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Troubleshooting Logon, Browsing, and Resource Sharing

This section provides some general troubleshooting steps and explains how to solve common problems that might occur with logon, browsing, and resource sharing.

Troubleshooting Logon

This section describes common problems that might occur with system and network logon.

Setup does not run the logon script.

If the network logon server or domain controller is not validating the user account, the logon script will not run. Check the following:

If the network logon server or domain controller is validating the user account, do the following:

Logon script net use command does not work.

If your Windows NT domain is organized into a multiple master domain and a user’s logon script net use command does not work, verify that you do not have two user accounts with the same user name and different passwords.

Logon fails with Novell Client for Windows 95/98.

After installing Novell Client for Windows 95/98, if you do not see a NetWare logon screen and NetWare servers do not appear in Network Neighborhood, check the following:

Troubleshooting Browsing

This section describes common problems that might occur with network browsing. As a general troubleshooting step, before performing the steps listed in this section, verify that you have a browsing problem rather than a problem with network connectivity.

To verify that you have a browsing problem

  1. On the Start menu, point to Find, and then click Computer.
  2. In the Named box, type the computer name for the network server you want to browse.
  3. Click Find Now.

If you can find the computer, you have a browsing problem. If not, you have a problem with your network connection.

As another general troubleshooting step, verify that the master browse server is functioning correctly. At the command prompt, type

net view /workgroup:workgroup_name

If your workgroup name contains spaces, enclose the workgroup name in quotation marks.

This command retrieves a browse list from the master browse server. If you can retrieve a browse list, a backup browse server might not be functioning correctly or might not have an updated browse list. (It can take up to 15 minutes to retrieve an updated browse list.)

You can also test browse master functionality with the net use command. At the command prompt, type

net use \\server\share

If you can connect but not browse, you might have a problem with your master browse server.

For more information about troubleshooting browsing, see the Microsoft Windows NT Server Resource Kit (for Windows NT Server version 4.0).

You cannot browse to find SMB-based servers in the workgroup while using Client for Microsoft Networks.

There might be no SMB-based servers in the workgroup (computers running Windows NT, LAN Manager, or File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks). Windows 98 does not support browsing in a workgroup that does not contain an SMB-based server if the computer is running Client for Microsoft Networks. The following presents a solution.

To make sure there is an SMB-based server in the workgroup

Samba server does not accept your password.

For security reasons, Windows 98 no longer allows you to send plain text passwords. It sends only encrypted passwords. However, Samba servers require plain text passwords, so you will not be able to connect to Samba servers unless you change a registry entry to enable plain text passwords.

Caution

Enabling plain text passwords will decrease your computer’s security.

To enable plain-text passwords, add the registry entry EnablePlainTextPassword (as a DWORD) and set the value to 1 in the following registry location:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\VxD\Vnetsup

Access to an NCP-based server changes if SAP Advertising is defined.

Where you access an NCP-based peer resource server in Network Neighborhood can change, depending on whether the server is configured for Workgroup Advertising or SAP Advertising.

To set SAP Advertising or Workgroup Advertising, follow the procedures in "Configuring Browsing for Resource Sharing on NetWare Networks" earlier in this chapter.

A user cannot connect to any network resource.
Others cannot connect to my shared resources.
Network Neighborhood does not show servers.
You cannot connect to a specific server.
The network redirector or server is not responding.

If the computer running Windows 98 is not responding properly as a client or server, use System Monitor to view statistics about the activity of the installed network servers and redirectors. If there is no activity, remove the client or server on the Network option in Control Panel, and then reinstall and try again.

You cannot see computers running Windows 98 on the other side of a router on a NetWare network.

This might be related to the IPX network number. An IPX client (such as a computer running Client for NetWare Networks) determines its network number by sending Routing Information Protocol (RIP) requests to the nearest IPX router. If the router is configured incorrectly, all IPX clients on that network can be adversely affected. Network numbers are assigned in the server’s Autoexec.ncf file when the network adapter drivers are loaded and IPX is bound to the logical adapter.

Troubleshooting Resource Sharing

This section describes common problems that might occur with resource sharing.

Access is denied for Windows for Workgroups users trying to connect to shared resources on a computer running File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks.

If the user with the Windows for Workgroups client computer is logging on to a different domain than the computer running file and printer sharing services (the peer server), then Windows 98 cannot confirm logon validation for access to shared resources. To solve this problem, do one of the following:

This problem will not occur in these cases: if the client computers are running Windows 98 or Windows NT; if the peer server uses share-level security; or if the same domains are used for the client computer’s logon domain and the domain specified for pass-through validation in the peer server’s Access Control properties.

A user is incorrectly denied access to resources on a peer server on a Windows NT network.

If a user is denied access to resources on a computer running File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks with user-level security, you should first determine which security provider is specified for the peer server. Then, see if the client can be validated by that security provider directly without going through the peer server.

If this is successful, verify that the user is on the access control list for the shared resource on the peer server. Remove that user from the list of users and then add the name back. If this is unsuccessful, reconfigure the peer server to use another security provider that you know can validate the user.

File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks does not work.

If the Sharing command does not appear on the context-sensitive menu when you use the right mouse button to click a drive, folder, or printer, check the following items:

You need to manage SAP Advertising on computers running File and Printer Sharing for NetWare Networks.

The SAP Advertising option is disabled by default for File and Printer Sharing on NetWare Networks. If you need to enforce the configuration of the file and printer sharing service, you can set the Disable SAP Advertising policy under the Default Computer policies.

In general, you will want to enable SAP Advertising only on computers with resources, such as CD-ROM drives that you want to share with NETX and VLM clients. SAP Advertising is not required for sharing resources only among computers running Windows 98. Notice the following:

Windows 98 peer servers with SAP Advertising enabled will respond to GetNearestServer broadcasts. If this causes a NETX or VLM client to attempt to log on to a peer server, Windows 98 makes sure these NETX and VLM clients connect to a real NetWare server by using a stub file named Login.exe in the \Windows\Nwsysvol\login directory. This directory is created automatically when File and Printer Sharing for NetWare Networks is installed, and it is automatically shared with read-only privileges whenever SAP Advertising is enabled on the peer server.

Additional Resources
For more information about See this resource
Windows NT Microsoft Windows NT Server System Guide

Microsoft Windows NT Server Resource Kit (for Windows NT Server version 4.0)

NetWare http://www.novell.com/
Browsing white paper "Browsing and Windows 95 Networking" http://www.microsoft.com/win32dev/netwrk/