Transcript: Chat - Home Networking with Windows XP, August 2003
Published: August 19, 2003
Please note: Portions of this transcript have been edited for clarity
Hosts:
Charles Porter, Test lead for Network Experience Configuration Infrastructure
Mark Madigan, Business Development Manager in Windows Networking
Scott Manchester, Program Manager for Home Networking in the Network Experience Team
Dean Cornish, Software Test Engineer Windows Networking
John Eddy, MVP Lead for Windows XP - Shell, IE/OE and Tablet PC
Moderator: John (Microsoft) Good day. Welcome to today's chat on Home Networking. Before we begin, let's meet our hosts for today's chat.
Host: Charles (Microsoft) I'm Charles, and I'm the test lead for Network Experience Configuration Infrastructure.
Host: Mark (Microsoft) I am a Business Development Manager in Windows Networking. I work primarily with networking companies such as Linksys, D-Link, etc. to make their products better, integrate better with Windows.
Host: Scott (Microsoft) Scott Manchester - Lead Program Manager for Home Networking in the Network Experience Team at Microsoft
Moderator: John (Microsoft) And I'm John Eddy, the moderator for today's chat. I'm the MVP Lead for Windows XP - Shell, IE/OE and Tablet PC. We'll get a few more intros as we roll along. Now, lets get on with the show. Start sending in your questions :)
Host: Scott (Microsoft) Q: In the home-networking wizard, could you please add an option "I have a hardware-based internet sharing device" A: The NSW does support Residential Gateways as the network edge device. I believe it is the second box on the first screen.
Host: Scott (Microsoft) Q: Why doesn't XP network (i.e. file share / print share) with 98? A: XP does network with '98. If you are running 98SE you can run the Network Setup Wizard that ships with XP on your 98SE machine.
Host: Scott (Microsoft) Q: Update : I Run SE but cant manage to get them to do it...even using same domain name and all usual stuff A: Do you have the firewall enabled on your XP machine? You may need to turn it off if you are behind a NAT (using a residential gateway) Q: No firewalls are enabled A: If you know the IP address for the PC try using the run command and type \\192.168.0.1 <-- Use the actual IP Address. It could be a name resolution issue Q: On run command art A: If using the IP address works, you can make an entry in your LMHOSTS file located in \windows\system32\drivers\etc
Host: Charles (Microsoft) Q: I'm trying to connect my computer with a buddy's through the Ethernet card using a crossover cable. In the setup wizard, under advanced connections, I can't select connect directly to another computer. I can only select incoming. A: You shouldn't need to use the New Connection Wizard for this - this option is either for DCC connections, or setting up a VPN Server. If you're using a crossover cable, you've got a normal Ethernet connection between the two computers. Either assign static IPs to each machine, or wait for autonet addresses (169.*) to come up, then you should be able to connect between machines normally.
Host: Matt (Microsoft) Q: Is there a limit to the # of computers on XP home networking? A: Yes, XP Home can only accept 5 incoming connections. XP Pro can accept up to 10.
Host: Scott (Microsoft) Q: Are you saying that we can not have firewalls enabled to be able to file share? A: No - I am saying if you have them enabled the file sharing ports are disabled by default (other firewall software may behave differently). You can manually open the ports.
Host: Dean (Microsoft) Q: Does it matter what IP address I assign or how do I use autonet? I'm new to networking. A: as long as you are behind a firewall- you can use practically any IP's you want for your home networking, however it is usually advised to use commonly used IP's such as 192.168.0.x - it is a commonly used home networking IP range
Host: Erik (Microsoft) Q: In Norton Internet security 2003, why is windows file sharing DISABLED by default, is it really that unsecure? A: It's a standard security mantra to reduce the attack surface area. I think NIS2003 is just trying to block everything, and only A: It's a standard security mantra to reduce the attack surface area. I think NIS2003 is just trying to block everything, and only enable those services which the user turns on because he/she needs them.
Host: Mark (Microsoft) Q: I read much about the Microsoft Broadband Networking hardware...why isn't the Hardware available here in Germany ?? A: The group which owns this product (it is not our product) has not expanded their reach to Europe. I don't have any info on whether they will be expanding their market presence.
Host: Scott (Microsoft) Q: I've got 3 computers in my house (1 x Windows XP Professional and 2 x Windows XP Home) and there all networked together, and most of the time the network is fine, but then sometimes it suddenly stops working and we have to run the network setup thing. A: Not sure why you would be losing your IP settings. More than likely some application is changing them.
Host: Dean (Microsoft) Q: I'm trying to connect two computers through the Ethernet card using a crossover cable. In the setup wizard, under advanced connections, I can't select connect directly to another computer. I can only select incoming signal, can you help?. A: Art, you'll need to follow the instructions on setting up a home network that can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/homenetworking/ - The Network Setup Wizard will be an important thing to start with in your situation.
Host: Scott (Microsoft) Q: "A: Not sure why you would be losing your IP settings. More than likely some application is changing them" - Could that application be Norton Systemworks / Firewall ? A: It is possible but I haven't heard of that happening. You can manually change them, but that shouldn't make a difference.
Host: Mark (Microsoft) Q: why is it my Netgear DG814 can never assign a newly turned on PC an IP address so that it can access the internet, most the time I have to turn the DG off and back on A: Jaz: Make sure that your PCs are requesting a DHCP-assigned address. If they are, make sure you have the latest firmware from Netgear. The most recent firmware is 4.7 (4.8 for the DSL IGD).
Host: Matt (Microsoft) Q: Is it easier to use firewire to network or the normal cat 5 cable way A: If you don't have a networking card, yes. Firewire acts like a NIC as far as Windows is concerned for networking, so the only difference it makes is if you have cables for one way but not the other, or if you have only one kind of connection and not the other
Host: Scott (Microsoft) Q: Is there a way of manually setting the IP Address of a computer in Win XP Home? If yes, how do I do this? A: Yes you can. Click on Start / Control Panel / Network Connections. Then right click on the network card and select properties. Then select TCP/IP.
Host: Erik (Microsoft) Q: How do I network two computers (Windows XP and Windows ME) using just an Ethernet cable and an Ethernet card in each computer? A: You can get a special kind of Ethernet cable widely known as a crossover cable, and run this between the two computers.
Host: Matt (Microsoft) Q: Is there a way to set permissions on users so that when they access someone's computer over the network they can't delete or change files just read certain folders A: There are two ways you can do this. You can set share permissions for each user to allow them only the permission to read files. If you are using XP Pro and the NTFS file system, you can also set the permissions in NTFS. The permissions that apply to a share are the most restrictive of the two. You can set both from the properties of a share. For share permissions, go to the Sharing tab and click "Permissions". For NTFS, click “Security"
Host: Mark (Microsoft) Q: Having 3 PCs on a network... All PCs... Should have a different IP Address? Whats the Subnet Mask? Should all machines have the same Default Gateway address? A: Ricky: Each should have a different IP address. Subnet mask: This defines which subnet an IP address belongs to--typically all should be in the same subnet. All should have the same default gateway address.
Host: Dean (Microsoft) Q: I've yet to get an answer on new file sharing protocols based on IPv6 to finally get rid of NetBIOS, got no answer on that. A: Naturally, we cant be specific about what will and wont happen with IPv6 going forward, however we can say we are heavily invested in IPV6, and will be increasingly committed in the future.
Host: Erik (Microsoft) Q: Microsoft never released a final ipv6 for xp its still dev A: Actually, IPv6 in WinXP SP1 is fully supported. It still has the name "Developer Edition" because it was difficult to get the text in the name changed for a service pack.
Host: Jeff (Microsoft) Q: Hope this is a better question. How do I set up my network of four PCs, linked via a router accessing a 1mb BB connection, so that it can be accessed from ANYWHERE, for instance another house, a university machine. I wish to access my shared A: You can not have NetBios shares over the internet but you can use an FTP server to share the files. You could also use Remote Desktop to access information on those computers.
Host: Mark (Microsoft) Q: "255.255.255.0" can I use that for the Subnet Mask AND Default Gateway? Or do they have to be different? A: Subnet mask is different than default gateway. The default gateway will be different.
Host: Matt (Microsoft) Q: Is it by design that Windows queries for AAAA addresses first when IPv6 is installed? A: Yes.
Host: Dean (Microsoft) Q: What's IPV6? A : IPV6 is a new standard protocol designed to eventually replace IPv4 (the current standard). IPV6 permits far greater numbers of IP addresses to be available, allowing more computers to be able to connect to each other using the protocol.
Host: Matt (Microsoft) Q: Would the Microsoft research version of Ipv6 have problems communicating with the Microsoft version A: Yes, it will. Keep in mind the research stack is not as "finished" as the Advanced Networking Pack stack, or stacks going forward. It was intended as a kind of "developer preview" for IPv6. If you can use the newer one, it is better (and also comes with an IPv6 firewall which will NOT work with the research stack). In your situation, if you can't use the Advanced Networking Pack because of a conflict between the shell32 dll and a driver, then the research stack will give you "good enough" IPv6 for the moment. Because there is no firewall for that version of the stack, its highly recommended you use the Advanced Networking Pack version once you are able to.
Host: Dean (Microsoft) Q: And if we're at it, where can I report a bug in System.Net.Dns in the .NET framework 1.1? It's unable to return AAAA addresses. A: Tom, the best thing to do in this case, is to post the item with information about what occurred, how to reproduce it, and what you expected as a result, and post it in the MS .net framework newsgroups. The .NET Framework team DOES monitor those newsgroups.
Host: Mark (Microsoft) Q: will P2P feature more heavily in LH? A: While I can't comment on future features, with the release of the P2P framework for XP SP1, Microsoft has demonstrated its support of P2P technologies through the update and applications such as 3Degrees (www.threedegrees.com).
Host: Matt (Microsoft) Q: Is there a major difference between Home and Pro? A: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/whichxp.asp Will explain the differences between the different versions of XP. There are several important ones related to networking, such as the smaller inbound netbios connection limit for XP Home and the limitation that XP Home can not join a domain.
Host: Matt (Microsoft) Q: Would that be difficult to add a Media Center Computer to the network ...what problems should I look out for? A:Media Center should be just like Windows XP Pro with respect to adding it to your network. Since you have your other computers networked already, plugging it in your hub and adding user accounts to it, if you use those on your network, should do it.
Host: Dean (Microsoft) Q: Why was support for the Kingston Kne 100tx dropped in win2k3 that is what 300 of the 500 computers at work use A: The driver for the Kingston kne100tx was dropped from Windows Server 2003 due to it not meeting quality criteria expected from drivers to be included in the release. If you require this driver, it is advisable to contact the manufacturer
Host: Scott (Microsoft) Q: Is Microsoft planning to simplify home network management in Longhorn ? A: Yes. We will be making the Network Setup Wizard more powerful and user friendly. In general file sharing will be easier and the firewall smarter.
Host: Erik (Microsoft) Q: I have a major problem with my network since a few weeks. 1 PC ... A: This sounds a lot to me like one or the other NIC is having trouble negotiating speed with the switch. Try going into each NIC's properties (find NIC in DeviceManager, get Properties, go to Advanced tab) and look for settings to do with speed and duplex. Set these all to specific values instead of "automatic".
Host: Matt (Microsoft) Q: Will there be a mini IIS included in home editions of windows for blog publishing and such? A: Currently only XP Pro has a mini version of IIS included. We can't make a statement on future features of the operating system.
Host: Dean (Microsoft) Q: Another question. When I look at "Network Connections" I see -> Local Area Connection 2 and Description is: Microsoft TV/Video connection. What is that for ??? A: Even though some adapters aren't network adapters, they can appear to be. This doesn't mean however, that you can use it to send or receive data on your network. Often they interact closely with other network adapters, so it is easier for
Moderator: John (Microsoft) That's about all the time we have left for today's chat. Lets give our hosts our thanks and we'd like to thank you for your time and questions. I'd also like to give a quick note of thanks to our MVPs who hung out for today's chat and helped in answering questions. For more information about the MVP program, head out to microsoft.com/MVP. Also, thanks to the Neowin folks who have been helpful in advertising our chats to their readership. For further information on this topic please visit the following:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/topics/mobile/default.asp
http://www.microsoft.com/vpn
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/itsolutions/network/
