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TerryWeir

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Windows7 access to Netware 3.12 Bindery via XP Mode

I have my first Windows 7 PC and need to connect it to my Netware 3.12 server.  I have been running Windows XP successfully with the server.

I have read on another post that people have used Virtual PC with a new installation of XP to gain access to Netware Binderies from a Windows 7 PC.  I am hoping to do the same using the included "XP Mode" in my Win7 Professional box.

I have enabled "XP Mode" in the Win7 PC and installed the Novell Client 4.91 SP5 for Windows XP.  
I still cannot get it to login to the server.  It will not detect any servers as available.  I don't know what I am missing.

I looked in the properties of the Local Area Connection (in XP Mode) and I do have the NWLink IPX/SPX/NetBIOS protocol installed.

I am unsure of why it is not connecting.  Is there a substantial difference between XP Mode and Virtual PC with a straight install of XP?  

It seems like the XP Mode is more tightly tied to and operates through the Win7 host OS.  I am not sure if the XP Mode has direct access to the hardware or if it has to communicate through Win7 (which does not understand IPX/SPX).


My next thought is to try a discrete NIC instead of the onboard adapter.  Maybe the card itself doesn't play well with ODI drivers and the like.  I have always had good results with Intel Pro100 cards on my PCI based machines.  I can find a PCIe equivalent and try it.

If anyone has any experience with this kind of "bridge to the past", please let me know.  
      

UPDATE:  I have tried giving XP Mode direct access to the LAN Interface via the "Tools" drop down menu at the top of the Virtual PC window.  The default is to use NAT (Network Address Translation) and masquerade as the host Win7 OS.

That didn't work either.

I have ordered a new Intel Pro1000 adapter that has support for DOS/ODI.  I will install it and see how that goes.  Maybe I will run two interfaces - the onboard for Win7 and the NIC for XP Mode.  I will know more next week when the card arrives.
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Scott Kunau
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TerryWeir

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Scott,

Yes, I know that MS has killed all of us Netware legacy folks by taking out the IPX/SPX.  I wonder what the harm was in leaving it in...

When I installed the Novell Client inside XP Mode, the installation was just like normal. I did the custom installation and selected IP/IPX (which works fine on my WinXP laptop).  I have the default protocol set to IPX.  From what I can see when I compare the typical settings in my WinXP laptop to the XP Mode installation, it all looks identical.  It should work, assuming that there isn't a hardware issue.

I'll see how the new Intel Pro1000 NIC works.  If that doesn't do the trick then maybe I'll try to install XP on Virtual PC from scratch.

Is that what you did, install XP from a CD in the MS Virtual PC?  I just downloaded the "XP Mode" from Microsoft directly.  Do you have to have a separate license for the XP in your Virtual PC or does MS accept your Win7 license, like it does for the XP Mode?

I installed from the XP CD in a Virtual PC on Win7 Home Premium.  The client had purchased a Win7 Pro (or perhaps Ultimate) but we left it shrink wrapped.  XP Mode wasn't available to us in Win7 HP.  He had a spare XP license so we used that COA and it worked fine.  Didn't try to use the Win7 license in a "downgrade" mode or whatever it is called.

If I could get it to print (printer is parallel port connected to the Win7 host) I'd have a complete working virtual PC.  I can see the host printer and the job appears to go to it but nothing prints.
Are you trying to print using Netware PrintServer Queues or are you just trying to print to a local LPT1 using a CAPTURE statement?

I think that you can enable lots of Sharing between the Virtual PC and the Host OS.  You can probably have the VPC use all of the local printers as they are name in the Host OS.  Just make sure that you know what port the Host Win7 OS is using for the printer (i.e. LTP1 vs LPT3 or something).

For your Virtual PC setup, that is what I was afraid of.  I'm thinking that the "XP Mode" is somewhat neutered relative to a fresh install from CD.  I have no such CD available to me.  That could be the tricky part.
The printer is connected to the host via parallel port and prints fine from the host.  It appears as LPT1 and in the settings for the VPC, I can use LPT1.  The job from the VPC appears to get to the printer "queue" on the host but doesn't actually print out.  I'm not completely positive if the extra LPTx card the client bought was put in correctly or not...I assume it was because I can print from the host.

I hope to figure this out for him sometime soon.  It hasn't been a pressing issue.
UPDATE :  After shutting down and restarting XP in the Virtual PC XP Mode, it seemed to find the NIC and is able to connect to my Netware 3.12 server!  This is setup giving XP Mode a direct connection to the onboard NIC.

I will try to set it up using the "Connection Sharing" feature.  If I can get that to work it might enable some access to the Netware Server files in Windows 7 via the shared connection through XP Mode.

We'll see.

At a minimum, I have a fully operational copy of XP in XP Mode that can access my server.  That is a HUGE relief!
Last Update:  The onboard ethernet is not a problem.  I did not have to install the Intel NIC that I bought.

As long as XP Mode has direct access to the ethernet adapter, it can login to Netware.  When I try to use the shared connection (using Network Address Translation through the Win7 host OS, I cannot access Netware.

So just use direct access in XP Mode and it should work fine.

My only other issues are getting XP Mode to login to Netware automatically when I boot it up.  For some reason it doesn't.  I have to login manually.  I would also like to be able to access the Netware file server in Win7 by creating a connection into XP Mode or some other share, but that is a trick for another post.

That is all.  I will close this question now.  Thank you.
Just download the XP Mode from Microsoft and run it.  Remember to reboot it for all the settings to take effect.  Use direct access to the hardware, not NAT through Win7