Connect Windows 2000 to NetWare

You use Windows 2000 Professional as your desktop OS but a NetWare server for file and print. You also need to login to your Windows 2000/NT servers for accessing certain applications. How can you login to both

during startup? Let’s see how to go about this.

You can login to a NetWare server by installing the Client Service for NetWare. To install it, go to the Control Panel and run ‘Network and Dial-up Connections’ from here. Here, find the connection you use to login to your network, right-click it and choose properties. Here, click on Install, and select ‘client’ as the network component type. You should get an option called “Client Service for NetWare”. Select and press ok. It will prompt you to specify your NetWare logon details. So you’ll need to either specify the name of your NetWare server, or your Default Tree and Context if you’re running NDS (NetWare Directory Services). You must restart the system for the settings to take effect. This will also automatically install the necessary protocols to logon to NetWare. It will also install an applet called CSNW (Client Service for NetWare) in the Control Panel, from where you can configure your NetWare logon properties.

If you want to be able to login to your NetWare and Windows NT/2000 network together during startup, then you must have the same username on both. Else, it won’t let you login to the NetWare network. You can however, still access your NetWare volumes by going to ‘My Network Places’, Choose ‘Entire Network’, and click on the view ‘entire contents’ link. Here, choose NetWare or compatible network, and you’ll be able to see your NetWare network. Browse to the NetWare resource you want to access and you’ll be prompted to enter your complete username and password to access. You can create shortcuts for these resources on your desktop for quicker access later. Another way is to create a local user on Windows 2000 by the same name and password as the one on your NetWare network.