File and Printer Sharing for NetWare Networks
So it turns out Windows 95 can pretend to be a NetWare server. Lets have a look!
This service appears to be available on 98 and ME as well - I assume it looks and works identically there.
Installing
I'm on a Windows 95 VM (original retail release) and I've got the Microsoft NetWare Client installed and I'm logged on to my NetWare 4.11 server (VNW411). To install the server open the Network control panel and click the Add button.
Choose Service
And under Microsoft choose File and printer sharing for NetWare Networks.
Added! Select File and printer sharing for NetWare Networks and click the Properties button.
Change SAP Advertising from Disabled to Enabled and click OK.
Over on the Access Control tab the share-level access control option is now disabled. Sharing will be done using a user and group list obtained from the NetWare server VNW411. Click OK.
Installing...
Time to reboot.
I've rebooted and logged back into the netware network. Lets share C drive!
Did the sharing tab on WIndows 95 always have all this stuff on it? Perhaps it did. Or perhaps its just that user level access control setting - maybe this is what it looks like if you're on an NT domain too.
Set to Shared and click the Add button.
I'm giving Admin full access and David custom access.
Custom access for David: everything but change access control.
Done! Click OK.
All done! This windows 95 VM (named W95VM) is now pretending to be a NetWare server!
Connecting from NT Workstation 4.0, Novell Client 4.90
Now I'm on a Windows NT 4.0 VM running Novell Client 4.90
Under Network Neighborhood\Entire Network\NetWare Services\NetWare Servers my Windows 95 VM is visible!
Context menu for the Microsoft NetWare 95 server
NetWare Server Properties. Company: Microsoft. Version: Windows 95 v4.00.950. Apparently its licensed for up to 250 connections!
Trying to open W95VM brings up a login prompt after a short delay:
Lets login...
Nope! Doesn't matter what user or if I choose the options from the context menu. The Novell NT Client 4.90 can't attach to the Windows 95 server.
Connecting from Windows 98, Novell Client 3.4C
Logging into the netware network as usual...
Under Network Neighborhood\NetWare Servers you can see Windows 95
Properties look the same.
The Novell client for Windows 98 can open W95VM!
Volume properties.
Volume Statistics
NetWare Info
NetWare Rights. The inherited rights and filters button doesn't seem to work.
Trying to open either volume doesn't work.
Lets try authenticating...
Same problem as on Windows NT.
Connecting from Windows 98, Microsoft Client for NetWare Networks
Logging in to Windows 98 using the Microsoft NetWare client this time.
Already things are looking different.
The three zxnets. Seems Windows 98 knows what the W95VM is.
There it is
There is my share, the mystery SYS volume and C$ which didn't show up under the Novell client.
SYS has a login folder with a login app!
Microsoft Windows 95 LOGIN stub for NetWare.
The other two volumes are just C drive - just like if I was using Windows Networking.
As expected the Microsoft NetWare client talks to the Microsoft NetWare server just fine.
DOS - Client32 v2.11
This is a pretty old client. Not a lot newer than Windows 95. Lets try logging in.
So far so good...
Success? did that work?
Can't map my shared folder but could map SYS.
Doesn't work though
Trying to login without the /NS switch (just login W95VM/admin) breaks the client. F drive is now gone as are all other network drives. Can't logout or login to any other servers now.
So Client32 doesn't work - not surprising really as it shares a lot (most of?) its code with the Windows 9x client.
DOS - VLM 1.21
Lets give the VLM client a go. Its somewhat older than Windows 95 so surely Microsoft would have done some testing with this.
This is different...
Drive mapped
It works!
And it can see my share too!
So the older VLM client seems to work just fine.
DOS - NETX
One last client to try - the ancient NETX client. This time I've set the Windows 95 VM as my preferred NetWare Server.
Tehre is Windows 95s login program. Lets see what it does!
Heh. Its loading the login app from the NetWare 4.11 server.
There it is. The NetWare 4.11 login program.
Which logged me in to VNW411. Makes sense I guess - there weren't any of the netware DOS tools on Windows 95s fake SYS volume so if I logged straight into W95VM I wouldn't be able to map drives, etc.
Same behaviour as under the VLM client
Drive maps fine.
So there we go! The DOS NETX and VLM clients work, as do Microsofts own clients (the 9x ones at least). And it requires a proper NetWare server on the network to provide login services and the DOS tools.
Disclaimer & Comments
I'm not a netware expert, don't have any of those fancy novell certifications and have never administred a netware network; I've just played with it at home occasionally since 2004 or so. Email me if you've got any suggestsions or corrections for this page or any extra information you think is worth including here. My address is david at this websites domain name (without the www bit of course).