Tech Files
Tunes in the Toilet: File Sharing Across Windows Platforms
You're hip, you're cool, you've got a home network. And now, you want to set up file sharing so that you can listen to the MP3s stored on your Windows 2000 machine from your Windows 98 machine in the bathroom (the ultimate techie fantasy: a 1 GHz P-III with a 15" LCD and surround sound in front of the commode).
Figure 1: Skip to my Loo, My Darlin'!
So you jump on the Windows 98 machine and—bummer!— you can't see your shared MP3 directory on the Windows 2000 machine. You see the name of the Windows 2000 machine in Network Neighborhood but, when you double-click to open a window with the shares in it, all you get is an empty Explorer window. What's the deal?
This seems to be a common problem for people running mixed networks (that is, networks composed of machines with varied operating systems, combining Windows 98, ME, 2000, and/or XP). Taking note of the numerous posts in the Tech Forums on this issue, I decided to recreate the problem by setting up a "typical" home network, then see if I could figure out a hands-on solution.
Setting Up the Network
To create a network environment similar to that of a home user, I set up four machines (including one laptop), each one running a different flavor of Windows. Each machine had a NIC installed (since networking really doesn't work without one). Here's a short list of specs for each of the machines.
OS |
CPU |
RAM |
Windows 98 SE |
Celeron 533 MHz |
96 MB |
Windows XP Professional |
Celeron 533 MHz |
192 MB |
Windows 2000 Professional |
Pentium III 833 MHz |
256 MB |
Windows ME (laptop) |
Pentium III 850 MHz |
256 MB |
I installed fresh copies of Windows on every machine except the laptop, formatting the hard drives and installing Windows with default networking settings. I upgraded the laptop from Windows 98 to Windows ME, leaving in place the network protocols already installed (including an AOL Dial-up Adapter) to see if that might be the source of the problem.
To network everything together, I used an Intel 10/100 8-port Switch (not for any particular reason—it was laying around within easy reach) and standard CAT 5e cabling.
Testing the Problem
After installing OSs on every machine, and setting up and connecting the network hardware, I rebooted all four systems and began my investigation.
Right out of the gate, I was pleased to discover that Windows 98, Windows ME, and Windows XP Professional work very well together. Windows 2000 liked to work with Windows XP Professional (its source code kin), but it really didn't want to deal with anyone else.
This result surprised me a little, as I'd understood that Windows 2000 and Windows XP Professional were (in theory, at least) quite similar. What works for one should have worked for the other.
I was able to rule out two of the systems as potential sources of the problem: the Windows ME laptop, and the XP machine. Looking at the laptop, I found that whatever works in Windows 98 will also work in Windows ME. After experimenting with Windows XP Professional, I've concluded that it's not the problem either. It turns out to be a much different beast than Windows 2000, playing happily with the all of its Windows siblings.
Occam's Razor
Figure 2: A random razor thrown in for color
So, here's the meat and potatoes of the dilemma: you have a shared folder on a Windows 2000 machine that you want to access from your Windows 98 machine, but when you open Network Neighborhood, you can't see the folder. All of the networking protocols are set up and working properly (FYI, because it was the Windows default, TCP/IP was the main protocol I used ).
Here are the solutions I found to this problem:
1. If you know the exact name of the computer sharing the files, and the exact name of the folder in which the files are located, you can type them into the Address Bar in Network Neighborhood and you will be able to access the share.
Of course, if you're like me what you really want to do is browse right to the MP3s, not type in a long string of filenames, folder names, and slashes. In that case, I present solution #2...
2. Make sure the names of the shared files and folders on the Windows 2000 machine are no more than 12 characters long.
Hold on a minute, I hear you saying, where's that coming from? Why, it comes right from the proverbial horse's... mouth, actually—an article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base (Q237791) deals directly with this issue.
Windows 98 cannot display shared files or folders whose names are longer than 12 characters. Windows 2000, on the other hand, will happily let you create shared files and folders with names longer than 12 characters, and gives you zero warning that this could present a problem for systems running earlier versions of Windows.
Note: Windows 98 can access shares with spaces in the names, but the spaces count as characters.
I must admit the fix to this problem was much simpler than I'd expected. I was ready for a long, drawn-out battle with Windows 98 and Windows 2000, wrestling with some esoteric configuration problem hidden deep in the TCP/IP settings. Instead, it turned out to be another example of Occam's Razor.*
*Occam's gift to sleuths everywhere: "All other things being equal, the simplest answer is most likely the right one." For an entertaining example, read Carl Sagan's book Contact, or see the movie version starring Jodie Foster.
Ed: This seems like a blatant push to get a gratuitous picture of Jodie Foster in Jeremy's article!
Figure 3: Ms. Foster (who has no affiliation with us at all, more's the pity!)
- Jeremy Conn