Win XP / Win98 SE Home Network

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clevelandtexas
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Win XP / Win98 SE Home Network

Post by clevelandtexas »

I have a simple two computer home network. One computer with Win XP and the other with Win 98 SE. I set up NETBEUI on both computers. The XP computer finds the Win 98 SE computer almost instantly. The Win 98 SE takes 2 to 3 minutes to find the XP computer. After that everything is OK. Why the discrepancy? The Win98 SE is the older computer so nothing has changed since I installed XP on my other computer. XP was installed from scratch, not installed over an existing Win98 system.

:p
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eddiec
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Post by eddiec »

That's just Winders behavior. Nothing really wrong.
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BlackSword
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Post by BlackSword »

I will test when I get home; 2 to 3 minutes ?? sounds too long to me, I don't believe I have waited longer than 2 to 3 seconds.

FYI I use TCP/IP
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volkl77

Strange Behavior!

Post by volkl77 »

Wow is about all I can say...

I am running a 3 pc set-up, 2 ME machines and 1 XP-Pro, all using the NetBEUI protocol. The 2 ME systems can see/access any other system in a blink of an eye, yet the XP system takes a good 40 seconds minimum, and upto 2 minutes to open/view a file or folder in Explorer. It cant be a connectivity issue as all pings to and from everywhere are down in the 3-5ms with no packet loss. Any thoughts would be appreciated

;)
RGromlich
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Win XP long time no show ?

Post by RGromlich »

OK - the problem with Win XP taking a long time to recognize computers on its network is the result of an XP "feature".. When XP looks at the network it is scanning for remote hosts with command files to be executed - that iswhat takes it so long - until the search times out.

I recall we had the same question about Win NT ( which is what XP actually IS ) when it was on a network with Win98. Apparantly there is a Registry tweek which turns OFF this search and then XP pops up almost instantly.

I will post the tweek next week - after I get back to work and get a chance to look it up.

Roy
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YeOldeStonecat
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Post by YeOldeStonecat »

Yah, that came out with Win2K. NT 4 Workstation was always quick, but 2K had some browsing delays.

I've tried that reg tweak which eliminates the "scheduled tasks on remote computers" check.

The tweak is to delete the following key:

Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
Key: SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RemoteComputer\NameSpace\
Subkey: {D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}

I tried that one two computes with no problem, and really no effect either. A third computer had explorer errors on reboot, rebooted again and it behaved fine, but didn't speed up browsing either.
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Scott
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Post by Scott »

That's odd, no effect at all? I have used it several times on W2K machines networked with 98/ME and it completely removes the delay, with no errors at all.

You using it on XP or W2K? I have never tried it on XP, but it works perfectly for me on W2K. Browsing from W2k to my other Windows ME machine is instantaneous now.

http://www.winguides.com/registry/display.php/913/

Theres the actually link to the guide.
Scott
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Post by Scott »

By the way, why does everyone use NETbui instead of TCP/IP on their LANS?

Just curious.
RGromlich
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to YeOldeStonecat

Post by RGromlich »

This came up at work last week on our W2K machines - we are not using XP on anything as yet. Dave deleted that key and the delay went away. I don't know about XP - it may be different - I know there are some issues with installing software on XP.

Roy
volkl77

RE Registry Fix?

Post by volkl77 »

Hiya folks...
Tried the registry fix and lo and behold we've trimmed the XP==>ME access down to a mere 5-10 seconds!! Now thats still 10 times slower than the ME ==> XP access times, but a major improvement none the less. Thankyou to all!
I'm wondering now if there arent a few more registry keys that could be tweaked to improve upon this again????
Snuff... NetBEUI... Many folks like it because in a cable/dsl/router setup it allows you to isolate your LAN, ie. network file and print sharing, from the oh so evil and risky Internet! This is an especially welcome idea if you are on cable/dsl with an always on, static IP setup. Its no replacement for NAT or a firewall, but just one more layer of security :)
Scott
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Post by Scott »

OK. So if my router has a built in firewall, NETBEUI would not really be of any use to me?

I thought it might be a speed issue or something.
volkl77

Post by volkl77 »

Hey there SNuff :)
NetBEUI...no use? Well like I mentioned, it would seem to add another layer of security... and in theory it makes sense to isolate your LAN from the internet as much as possible. Yes, its likely redundant , but how long before its possible to get past a hardware router with a NAT firewall setup? Take a look here for some more info. It would seem that your vulnerability would depend on your set up

http://www.practicallynetworked.com/sharing/netbeui.htm

As for performance, there are far more qualified folks here to address that issue... yes we would love to know the pros and cons of TCP/IP vs NetBeui relative to performance! So speak up!

Cheers!
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BlackSword
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Post by BlackSword »

Forgot about getting back to this thread,,, sorry,

Anyway, my delay time for XP to find 98SE or WinME is ZERO, same with 98se finding XP or ME, or ME finding XP or 98se.

Sorry for forgetting to post :)
P4 2.4ghz 512ram XP pro ATI 9600pro
P4 2.0ghz 256ram Win2000 Geforce2 MX 400
P4 1.6ghz 512ram XP Home Geforce4 Ti4200
P3 866mhz 320ram ME & XP pro TNT2
All thru HotBrick 600
P3 1.1ghz 260ram Win2000 laptop
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