DIY server?

M

MrRandom

New Member
Hey all

I recently got a new computer (Dell Inspiron 1501) and am loving it. I thought i would hate Vista but its not all that bad once I got used to it

I was wondering if there was any way to set up my old desktop (old but heavily upgraded Compaq) as a server. I would mainly use it for music and video.

Is this possible? Or would I need to go out and buy an actuial server?

Would I have to be on the same network as the server? Or can i access it through the internet?

Oh ya, I am not going to be using the computer anyway so if I have to run some random OS that will not allow me to run any programs on it, its all good. If I don't put it to use, its just going to get thrown in my closet and used for spare parts anyways.

Thanks for any help
 
If you're just using it to save files, then most certainly. Just put XP on it and set up some shared folders. That's all you need.
 
Do either of the 2 machines have firewalls on them? are they on the same subnet? have you setup a shared folder on the xp machine?
 
yup, both are on the network MSHOME, both have the same subnet mask and begining ip address (192.168.0...). the xp computer does have shared files set up.

both firewalls are up now, but i took them down while setting it up and trying to get it to work to make for less hassle.
 
Did you enable network discovery and file sharing on the Vista machine?

If not, you can enable them from within the Network and Sharing Center.
 
MrRandom said:
i tried that but my vista computer doesnt see the xp computer
Click to expand...

Welcome to the bloated world of windows and SMB2. The problem is that SMB requires authentication, and the first time you map any network drive you must authenticate to it, at least the very first time. Then windows will hash that password for future connections. The problem is that vista uses a new version of NTLMv2 where as XP uses (as you can guess) NTLMv1, and there are some compatibility issues. I had this exact same problem connecting a vista machine to a mac and a linux box, which both of those use SMB 1 (samba) and NTLMv1, and it was not compatible. If you google search these things you will find that it even happens in XP.

Run all software updates on all machines, and try to connect, if it doesn't work you may need to registry hack the vista box and knock it down a security level.
 
ive tried everything. its all updated, nortons gone, network settings are all as they should be and still nothing.

i am thinking of just installing ubuntu server edition onto the old desktop. anyone have any luck with it and vista?
 
Did you not research what I posted? If you hack the registry in vista you can set all the network hashing/encryption levels back to a lower security level, thus making it compatible. I had to do that myself to get it to work. If you use anything with Vista other than Vista itself you will have the same problems.
 
MrRandom said:
oh, ok sorry. i thought you meant downgrade vista. ok, ill go look into that now
Click to expand...

Sorry, I forgot to explain that Vista was the first MS OS to have SMB v2. All previous OSes and Unix and Linux and OS X all use SMB 1 for windows file sharing. Except its called Samba on non windows systems but it is the same thing. i should have explained that better.
 
Not true.. At one of my clients (owns a sign/printing company) he has one mac, 5 XP machines and one Vista machine. The Vista machine can read the shares on all the XP machines by default. Unless, of course, Acer has tweaked the authentication at the factory.
 
SirKenin said:
Not true.. At one of my clients (owns a sign/printing company) he has one mac, 5 XP machines and one Vista machine. The Vista machine can read the shares on all the XP machines by default. Unless, of course, Acer has tweaked the authentication at the factory.
Click to expand...

I didn't say it was every single machine. Google it if you don't believe me. However, I have personally ran into it where it wouldn't work. You will find tons of people online who have had the same issue. Pleas go back and re-read what I posted and you will see that I stated you should run any and all updates first and foremost to fix any kind of issue.
 
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