[Fwd: REFQ: Help: Windows 95 Networking]

[L. E. Puckett]

Forwarded at sender's request from LIBREFED. Please send replies to
lbane at wvu.edu ONLY, not to this poster. Thank you.


-------- Original Message --------
Subject: REFQ: Help: Windows 95 Networking
Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 17:36:31 -0500
From: librefed <librefed at kent.edu>
Reply-To: Discussion of Library Reference Issues             
<LIBREF-L at LISTSERV.KENT.EDU>
To: LIBREF-L at LISTSERV.KENT.EDU

--please send replies DIRECTLY to the poster, <lbane at wvu.edu>

If you don't work with hardware and software, please delete now.

Apologies for cross posting, but I don't know where else to ask. The
answer may be on the Net, but I haven't found it.

Background Info:
    I work with 9 public Internet stations: sextuplets, twins, and a
singleton. The sextuplets are Packard Bell Legend Supreme 135 CDT, the
twins are Packard Bell Legend Supreme 130, and the singleton is a
no-name tower. They are 3 to 4 years old. They are all running Windows
95, WinU, MSIE 5, and Communicator 4.7. All have Ethernet cards and
upgraded RAM.
    When we first got the computers, we tried to use security features
of Win95 to block student access to certain features -- it didn't work,
so we installed WinU (glorious program!). However, during those first
days, we did have trouble with students creating User Profiles and
locking us out of the Admin profile, so we did attempt to delete all
profiles and suppress the Windows logons. However, in the 3 years since
then, almost every computer has crashed and had to have everything
reinstalled, so I'm not sure the problem is related to this.

My problem:
    When we first networked the computers we used the Netware Networks
client to allow the computers to see the network and access the
Internet. Each PC has a permanent IP address. However, currently we are
a little more sophisticated (meaning: our laser printers are dying and
we need to share printers without printer switches), so I have been
trying to install Microsoft Networks as well and get each computer to
log on at start up and share printers and files. However, I can only get
every other one to do this.
    Half of the computers start Win95, prompt to log on, and then boot
as normal. The other half start Win95, skip the log on prompt, and boot
as normal -- they are seen by the network but cannot see it themselves.
If I wish to see the network, I must go to Start > Shutdown > Close all
programs and log on as another user, but the WinU security feature
doesn't permit access to the start button, so this is not very helpful.
However, if I do this, all the computers can see the network, but this
requires double booting computers -- not very efficient.
    When I use the network troubleshooter, it tells me to go to Start >
Control Panel > Passwords > and change my passwords, but when I go to
the network blind computers, this option is not available. Have we
deleted/suppressed some aspect of Win95. How can we restore it? Should I
reinstall Win95 on the network blind computers? What have I missed?
    While I have put the shared printers on the network blind computers
so that they can be shared with the computers that actually log on, it
is difficult and time consuming to install software and upgrades and do
backups when half of the computers can't see the network easily. Besides
why doesn't it work the way it is supposed to?
    Any help would be appreciated.
    Thanks,
Linda

--
Linda Celet Bane
lbane at wvu.edu
lib003 at pscvax.wvnet.edu
Assistant College Librarian
Mary F. Shipper Library/LRC
Potomac State College of WVU
101 Fort Avenue
Keyser, WV 26726-2697
Phone: 304-788-6903
Fax: 304-788-6946
http://pscvax.psc.wvnet.edu/~library/bane.html