Networking XP
I had a fun day yesterday. The public library here in town was awarded a grant for four new Dell computers which arrived Friday. Since I am the computer guru, I went in yesterday to see if I could set them up on the network. Should be a piece of cake, right?
But I am not familiar with Windows XP and these new computers have XP Professional. I read somewhere that XP Home Edition is not meant to be networked on a domain. I believe it! By the end of the day yesterday, you could easily have convinced me that XP Professional wasn't either! I looked everywhere (almost) to see where I could make this new version of Windows submit to a domain controller and I just couldn't find it. I looked in the control panels, particularly the network and users control panels. I tried network wizards. I looked through the help system. I went online to Microsoft's support system. Nothing. Not even a clue.
By the end of the day I had managed to get XP to request a password at login and then access network resources, but it wasn't actually logged on to the domain. From the XP end of things, they appeared to be on the network, but from the Server perspective, they weren't. I discovered this when I tried to "push" the Symantec AntiVirus client onto the XP computers.
I came home after this miserable day with my tail between my legs. The day would have been better spent if I had driven to a bookstore and tried to find a book about networking XP. It's a long drive from here to the nearest bookstore containing such a book, but I still would have been better off. But I think I found the answer online last night. It would appear that there is a "Computer Name" tab in the System Properties dialog box. I guess this is the dialog box that opens when you right-click My Computer in the Start Menu? Also it is in the Performance and Maintenance Control Panel under System?
Anyway, I'll give this a shot today.
Is it my imagination or is each new version of Windows just a little less friendly? Personally, I despise XP!
But I am not familiar with Windows XP and these new computers have XP Professional. I read somewhere that XP Home Edition is not meant to be networked on a domain. I believe it! By the end of the day yesterday, you could easily have convinced me that XP Professional wasn't either! I looked everywhere (almost) to see where I could make this new version of Windows submit to a domain controller and I just couldn't find it. I looked in the control panels, particularly the network and users control panels. I tried network wizards. I looked through the help system. I went online to Microsoft's support system. Nothing. Not even a clue.
By the end of the day I had managed to get XP to request a password at login and then access network resources, but it wasn't actually logged on to the domain. From the XP end of things, they appeared to be on the network, but from the Server perspective, they weren't. I discovered this when I tried to "push" the Symantec AntiVirus client onto the XP computers.
I came home after this miserable day with my tail between my legs. The day would have been better spent if I had driven to a bookstore and tried to find a book about networking XP. It's a long drive from here to the nearest bookstore containing such a book, but I still would have been better off. But I think I found the answer online last night. It would appear that there is a "Computer Name" tab in the System Properties dialog box. I guess this is the dialog box that opens when you right-click My Computer in the Start Menu? Also it is in the Performance and Maintenance Control Panel under System?
Anyway, I'll give this a shot today.
Is it my imagination or is each new version of Windows just a little less friendly? Personally, I despise XP!
posted by Bill | 7:44 AM
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