Windows XP Client Configuration

Network Setup

The opening screen of the Network Setup Wizard.

Connection Properties

The Network Connetions window can be opened via the Control Panel or by right clicking the LAN status icon in the Notification Area and selecting Open Network Connections.

A list of common Network Tasks is displayed when a connection is selected.

The Connection Properties window can be opened by clicking Change settings of this connection or by clicking the connection icon of an unplugged connection.

The General tab of the LAN Connection Properties dialog shows the adapter and its associated network components.

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The default network components should be modified for most clients. A component can be disabled on the selected interface by unchecking its check-box. Alternatively, a component can be globally uninstalled from every network and dial-up interface by selecting it and clicking Uninstall.

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Systems that do not provide shared resources should have File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks disabled.

The Quality of Service Packet Scheduler is not useful unless you are using applications which are QoS-aware, running a QoS server and are using NIC's that support 802.1p. Network overhead can be reduced by turning it off.

The lower checkbox enables the display of a LAN status icon in the Notification Area.

TCP/IP Properties

The TCP/IP properties dialog can be opened by clicking the Properties button or by double clicking the TCP/IP entry in the item list.

The default configuration uses dynamic IP addressing however static IP addressing provides additional security in a library environment.

The TCP/IP Properties dialog can be used to assign static addreses.

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NetBIOS over TCP/IP should be enabled for clients that are not using Active Directory or do not have NetBEUI installed. In most cases, NetBIOS over TCP/IP (NetBT) resolves NetBIOS names to IP addresses in workgroup networks and WINS resolves NetBIOS names to IP addresses in domain networks.

NetBIOS can be enabled via the WINS tab of the Advanced TCP/IP Settings dialog.

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Disabling NetBIOS over TCP/IP results in the following error when network resources are accessed:

Connection Status

The LAN connection status icon can be displayed in the Notification area.

The connection status icon can be shown in the Notification area.

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Clicking the icon will display the Network Connections window if a newtork connection is not active or LAN Connection Status if the connection is active.

The General tab of the Local Area Connection Status dialog shows the value of several connection parameters.

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Basic TCP/IP connection parameters listed in the Support tab:

The Support tab of the Local Area Connection Status dialog shows the value of several TCP/IP parameters.

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Click Details... to show the MAC address and name server entries:

The General tab of the Local Area Connection Status dialog shows additional parameters including the MAC address.

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Connection parameters can also be listed with the ipconfig /all command at a command prompt.

Network Places

In the figure below, My Network Places shows three shared folders, one local and two remote. Unlike Network Neighborhood in W9x, Network Places displays shared resources, not workgroup computers. Click 'View workgroup computers' to view workgroup computers that are sharing resources. Network Places does not display network resources by default, you can add them with the 'Add a network place' wizard or enable automatic searching by clicking Tools > Folder Options > View, Automatically search for network folders and printers.

Note that NetBEUI is not part of the default XP network configuration. If resources on W9x systems are not bound to TCP/IP they will not appear in Network Places unless NetBEUI is installed.

XP Home Domain Logon

By default, Windows XP Home Edition cannot be used to join network domains, only peer-to-peer workgroups. However, lockergnome.com reports that there is a workaround which can allow XP Home to join a domain. They suggest using the Network Auto Login feature of the free Xteq X-Setup utility to navigate to the 'Network \ Auto Login \ Windows NT/2K/XP \ Settings' option and entering the User Name, Password, and Domain.

It was noted that older verisons of TweakUI XP could also perform this function, but Microsoft may have since 'corrected' the oversight.