For some reason, I have been asked to transfer some files from a very old Windows 98 box to a Windows XP Professional box (don't ask; it's a favor for a friend). I figured this would be an easy task. Create a share on the WinXP box, give write access to the everyone group, navigate to that share from the Win98 box, and dump the files. Right? Wrong.
I did not have the ambigious "Microsoft Network" password for the Win98 machine, but that is no bother. You hit "cancel" at the login screen, and it just lets you in. (I had always assumed that those credentials were merely a placebo for Win98 users and had no effective use.) So, I hit "cancel" and was dumped into the desktop. I had already created the wide-open share on the XP box and both computers were connected to the LAN. I ran \\computername and was given a password prompt to access the XP machine &mdash "you need a password to access \\computername\ipc$". No, not a username and password prompt; rather, just a password prompt with no discernable username associated with it. I left it blank and hit "okay" (fully expecting that to work). It did not work.
I hopped back over to the WinXP machine and enabled the Guest account. "Maybe that's the default username Win98 uses to access shares," I thought to myself. I attempted again and failed.
It was asking me for a password associated with \\computernam\ipc$, so my thought was that if I tried directly accessing the share via \\computername\sharename maybe I could bypass this Windows InterProcess Communication$ credential challenge oddity. (Isn't Windows supposed to be easier than this?)
Typing in \\computername\sharename was a no-go. Still challenging me for some mysterious username-less password.
I tried some more various combinations of trickery trying to make it just-work before finally stumbling upon the answer. First, on the Win98 box, create a new "Microsoft Network" account JRandom. It will whirl and copy and transfer settings for a while desperately attempting some unnecessary DWIMmery. Reboot the 98 box and actually log in with the newly created account. Now, go back to the XP box, and create a local account to that computer called JRandom with the same password you gave the 98 account. Make sure XP's JRandom has rw access to the share. Finally, from the 98 box, you can enter \\computername\sharename and have it just work (even though the two accounts are completely separate, have nothing intrinsically in common except they are the same name and password).
*shrug*
It took me a while to figure this out, and Google was surprisingly not as helpful as I expected, so I thought this is a good nomination for a blog entry.
Comments
And what if that doesn't work? Do I have to be logged in as JRandom in XP as well as in Win98?
Any other ideas? I've tried reading up on this as well and haven't had luck.
I know when we were at the 1640 house, I was running 98 and was able to access your XP shares? Do you remember what we had done there?
I did everything that you did plus a lot more!
I still can't get into my XP Pro machine. My objective is to backup that machine using a tape drive that is on a Win98SE machine.
I tried everthing that has been written that I got my hands on, concerning this problem. No joy!
I'm really at my wit's end. Don't know where to go from here. Sure wish I could make that IPC$ thing go away. The only thing that I didn't do is to enable the "guest" account, because of security reasons.
First problem: you NEED to login to microsoft networking (it doesn't matter what the username or password is, but you can't click cancel). Let's just pick "win98sucks" and "password".
Now, you have two possible ways:
1 - Share the C drive of the win98 box and access it from the winXP box (no username/password is necessary).
2 - Create the user "win98sucks" on the XP machine and give it a password of "password". Then, when you go \\, you will be prompted for password only (win98 automatically passes the username of the currently logged-on user), type password and you'll see the share.
This functionality (and thus your problems) are by design.
Collin
Well, I have kind a simular problem right here.
We use a computer running on Windows 98 SE to communicate with our trucks by SMS.
Now we want to backup all the messages we've send in the past to an other computer (running XP Pro), which is connected to a 2nd network-card to the LAN with Internet access.
So I used a cross-cable to connect the 2 together and gave them both an IP in the same range (98SE = 192.168.1.1, XP = 192.168.1.2. This is an other range than the LAN on which the XP machine is located)
I made a share on the 98 SE machine and tried connecting to it from the XP machine, but it won't. XP says it can't find the share.
Now the really strange part is that I can ping from the XP --> 98SE, but otherway around it won't (98SE --> XP won't work).
Somebody that can shed a light on this matter?
mey be because of the firwall protection on windows xp
right click network places >properties > right click the lan connection>properties > advance > uncheck or disable firwall for this connection
I also had similar problems sharing files between a win98 end XP, now what you can do is enable a little feature in winXP. Goto the local security policy in administrative tools. Under local settings select security options. Search for "Let Everyone permissions apply to anonymous users" and enable it. NOw it should work. While you're there also check if guest has access from the network because this also could be the hazard.
Just trying to help people...
Dennis
any user name will work not just JRandom but the user name has to be on both computers i use the same user name thats on my xp, and if the ipc$ thing comes up, give it the pass for the xp computer
How i can share from xp to win98 sir. How i can share from that. any setting is there to change in xp sir to access the file.
How i can give sharing from xp to win98. Any setting is there to access to win98. tell me sir because i tried to share from xp to win98 but nothing happened sir. From xp to xp ok, from xp to win98. How is that sir. What is the security or setting that i have to change
The best way to solve this problem is to install winXP on both computers.
i had win98 oprerating system and lan-connection to the sysetm.i wanted to share my c: drive and access in another computer ..but i am not even getting the sharing option in my system..
i had enabled the ipx/spx for windows also,and enabled the file and print sharing option,and also clients for microsoft networks,,,,
but i am not able to get sharing option in my system
pls can anyone help me in this matter to sought out my problem.
when i access win98 system from winxp system,winxp system access win98 system properly,but when i access winxp system from win98 system winxp system not access from win98 system
hello
The above solution has worked,creating a same user on winxp system with same password as on win98 system,it works,i faced prob and got rectified
I am having an unusual problem with a network that I am setting up for a small business that has 8 computers. Some of the computers were set up previously by a service company. Others were ones that were purchased brand new when they decided to purchase more systems. All of the computers are in a WORKGROUP environment. The new systems communicate fine & share files fine. The new systems cannot communicate or share files with the older systems & the older systems cannot communicate or share files with the newer systems. When I am attempting to share folders, I noted that the Share Menu screen on the new ones are what I am accustomed to seeing in stand-a-lone workstations. It has the middle section of Network Sharing and security with the options to Share this folder on the network & then the share name below. Below that is Allow network users to change my files option. On the older systems, the Sharing tab is the what you see when you try to share a folder of a computer that is attached to a domain. It has the Do not share or Share options. It has the C$ one already set up. I have tried using the Network Setup Wizard on all systems to set them in the same WORKGROUP. The new systems get a denied access message attempting to connect into the older systems. The older systems get a password prompt to access the Guest account. Any assistance would be appreciated.
Thomson,
U didn't provide info abt OS being used on all the system,,,whether they are using same os or diff...however if the new system asks for prompt to access guest account u can activate and set password to guest account ....by going to....
control panel>administrative tools>computer managemnt>local users>guest account and it will access it as guest account to other pc...plz provide some more info if prob is not solved......