WinXP Pro & Win9x/Me (peer-to-peer network)

[Guest]

WinXP Pro & Win9x/Me (peer-to-peer network)
11/29/04 10:21 AM PST
SeaSpeeder

Existing peer-to-peer network consists of the following:

Desktop 1: Windows Me (This will become Windows XP Pro)
Desktop 2: Windows Me
Laptop 1: Windows 98SE
Laptop 2: Windows 95a

Please answer YES or NO for each question. Feel free to add comments. The
plan is for the new Windows XP Pro PC is to have Drive C (operating system
& installed apps) to be NTFS and Drive D (my existing data & downloaded
files) to remain as FAT32. Currently using Windows ME, and both drives are
FAT32. Drive D is source location for data, drivers and downloaded programs.
When I install them, they're installed to Drive C, destination drive. I need
to take Drive D out of WinMe computer and put it in WinXP Pro computer. Drive
C will be reformatted as NTFS during Windows XP installation. Only Drive C
will be NTFS. Drive D remains FAT32. I have to use XP Pro rather than XP
Home due to the Windows 95 computer on the network.

YES/NO -- I can connect my Windows XP Pro (Drive C: NTFS, Drive D: FAT32) PC
to Windows 95/98/ME (FAT32) PCs to share files and printers.
YES/NO -- I will not have problems reading the FAT32 PCs from my NTFS PC.
YES/NO -- I will not have problems reading the NTFS PC from my FAT32 PCs.
YES/NO -- The FAT32 PCs can read any drive on my NTFS PC regardless of file
system used.
YES/NO -- The FAT32 PCs can read only the NTFS C Drive on my NTFS PC
YES/NO -- The FAT32 PCs can read only the FAT32 D Drive on my NTFS PC
YES/NO -- The FAT32 PCs cannot read any drive on my NTFS PC
YES/NO -- Files on my NTFS PC can be transferred to the FAT32 PCs
YES/NO -- Files on the FAT32 PCs can be transferred to the NTFS PCs

 

[Haggis]

short answer...yes , yes ,yes ,yes ,no ,no , yes ,yes :>

win9x will not see a NTFS drive locally(without 3rd party software) but over
a network it does not matter (i have a mix of win9x,XP,NT40) transferring
files and sharing is no problem

 

[Guest]

I asked 9 questions and 8 were answered, but I do not know which 8 since you
missed one. Please tell me which questions are yes and which are no. Thanks.

short answer...yes , yes ,yes ,yes ,no ,no , yes ,yes :>

win9x will not see a NTFS drive locally(without 3rd party software) but over
a network it does not matter (i have a mix of win9x,XP,NT40) transferring
files and sharing is no problem

 

[Eric Cross [MVP]]

Greetings SeaSpeeder,

The file system of a shared disk is irrelevant. Every computer know how to
read its own disk and make its contents available over the network. NTFS and
FAT32 isn't a issue with networking. These restrictions don't apply. This
only applies to its own local disk.

All versions of Windows can be networked regardless of the file system.

_________________
Eric Cross
Microsoft MVP (Windows Networking)
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com