Microsoft Client Service for NetWare on Windows XP
This is just a quick tour of the Client Service for NetWare on Windows XP. It seems virtually unchanged since the version that shipped with Windows NT 4.0.
Contents
Tools
To follow along you'll need a VM with:
- Windows XP Professional. I'm using SP4 Update Rollup 1.
- Bridged networking (IPX won't get through NAT)
- A NIC thats setup in Windows (I'm using PCnet-PCI II)
Creating the VM and installing Windows XP are out of scope for this document as nothing special is required.
Installing
A clean install of Windows XP! I think this is just the original retail release - as insecure as Windows XP gets!
Open the control panel
Network and Internet Connections
Network Connections
Double click on the Network interface. (Microsoft has turned off the activation server so while the license key is brand new and perfectly valid I cant activate)
Click Properties.
Click Install
Choose Client and click Add
Choose the Client Service for NetWare
And reboot the computer.
More Screenshots
Same old Windows XP login screen.
Choose a server or tree to login to. So far this is identical to the NT4 version.
My windows password doesn't match my NetWare password. Note that the username and password on the XP login screen is logging you into windows first. So if you don't have a local user account that matches your netware account you can't login.
The netware login script flashed up very quickly in a console window and now I'm logged in!
Network drives mapped!
As usual, the Microsoft client doesn't give you anything interesting in the properties like accounting or permissions.
Seems I don't get any network places!
I can just type in the UNC path for the server at least.
They've not updated this since NT4 I expect.
Go up from the server and you get all the netware stuff.
Server context menu
WhoAmI?
Server properties. Also unchanged since NT4.
Tree properties
Organisation properties
Print queue properties
Print queue NDS properties
If you look at the server properties from inside NDS you get an NDS tab!
Which contains nothing interesting.
And thats the final version of the Microsoft Client for NetWare Networks. Basically unchanged from the Windows 2000 version which is basically unchanged from the NT4 version. Not really worth using.
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 suggestions 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).