley crew).

 

[John Smith]

Yes, it works. It is not supported, which only means that M$ may
not help you with your problems, but it still works under XP. But
my home LAN includes NetBEUI on my XP PC (and on the rest of my
motley crew).

So, do you share file or printer with your Win9x or Win Me PCs or not?
If yes, do your Win9x/Me PCs exclude TCP/IP in file/printer sharing?

 

[Bob Willard]

So, do you share file or printer with your Win9x or Win Me PCs or not?
If yes, do your Win9x/Me PCs exclude TCP/IP in file/printer sharing?

My home LAN includes W95b, W98SE, W2Kpro, and XP HE PCs. I share
files on every PC to every other PC, and I share two printers
on the XP PC and two more on one of the W9x PCs to every other PC
(except the W95 PC which rarely has anything worth printing). Note
that file sharing is much easier to get working than printer sharing,
since file sharing only depends on Windows software, while printer
sharing depends on code from printer vendors who are not always
interested in supporting networked printing (esp. cross-platform).

Currently, on my W9x PCs, F&P Sharing is bound to *both* TCP/IP
and to NetBEUI -- not a good practice, and not something I'd repeat
if I were to rebuild my LAN from scratch. I recommend using only
TCP/IP whenever you can (if security concerns allow it); for your
case (assuming you don't have a router/firewall between your PCs
and the 'net), I suggest binding F&P sharing *only* to NetBEUI.

 

[John Smith]

Well Bob, if your Win9x PCs have F&P Sharing bound to both TCP/IP and
NetBEUI, how can you be sure that NetBEUI is working but not TCP/IP
all along? Did you specifically removed TCP/IP binding in Win XP.

 

[Bob Willard]

Well Bob, if your Win9x PCs have F&P Sharing bound to both TCP/IP and
NetBEUI, how can you be sure that NetBEUI is working but not TCP/IP
all along? Did you specifically removed TCP/IP binding in Win XP.

Interesting question. As an experiment, I just disabled TCP/IP on
my XP PC -- and I can still access files across the LAN. So I guess
this demonstrates that NetBEUI supports F&P sharing on a XP PC.