I have network to PCs together. With Windows XP(Home Edition) there is a Realtek NIC and with Windows 98(Second Edition) there is a 3Com NIC. The IP address with Windows XP is 192.168.0.1 and with Windows 98 is 192.168.0.2. I have been able to share the Internet connection from the Windows XP machine to the Windows 98 machine. Both computers can ping each other. The workgroup is called MSHOME and on the Windows XP (computer name PC1) machine, it is possible to see the Windows 98 (computer name PC2) machine (and it can see itself). However, the Windows 98 machine cannot see itself or the Windows XP machine. Please can anyone help with this. I have tried most of the guides commonly known, eg. wown.com etc. with not luck.

I half solved that problem, but it half started a new one. Very complicated networks are! I logged into a User on the Windows 98 machine and could now see both computers in Network Neighborhood. However, when I still cannot see either computers when I am not logged into a User. I want to be able to see both machines when I'm not logged into a user.

As far as I am aware you cannot use a network unless you have logged on with a password. Someone else here may have a way round it but I doubt it.

Easy. Your windows xp is probably running an NTFS partition. Windows 98 can not read the NTFS format. WindowsXP can read Fat32, which is what Windows98 uses. I don't know if there is a way around this, but I'm just throwing the problem up if anyone can throw an answer back.

In a network environment the type partition on the other PC is not an issue. As long as you can see the directory you can open it. The FAT32/NTFS problem only occurs if you have W98 on the system with the NTFS partition. The only requirement to see two PC's on a network without a server is that both must have a user account with the same password on them. This is how Windows authenticates to see each other. If you have run the network wizard on the XP system make sure that the XP firewall did not get turned on. You will need to enable sharing for the directories that you want the other PC to see. If you do not login to the W98 system it will not see the XP system. There is no way to make it work differently. Richard