XP Networking problem and..

I have a 5 PC wireless network 4 XP and 1 Win98. The Win98 is just used to run some old legacy programs I didn't want to migrate, back up files to and has the only printer on the network. Suddenly last month my newest Toshiba laptop cannot access the drive on the Win98 PC or print to it. The Toshiba can still access all the other PCs, just not the Win98. All the others can print to it fine. The Win98 can access the Toshiba so I can pull or push files to it but I would like to be able to print again.

The only new software or drivers have been automatic updates from Microsoft. I did try rolling back to a restore point when it did work properly but that didn't work. Does rolling back to a previous date rollback the Microsoft updates? Any Ideas? Error message is “you may not have permission”

Also some music and video files lock up my player and when I end it using ctrl-alt-del that annoying pop up asking me to send an error report to Microsoft comes up. Any way to turn that off?

What happens when you try to browse the shares on the Windows 98 computer by trying to connect to \\HOSTNAME? Does it prompt for a username and password? If not, open a command prompt and type the command:
net use /delete

Then try to connect to the Win98 machine again.

Also, is the 98 machine and Toshiba laptop on the same Workgroup? Open Control Panel, System, Computer Name tab to check.


To disable Error reporting, also in Control Panel > System, Advanced tab, Error Reporting.

To disable Error reporting, also in Control Panel > System, Advanced tab, Error Reporting.

That was too easy, I was wasting my time looking thru services, Thanks for the help Oz.

What happens when you try to browse the shares on the Windows 98 computer by trying to connect to \\HOSTNAME? Does it prompt for a username and password? If not, open a command prompt and type the command:
net use /delete

Then try to connect to the Win98 machine again.

Also, is the 98 machine and Toshiba laptop on the same Workgroup? Open Control Panel, System, Computer Name tab to check..

I did all that, turned out to be simpler. The Win98 machine was firewalled by IP adress. I had gone online at the cafe and when I logged on at home it leased a new IP address off the router that was not included in the trusted list. run cmd ipconfig. slap myself upside the head. All is good now, thanks again Oz.

Sweet - watch out for those firewalls getting in the way of connectivity ;)

I wouldn't suggest using a Win98 machine on any public internet connection, it's notoriously full of holes - upgrade to Win2000 as a minimum.

I wouldn't suggest using a Win98 machine on any public internet connection, it's notoriously full of holes - upgrade to Win2000 as a minimum.

I agree but the Win98 is double firewalled. It's hardwired to the router thru a Netgear SG-8100 firewall and running zone alarm using IP address filtering and is not used on the internet at all. The wireless router is set to acess by MAC address list only.

It's an old tower with a lot of legacy and DOS programs and cards such as my EPROM burner that I would lose if I upgraded.