Configuring Client for Microsoft Networks

To configure Client for Microsoft Networks, you need to consider the following:

• Will Client for Microsoft Networks be the Primary Network Logon client?
• Will users log on to a Windows NT domain, a single Windows NT computer, or a LAN Manager domain?
• Will persistent connections to network drives be restored when the user logs on to Windows 98 or only if the resource is used?

This section describes these options and how to configure the network client.

Note

On a clean installation, Windows 98 does not configure Client for Microsoft Networks to log on to a Windows NT domain. If you want Client for Microsoft Networks to log on to a Windows NT domain, follow the procedure in "Configuring Logon and Reconnection Options," later in this chapter.

Configuring the Primary Client for Network Logon

If you set Client for Microsoft Networks as the Primary Network Logon, the computer downloads system policies and user profiles from the Windows-based network, and the first logon prompt that appears is for the Windows NT network. Also, if more than one network client is installed, the last logon script is run from Windows NT (or LAN Manager, depending on your network).

To make Client for Microsoft Networks the Primary Network Logon client

1. In Control Panel, double-click Network.
2. In the Primary Network Logon box, click Client for Microsoft Networks. Click OK.

Configuring Logon and Reconnection Options

In the Network option in Control Panel, you can specify logon validation and resource connection options. If you enable logon validation, Windows 98 automatically attempts to validate the user by checking the specified domain. You must enable this option if you want to gain access to user profiles and system policies on a Windows NT domain. If logon validation is required on your network but is not enabled on your computer, you might not have access to most network resources. If logon validation is enabled and you do not provide the correct password, you might not have access to network resources.

Note

For logon validation to work, the user’s user name and password must be specified in a user account on the specified Windows NT domain, LAN Manager domain, or Windows NT computer.

You can also set logon validation by using system policies. With system policies, you can prevent the user from booting Windows 98 until the user is validated by either a Windows NT server or a NetWare server. For more information, see Chapter 8, "System Policies."

Note

Windows 98 does not support using a LAN Manager domain controller as a pass-through security provider, but LAN Manager can provide logon validation.

To enable logon validation for Client for Microsoft Networks

1. In Control Panel, double-click Network, and then double-click Client for Microsoft Networks in the list of network components.
2. Select the Log on to Windows NT domain check box if you want to log on to a Microsoft Windows NT or LAN Manager domain automatically when starting Windows 98.

   If you do not want to log on to a domain when starting Windows 98, make sure this check box is cleared.

3. If you select logon validation, you can also specify the domain to be used for validation by typing a name in the Windows NT Domain box.

   You can specify a Windows NT or LAN Manager domain name or the name of a Windows NT computer (version 3.1 or later) where you have a user account.

You can also specify whether Windows 98 should restore and verify each persistent connection at system startup.

To configure how persistent connections are restored

1. In Control Panel, double-click Network, and then double-click Client for Microsoft Networks in the list of network components.
2. To map the drive letters when you log on without actually establishing a session for each persistent network connection, in the Network logon options area, click Quick logon.

   – Or –

   To have Windows 98 verify each persistent network connection at startup by establishing a session for each persistent connection, click Logon and restore network connections.

With Quick logon, Windows 98 initializes data structures for mapping local drives and local printer ports to network resources, but Windows 98 does not attach to the network resource until the user tries to get access to the resources.

When you use Quick logon (the default), Windows 98 starts faster than if the actual connections are made during startup. However, the first time you try to access a network drive, it will take a little longer for the contents of that drive to appear.

Note

Quick logon requires password caching to function properly. If system policies are used to disable password caching, users cannot use Quick logon successfully with peer servers configured with share-level security.