Updated : June 3 , 2001
	Step-by-Step Networking Procedure: Network Neighborhood / My Computer Places

Once you have given permission to access resources via the network for Win95/98/ME and / or
permission to access your resources (Sharing) for Windows 2000, you can access the network:

make sure, that you Logon to the system :

If you press the ESC-key or click on "Cancel" then you did NOT validate your
network Username and will not have access to the network !

if you intend to access data on a Windows2000 system, then you MUST make sure that the username (and password) used during the Windows95/98/ME/2000 start-up is identical to the username (and password) defined in User Management of the Windows2000 system, to which you like to connect.

you can access via the "Network Neighborhood" icon on your desktop:

If you get the request for the IPC$ resource, then the username and password entered during startup is NOT defined (or does not match EXCATLY a username) defined the User-Management.

you can access via the "My Network Places" icon on your desktop:

	Select "Computers Near me"
	then the system to which you like to connect to, for which all shared resources will be displayed.

The names of the available resources are the Share-names.
You can now use any Windows Explorer function to copy/paste/delete files.

Important: Only systems with "File-and-Print Sharing" installed and with SOMETHING
shared will be dsplayed in the Network Neighborhood.

If only your own system is shown, see the next section on how the "Network Neighborhood" works.

You can also access the "Network Neighborhood" from the File-Open-Dialog of most Windows programs:

(On some programs, the File-Open-dialog does not offer to browse the "Network Neighborhood",
in such cases it is required to map a network drive ).

Note: due to the design of Microsoft Networking based on a "Browse-Master", it may take
a few minutes after reboot of a system, before it shows up in the "Network Neighborhood".

How does the "Network Neighborhood" work ?
Please, spend the time to learn about this, it explains the sometimes strange behavior.

On a network based on Microsoft networking, there MUST be one system acting as the
book-keeper, this system is called the "Browse-Master".
When you have a network of Windows95/98/ME systems and you switch on these systems,
one of first things done by the network-software is to check on the network for the presence of
a Browse-Master:

if you use the "Network Neighborhood" to view the list of available resources on the network,
then your system sends a request to the Browse-Master, which sends back the list of the available
resources back for display:


This explains now some of the "strange" behavior of the Network-Neighborhood:

	Your own system does NOT have "File-and-Printer Sharing" installed: Your system could not find a "Browse-Master" on the network.
	Your own system has "File-and-Printer Sharing" installed: Only your own system is displayed, not any other system on the network.

First: after switching on Windows, it can take a few minutes to elect the Browse-Master,
it may help to close the "Network Neighborhood" and open it again after a few minutes.
Second: when a system is switched on or off later, it can take up to 15 minutes before the
display-list of the Browse-Master is updated (for deatils, see the Resource-kit )

If you are still not getting a proper display, then check the following:
- verify, that all systems are defined to use the SAME workgroup.
- only systems with "File-and-Printer Sahring" installed and SOMETHING shared are displayed.
- test the network connection

On networks using TCP/IP-protocol, you can find out which system is acting as Browse-Master.
If you like to control yourself, which system is acting as the Browse-Master:

view the "Properties" of the "File and Printer Sharing":
by default, the setting for "Browse Master" is "Automatic", which is causing the systems to
elect a Browse-Master. You can name a system to be the Browse-Master by changing the
"Browse Master" value to "Enabled", but then you MUST on ALL other systems in this
workgroup change the value to "Disabled".