NETBEUI communication between Windows 98 and Vista Home?

[ian]

For several years I have had a Windows 98 system connected via the LAN
to an XP system, for file and printer sharing. This communication uses
NETBEUI, not TCP/IP (because I don't want the Win98 system exposed to
the Internet). It works very well.

I am now buying a Vista Home laptop, and will want this machine to
communicate with the Win98 system via the LAN, again using NETBEUI,
*not* TCP/IP.

Is this possible?

--
Ian

[Jane C]

From Help and Support in Vista:
What happened to the NetBEUI protocol?

NetBIOS Extended User Interface (NetBEUI) is a network protocol usually used
in small local area networks (LANs) of 1 to 200 computers. NetBEUI is fast
and small and works well within a LAN, but it is not routable, which means
that computers that are not located on the same local network or subnet
can't use it to communicate. NetBEUI has mostly been replaced by TCP/IP.

Support for NetBEUI was discontinued in Windows XP. You can use TCP/IP or
network basic input/output system (NetBIOS), both of which are installed by
default in this version of Windows.

[MICHAEL]

There really aren't that many google hits on NetBEUI for Vista....
I seriously doubt that many people use NetBEUI anymore. I did
find these links below. I have no idea if it works or if it's even a
good idea to try.... don't blame me. The TCP/IP stack in Vista has
been redone, and how NetBEUI may impact that and working with
other computers, looks to be unknown.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NetBEUI

Microsoft officially dropped its support starting from Windows XP[3], although it still
provided the user with an unsupported way to manually install it from the original CD-ROM[4] to
both encourage and ease the necessary transition to the NetBIOS-over-TCP/IP.

Because of this, officially nothing is known about whether or not NetBEUI can be unsupportedly
but effectively installed on Windows Vista, and even unofficial reports seem to be unavailable
on the Internet. Besides this, an additional reason of concern may be that, since the TCP/IP
network stack changed significantly in Windows Vista[5], the client ([Client for Microsoft
Networks]) and server ([File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks]) components - which
the network protocols are bound to - could have changed too due to the rewriting process, and
could have lost their previous ability to bind to the NetBEUI protocol written for Windows XP.
Despite this, it seems that installing NetBEUI on Windows Vista using NetBEUI's files taken
from Windows XP original CD-ROM works effectively, with no apparent problems, and supporting
all the authentication schemes (LM, NTLM, NTLMv2).

http://www.tek-tips.com/viewthread.c...346919&page=10
In the XP CD goto folder VALUEADD, then MSFT, then NET, then NETBEUI. Copy the following two
files:-

Copy NETNBF.INF to the INF folder within the main WINDOWS folder.

Copy NBF.SYS to the WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC folder.

Now click START, then CONNECT TO, Click OPEN NETWORK AND SHARING CENTER, and click VIEW STATUS.

(Breathe deeply, nearly there!)

Then click PROPERTIES, click CONTINUE, click INSTALL, double-click PROTOCOL, highlight NetBEUI
Protocol, click OK, and the "YES" to restart computer.

http://www.mac-net.com/174984.page


-Michael

[ian]

In message <#XErVDMuHHA.736@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl>, MICHAEL
<u158627_emr2@dslr.net> writes

[Lots of helpful information, snipped].

Many thanks Michael. Most useful. The method you describe is the way I
did it for XP. I guess I'll have to try it myself to see if it works
with Vista.

--
Ian

[MICHAEL]

Make sure you have a recent system restore point.
If not, manually create one.... just to be on the safe side.


-Michael

[Old Golfer]

Thank you Michael for the near correct explanation of NetBEUI on Vista.
The only error is that the sys file goes in the drivers directory not the etc directory below it.

I saw the NetBEUI solution to Vista/XP networking in the TechRepublic community,
but there was no indication of how to get NetBEUI installed
on Vista. Having already done this on the Win2000 and XP machine, your
"modified for Vista" explanation was just what I needed.

I now have three PCs: Win 2000, XP and Vista networked and sharing files.
The network mapping still does not work on Vista, so to map the drive
you need to know the strings to get to the \\server\share_name. Just
like my old UNIX days really.

The LLTD protocol was installed on my XP machine early on in this
trial of patience, but there are clearly many ways to foul up this fragile
connection between Vista and something else.

There are many explanations throughout various support sites on how
to use the LLTD protocol and how to setup Vista to share files with an
XP machine. But each of them works only under certain (unknown)
circumstances. Since each solution works for someone, that someone
seems, in each case, to believe that they have found THE solution.

I solved this issue about 6 months ago. Then the solution involved
copying a .dll to the Sytem32 directory on the XP machine. NetBEUI
was on the XP and the WIN2000 PC but not on the Vista PC. But,
one of the LLTD solutions plus several days trial and error I got the
file and printer sharing working.

A disk crash three months ago on the XP had me rebuilding it, but
I had lost trace of the .dll to copy, and could see no use for NetBEUI,
so they were not installed. Since printer sharing was working and the
Win2000 - Vista file sharing was working there was no need to go further.

After a power cut two days ago I could only get the network to
support the Win 2000 - Vista connection working and the Win 2000 - XP
connection working. The XP PC detected the Vista PC but could not
look at anything but public files on the Vista PC.

Anyway, thanks to you Michael and the TechRepublic post, all is
now functional again. But it certainly seems a horrible way to
cobble together a solution.

After almost 45 years in IT, Vista is most definitely the most difficult
OS I have come across to work with. I suppose if you've never
used a computer before, Vista might be usable on a home PC
connected to Internet. I am glad I'm retired from IT support now.
Cheers
Ian

[Cameron Snyder]

I'm sure the users relying on your support are glad you've retired also. Ha
ha ha!

[Tom Lake]

You must not have worked on IBM mainframes.
JCL was one of the weirdest things I've ever used.
When we finally got TSO, I was happy.

Tom Lake