Networks : Workgroups and Domains. How Do I Use Them?
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From: W. eWatson on 12 Dec 2009 13:28 I have three PCs. Call them D, A and M. M was a W2K machine until I just installed XP Pro. D is my desktop in the den, and most used. All three could reach one another via my LAN prior to M becoming XP, but now M is not getting the idea it's on the LAN. I'm sure I've configured its ethernet adapter properly. I think the problem is from my lack of understanding whether these machines are together as a workgroup or domain. I may have just been lucky with the previous LAN that had M (W2K then). The only good source I have for making a LAN has been my QUE Using MS Windows 2000 Pro book. It's been getting me closer to a solution. Right now I have all three PCs set with a workgroup called AXY. Somehow I have a mixture of three different domain names. I'm running as a business network. If I want to configure solely for a workgroup network, then I would think I do not need to provide a domain name, and vice versa for a domain network. How would the network know which type of network I'm using, domain or workgroup? Perhaps someone could provide an example of how the computer, domain, and workgroup names should be used for my situation, that is, wanting to use a workgroup network?
From: Lem on 12 Dec 2009 15:37 W. eWatson wrote: > I have three PCs. Call them D, A and M. M was a W2K machine until I just > installed XP Pro. D is my desktop in the den, and most used. All three > could reach one another via my LAN prior to M becoming XP, but now M is > not getting the idea it's on the LAN. I'm sure I've configured its > ethernet adapter properly. I think the problem is from my lack of > understanding whether these machines are together as a workgroup or > domain. I may have just been lucky with the previous LAN that had M (W2K > then). The only good source I have for making a LAN has been my QUE > Using MS Windows 2000 Pro book. It's been getting me closer to a solution. > > Right now I have all three PCs set with a workgroup called AXY. Somehow > I have a mixture of three different domain names. I'm running as a > business network. If I want to configure solely for a workgroup network, > then I would think I do not need to provide a domain name, and vice > versa for a domain network. How would the network know which type of > network I'm using, domain or workgroup? > > Perhaps someone could provide an example of how the computer, domain, > and workgroup names should be used for my situation, that is, wanting to > use a workgroup network? What do you mean when you say, "I'm running as a business network"? Usually, "a business network" means that you have one computer that has a server operating system (which does *not* include Windows XP). It's not clear whether any of your computers is running Windows 2000 *Server.* If not, you don't have a "domain" and shouldn't be using domain names. If all of your computers are now using Windows XP, you should put them all in the same "workgroup." Doing so is supposed to make them all appear in one place in "My Network Places." -- Lem Apollo 11 - 40 years ago: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/40th/index.html
From: W. eWatson on 12 Dec 2009 18:32 Lem wrote: > W. eWatson wrote: >> I have three PCs. Call them D, A and M. M was a W2K machine until I >> just installed XP Pro. D is my desktop in the den, and most used. All >> three could reach one another via my LAN prior to M becoming XP, but >> now M is not getting the idea it's on the LAN. I'm sure I've >> configured its ethernet adapter properly. I think the problem is from >> my lack of understanding whether these machines are together as a >> workgroup or domain. I may have just been lucky with the previous LAN >> that had M (W2K then). The only good source I have for making a LAN >> has been my QUE Using MS Windows 2000 Pro book. It's been getting me >> closer to a solution. >> >> Right now I have all three PCs set with a workgroup called AXY. >> Somehow I have a mixture of three different domain names. I'm running >> as a business network. If I want to configure solely for a workgroup >> network, then I would think I do not need to provide a domain name, >> and vice versa for a domain network. How would the network know which >> type of network I'm using, domain or workgroup? >> >> Perhaps someone could provide an example of how the computer, domain, >> and workgroup names should be used for my situation, that is, wanting >> to use a workgroup network? > > What do you mean when you say, "I'm running as a business network"? > > Usually, "a business network" means that you have one computer that has > a server operating system (which does *not* include Windows XP). It's > not clear whether any of your computers is running Windows 2000 > *Server.* If not, you don't have a "domain" and shouldn't be using > domain names. > > If all of your computers are now using Windows XP, you should put them > all in the same "workgroup." Doing so is supposed to make them all > appear in one place in "My Network Places." > I have no server. None of my computers runs W2K. I probably confused myself with the bizarre set up before I converted the W2K machine to XP, which had a mixture of domain and workgroup names but yet worked. If one selects Properties off My Computer, a dialog appears. I select the Computer Name tab, and then Network ID. A wizard appears. The first question is whether you are on a business network. Apparently, I should just say it is not. I just did that and the wizard goes to Finish. I'm now rebooting and will continue here after that. Whoops, I almost forgot to change the Workgroup name from WORKGTROUP to AXY. OK, I'm back, and it must be now that this computer, Den, is set for workgroups. If I use My Network Places, I see the other two computers, and can access their C-drives without giving a password. It's quite possible, that I set them up with a domain. Off I go to look, and set them as workgroup networks, if necessary. BTW, what would I look at them to tell what type of network they are on? OK, I've set them all to workgroup, and have workgroup set to AXY on all three. That extra step of having to come back after the wizard to set the Workgroup to AZY is probably a source of difficulty. If forgotten, the workgroup becomes WORKGROUP. Both the A(stro) and D(en) machine can now see M(et), but, again, M cannot see either A or D. I just checked to see if A can see D. It can, but I have to sign on as admin, which is what I want. M is just blind to the other two computers.
From: Lem on 12 Dec 2009 19:34 W. eWatson wrote: > Lem wrote: >> W. eWatson wrote: >>> I have three PCs. Call them D, A and M. M was a W2K machine until I >>> just installed XP Pro. D is my desktop in the den, and most used. All >>> three could reach one another via my LAN prior to M becoming XP, but >>> now M is not getting the idea it's on the LAN. I'm sure I've >>> configured its ethernet adapter properly. I think the problem is from >>> my lack of understanding whether these machines are together as a >>> workgroup or domain. I may have just been lucky with the previous LAN >>> that had M (W2K then). The only good source I have for making a LAN >>> has been my QUE Using MS Windows 2000 Pro book. It's been getting me >>> closer to a solution. >>> >>> Right now I have all three PCs set with a workgroup called AXY. >>> Somehow I have a mixture of three different domain names. I'm running >>> as a business network. If I want to configure solely for a workgroup >>> network, then I would think I do not need to provide a domain name, >>> and vice versa for a domain network. How would the network know which >>> type of network I'm using, domain or workgroup? >>> >>> Perhaps someone could provide an example of how the computer, domain, >>> and workgroup names should be used for my situation, that is, wanting >>> to use a workgroup network? >> >> What do you mean when you say, "I'm running as a business network"? >> >> Usually, "a business network" means that you have one computer that >> has a server operating system (which does *not* include Windows XP). >> It's not clear whether any of your computers is running Windows 2000 >> *Server.* If not, you don't have a "domain" and shouldn't be using >> domain names. >> >> If all of your computers are now using Windows XP, you should put them >> all in the same "workgroup." Doing so is supposed to make them all >> appear in one place in "My Network Places." >> > I have no server. None of my computers runs W2K. I probably confused > myself with the bizarre set up before I converted the W2K machine to XP, > which had a mixture of domain and workgroup names but yet worked. > > If one selects Properties off My Computer, a dialog appears. I select > the Computer Name tab, and then Network ID. A wizard appears. The first > question is whether you are on a business network. Apparently, I should > just say it is not. I just did that and the wizard goes to Finish. I'm > now rebooting and will continue here after that. Whoops, I almost forgot > to change the Workgroup name from WORKGTROUP to AXY. > > OK, I'm back, and it must be now that this computer, Den, is set for > workgroups. If I use My Network Places, I see the other two computers, > and can access their C-drives without giving a password. It's quite > possible, that I set them up with a domain. Off I go to look, and set > them as workgroup networks, if necessary. > > BTW, what would I look at them to tell what type of network they are on? > > OK, I've set them all to workgroup, and have workgroup set to AXY on all > three. That extra step of having to come back after the wizard to set > the Workgroup to AZY is probably a source of difficulty. If forgotten, > the workgroup becomes WORKGROUP. > > Both the A(stro) and D(en) machine can now see M(et), but, again, M > cannot see either A or D. I just checked to see if A can see D. It can, > but I have to sign on as admin, which is what I want. M is just blind to > the other two computers. It's not clear where you're looking to "see" other computers. If it's in My Network Places, it may take some time for a network resource to show up. You can try clicking View > Refresh to speed up the process. There are a number of things to check. First and most critical, all of the computers must be on the same subnet. In a typical home network, the subnet mask will be 255.255.255.0 on all computers. In that case, the first three octets of the IP address of each computer must be identical, e.g., 192.168.1.x. To check, open a Command Prompt window on each computer and type ipconfig then press Enter. Once you have confirmed that A, D, and M are all on the same subnet, try the ping command, both by name and by IP address from each computer to each of the other two. For example, if you determined that Astro has IP address 192.168.1.101 and Met has IP address 192.168.1.105, open a Command Prompt window on Astro and type: ping Met [Enter] ping 192.168.1.105 [Enter] then open a Command Prompt window on Met and type: ping Astro [Enter] ping 192.168.1.101 [Enter] How you access shares on each computer depends, in part, on whether the computer is running XP Pro or XP Home. For XP Pro, it depends on whether you have Simple File Sharing enabled or disabled. The following is canned network advice from MVP Malke. Not all of it may apply to your situation, so just take the parts that do: <Quote> File/printer sharing Excellent, thorough, yet easy to understand article about File/Printer Sharing in Vista. Includes details about sharing printers as well as files and folders: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb727037.aspx For XP, start by running the Network Setup Wizard on all machines (see caveat in Item A below). Problems sharing files between computers on a network are generally caused by 1) a misconfigured firewall or overlooked firewall (including a stateful firewall in a VPN); or 2) inadvertently running two firewalls such as the built-in Windows Firewall and a third-party firewall; and/or 3) not having identical user accounts and passwords on all Workgroup machines; 4) trying to create shares where the operating system does not permit it. A. Configure firewalls on all machines to allow the Local Area Network (LAN) traffic as trusted. With Windows Firewall, this means allowing File/Printer Sharing on the Exceptions tab. Normally running the Network Setup Wizard on XP will take care of this for those machines.The only "gotcha" is that this will turn on the XPSP2 Windows Firewall. If you aren't running a third-party firewall or have an antivirus with "Internet Worm Protection" (like Norton 2006/07) which acts as a firewall, then you're fine. With third-party firewalls, I usually configure the LAN allowance with an IP range. Ex. would be 192.168.1.0-192.168.1.254. Obviously you would substitute your correct subnet. Do not run more than one firewall. DO NOT TURN OFF FIREWALLS; CONFIGURE THEM CORRECTLY. B. For ease of organization, put all computers in the same Workgroup. This is done from the System applet in Control Panel, Computer Name tab. C. Create matching user accounts and passwords on all machines. You do not need to be logged into the same account on all machines and the passwords assigned to each user account can be different; the accounts/passwords just need to exist and match on all machines. DO NOT NEGLECT TO CREATE PASSWORDS, EVEN IF ONLY SIMPLE ONES. If you wish a machine to boot directly to the Desktop (into one particular user's account) for convenience, you can do this. The instructions at this link work for both XP and Vista: Configure Windows to Automatically Login (MVP Ramesh) - http://windowsxp.mvps.org/Autologon.htm D. If one or more of the computers is XP Pro or Media Center, turn off Simple File Sharing (Folder Options>View tab). E. Create shares as desired. XP Home does not permit sharing of users' home directories or Program Files, but you can share folders inside those directories. A better choice is to simply use the Shared Documents folder. See the first link above for details about Vista sharing. F. After you have file sharing working (and have tested this by exchanging a file between all machines), if you want to share a printer connected locally to one of your computers, share it out from that machine. Then go to the printer mftr.'s website and download the latest drivers for the correct operating system(s). Install them on the target machine(s). The printer should be seen during the installation routine. If it is not, install the drivers and then use the Add Printer Wizard. In some instances, certain printers need to be installed as Local printers but that is outside of this response. </Quote> -- Lem Apollo 11 - 40 years ago: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/40th/index.html
From: W. eWatson on 12 Dec 2009 21:41
Lem wrote: > W. eWatson wrote: >> Lem wrote: >>> W. eWatson wrote: >>>> I have three PCs. Call them D, A and M. M was a W2K machine until I ....snip >> OK, I've set them all to workgroup, and have workgroup set to AXY on >> all three. That extra step of having to come back after the wizard to >> set the Workgroup to AZY is probably a source of difficulty. If >> forgotten, the workgroup becomes WORKGROUP. >> >> Both the A(stro) and D(en) machine can now see M(et), but, again, M >> cannot see either A or D. I just checked to see if A can see D. It >> can, but I have to sign on as admin, which is what I want. M is just >> blind to the other two computers. > > It's not clear where you're looking to "see" other computers. If it's > in My Network Places, it may take some time for a network resource to > show up. You can try clicking View > Refresh to speed up the process. > > There are a number of things to check. > > First and most critical, all of the computers must be on the same > subnet. In a typical home network, the subnet mask will be 255.255.255.0 > on all computers. In that case, the first three octets of the IP address > of each computer must be identical, e.g., 192.168.1.x. To check, open a > Command Prompt window on each computer and type ipconfig then press Enter. > > Once you have confirmed that A, D, and M are all on the same subnet, try > the ping command, both by name and by IP address from each computer to > each of the other two. > > For example, if you determined that Astro has IP address 192.168.1.101 > and Met has IP address 192.168.1.105, open a Command Prompt window on > Astro and type: > ping Met [Enter] > ping 192.168.1.105 [Enter] > then open a Command Prompt window on Met and type: > ping Astro [Enter] > ping 192.168.1.101 [Enter] > > How you access shares on each computer depends, in part, on whether the > computer is running XP Pro or XP Home. For XP Pro, it depends on > whether you have Simple File Sharing enabled or disabled. The following > is canned network advice from MVP Malke. Not all of it may apply to your > situation, so just take the parts that do: > > <Quote> > File/printer sharing > > Excellent, thorough, yet easy to understand article about File/Printer > Sharing in Vista. Includes details about sharing printers as well as > files and folders: > > http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb727037.aspx > > For XP, start by running the Network Setup Wizard on all machines (see > caveat in Item A below). > > Problems sharing files between computers on a network are generally > caused by 1) a misconfigured firewall or overlooked firewall (including > a stateful firewall in a VPN); or 2) inadvertently running two firewalls > such as the built-in Windows Firewall and a third-party firewall; and/or > 3) not having identical user accounts and passwords on all Workgroup > machines; 4) trying to create shares where the operating system does not > permit it. > > A. Configure firewalls on all machines to allow the Local Area Network > (LAN) traffic as trusted. With Windows Firewall, this means allowing > File/Printer Sharing on the Exceptions tab. Normally running the Network > Setup Wizard on XP will take care of this for those machines.The only > "gotcha" is that this will turn on the XPSP2 Windows Firewall. If you > aren't running a third-party firewall or have an antivirus with > "Internet Worm Protection" (like Norton 2006/07) which acts as a > firewall, then you're fine. With third-party firewalls, I usually > configure the LAN allowance with an IP range. Ex. would be > 192.168.1.0-192.168.1.254. Obviously you would substitute your correct > subnet. Do not run more than one firewall. DO NOT TURN OFF FIREWALLS; > CONFIGURE THEM CORRECTLY. > > B. For ease of organization, put all computers in the same Workgroup. > This is done from the System applet in Control Panel, Computer Name tab. > > C. Create matching user accounts and passwords on all machines. You do > not need to be logged into the same account on all machines and the > passwords assigned to each user account can be different; the > accounts/passwords just need to exist and match on all machines. DO NOT > NEGLECT TO CREATE PASSWORDS, EVEN IF ONLY SIMPLE ONES. If you wish a > machine to boot directly to the Desktop (into one particular user's > account) for convenience, you can do this. The instructions at this link > work for both XP and Vista: > > Configure Windows to Automatically Login (MVP Ramesh) - > http://windowsxp.mvps.org/Autologon.htm > > D. If one or more of the computers is XP Pro or Media Center, turn off > Simple File Sharing (Folder Options>View tab). > > E. Create shares as desired. XP Home does not permit sharing of users' > home directories or Program Files, but you can share folders inside > those directories. A better choice is to simply use the Shared Documents > folder. > See the first link above for details about Vista sharing. > > F. After you have file sharing working (and have tested this by > exchanging a file between all machines), if you want to share a printer > connected locally to one of your computers, share it out from that > machine. Then go to the printer mftr.'s website and download the latest > drivers for the correct operating system(s). Install them on the target > machine(s). The printer should be seen during the installation routine. > If it is not, install the drivers and then use the Add Printer Wizard. > In some instances, certain printers need to be installed as Local > printers but that is outside of this response. > </Quote> > I'm using My Network Places to see what's connected and available. From ipconfig: D PC: IP address: 192:168:1.67 Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0 Obtain an IP auto from CP Network Connection Obtain DNS server auto A PC: IP Address: 192.168.1.98 Subnet mask: as above Obtain an IP auto from CP Network Connection Obtain DNS server auto M PC: IP Address: 192.168.1.64 Subnet mask: as above Obtain an IP auto from CP Network Connection Obtain DNS server auto Everyone can ping all others OK Running XP Pro I've got to be away for 2.5 hours. Will read the sharing when I get back. |