ARCHIVED: How do I set up Windows 95, 98, and Me computers to share hard drive space and printers?

You can set up Windows 95, 98, and Me to share storage and printing resources among groups of networked computers. Setting this up is not difficult, but there are several different ways to do it. The simplest method for setting up peer-to-peer networking on the Indiana University Bloomington and IUPUI campuses is described below after the "Terms" and "Issues" sections.

Terms

• Microsoft Networking: The set of networking standards that Microsoft uses for client/server or peer-to-peer network services between Microsoft operating systems
• Share: A shared resource, such as a hard drive (or a portion of a hard drive), a CD-ROM drive, or a printer
• WINS: A server that lets computers see each other, even across routers
• Protocol: Languages on the network (While computers using different protocols can exist on the same network, they won't be able to communicate with each other.)
• UNC names: Computers and shares can be specified using Universal Naming Convention (UNC) names. UNC names start with \\ (double backslash) and take the form \\Computer_name\Share_name. For example, a share called Chips on a computer called Potato will have the UNC name:

    \\Potato\Chips

Issues

• Network protocols: Microsoft Networking can be performed using any of the three supported protocols (NetBEUI, IPX/SPX, or TCP/IP). However, TCP/IP is the only protocol that is routed on the IU network. If you choose one of the other two protocols, computers on a different subnet will not be visible to your computer.
• Full vs. Read-Only access: You can prevent users from changing files on a share by specifying Read-Only access. To allow full editing capabilities, specify Full access. When setting up a share, you can assign different passwords for Full and Read-Only permission levels.
• Share level vs. user level security: Share level security is the easiest to implement. A password is associated with each share, and no username is needed to use that share. User level security, which is much more sophisticated, allows different degrees of permission other than Full or Read-Only access, and you can restrict access to certain usernames. To do this, you will have to use a Windows NT domain. The description below uses share level security.

Preliminary steps: Setting up the Network control panel

1. From the Start menu, select Settings, then Control Panel. Double-click Network, and make sure the following components are installed (if they are not, install them):
   • Client for Microsoft Networks (client)
   • TCP/IP (protocol)
   • File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks
   
   
2. You should have an IP address assigned to you, unless your department uses a DHCP server.
3. Under the WINS Configuration tab, select TCP/IP, and then click the Properties... button. Select Enable WINS Resolution and specify the following WINS servers:

   This content is archived and, to avoid any possible confusion, is no longer available for viewing.

   Note: These IP numbers are not the same as the IP numbers for the DNS servers.

4. Do not change anything in the properties for "Client for Microsoft Networks" or in the properties for "File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks".
5. Click File and Print Sharing. Select I want to be able to give others access to my files, or I want to be able to allow others to print to my printer(s), or both, as you wish.
6. Under the Identification tab, specify the name you would like to use for this computer. Choose a name that would be unlikely to conflict with the name of any other computer on campus (the personal username of the computer's principal user, for instance). You must also specify the name of a workgroup. If you manage a group of computers and would like them to communicate easily with each other, use the same workgroup name for all the computers.
7. Under the Access Control tab, make sure that Share Level access control is selected.
8. When you exit the control panel, you will be prompted to restart the computer.

Sharing resources with others

To share a storage device, or a folder on a storage device:

1. Open Windows Explorer.
2. Right-click the drive or folder you wish to share. From the menu that appears, choose Sharing.
3. In the Sharing dialog box, select Shared As. Enter an appropriate name in the "Share Name" field. Choose an appropriate and descriptive name (e.g., CD-ROM, Hard Drive C, Dissertation).
4. Choose the access type you desire, and then choose the password to be used for access. You will be asked to enter the password twice. If you choose Depends on Password, you can choose different passwords for Read-Only and Full access; the kind of access granted will depend on which password the remote user enters.

Sharing a printer

1. Click Start, then Settings, and then Printers.
2. Right-click the printer you wish to share. From the menu that appears, choose Sharing.
3. In the Sharing dialog box, select Shared As. Enter an appropriate name in the "Share Name" field. Choose an appropriate and descriptive name (e.g., Bob's HP LaserJet III).
4. Choose the access type desired, and then choose the password to be used for access. You will be asked to enter the password twice.

Connecting to a share

1. Find the remote computer and open it. In some cases, you may find it as an icon in Network Neighborhood or My Network Places. If you do not, you can find it by clicking Start, then Find, and then Computer. You can also find the remote computer by clicking Start, then Run, and then entering a UNC name in the form \\Computer_name. Replace Computer_name with the name of the computer to which you want to connect. For example, if you want to connect to a computer called Potato, enter:

     \\potato

2. A window will open, revealing the shares on the remote computer. You can open a shared folder as you would any other folder, by double-clicking it. You will be asked for a password.
3. You can map a drive letter to the folder by right-clicking it and choosing Map Network Drive.
4. You can make shortcuts to the share by dragging the folder onto the desktop. You can also make shortcuts to files and folders inside the share in the same way.
5. To start the Printer Installation Wizard, double-click a shared printer's icon. Once the shared printer is installed, it will appear in the Printers control panel.

Specifying a share on a command line, or when prompted for a filename

You can use Wordpad to open a file called salt.doc on a share called Chips on the computer Potato by entering the following on the command line, or in the "Run:" field:

  wordpad \\Potato\Chips\salt.doc

If you are in Microsoft Word, to open the same file, from the File menu, choose Open. Then, in the "File Name:" field, enter:

  \\Potato\Chips\salt.doc