I finally got the server shares to work on Windows 95!
I made the server a domain controller, and I installed Active Directory Domain Services and "AD DS and AD LDS Tools" (full feature), then from dsa.msc I made an Active Directory user there, named it win95 and set a simple password.
Then, on Windows 95, as username I used HOME\win95 and that password AND THE SHARED FOLDERS FROM THE SERVER WORKED INSTANTLY! But I still cannot access the shares that are on the Windows 10 PC, I tried with both IP and hostname, and in both cases Windows 95 returns:

"The following error occurred while trying to connect
G: to \\192.168.50.189\GIOCHI

The network name is either incorrect, or on a network to which you do not have full access."

but it responds to the pings, from the server that share works fine and from Windows 98 that was the only share I could access.

On Windows 98, logging in as HOME\win98 and the password I just made in dsa.msc, I can still access the share on my Windows 10 PC, but when I try to access the share on the server it says "This device does not exist in the network", but it can still ping it from the DOS prompt.
Basically the shares are working one the opposite of the other among the two retro PCs and I have no idea why, the network settings are identical on both Windows 95 and Windows 98.

I suspect LmCompatibilityLevel needs adjusting on the W10 system.

Kill firewall. Try again.

myne wrote on 2025-06-21, 12:16:

Kill firewall. Try again.

There's no firewall enabled anywhere within the local network, my firewall is at the router layer (Router -> Nethsecurity firewall -> Local network), so all the computers in the LAN are firewall-free between each other.

red-ray wrote on 2025-06-21, 11:27:

I suspect LmCompatibilityLevel needs adjusting on the W10 system.

But why would the W10 shares work on the Windows 98 PC and not on the Windows 95 PC?? If they don't work, they shouldn't work on any of the retro systems... likewise, the Server's shares work on Windows 95 but under Windows 98 I get the error that the device doesn't even exist (but it obviously does and I can ping it), wtf

Elia1995 wrote on 2025-06-21, 15:37:

But why would the W10 shares work on the Windows 98 PC and not on the Windows 95 PC?? If they don't work, they shouldn't work on any of the retro systems... likewise, the Server's shares work on Windows 95 but under Windows 98 I get the error that the device doesn't even exist (but it obviously does and I can ping it), wtf

Half of me feels this does not deserve a reply as you have not even posted all the LmCompatibilityLevel settings for all the systems.

The W95 and W98 systems could well have different LmCompatibilityLevel settings, have you checked what they are?

It should be obvious ping is nothing to do with file sharing as you ping a system, not a share. Ping should work even when file sharing is disabled.

I have it set at "Send LM & NTLM – use NTLMv2 session security if negotiated" on both Win 10 and the server, I'm not sure why Windows 98 can access win10 and 95 can't and 95 can access the server shares while 98 can't, as I said they're configured identically.

Are you 1000% sure 10 hasn't enabled its firewall?

Look up the netsh command to reset networking.

myne wrote on 2025-06-22, 05:52:

Are you 1000% sure 10 hasn't enabled its firewall?

Look up the netsh command to reset networking.

Yeah I have the Windows defender firewall disabled both on my 10 and Server since I have a Nethsecurity set up at the top layer of my network
What's the netsh for?

https://www.google.com/search?q=netsh+command … chrome&ie=UTF-8

To give the best chances of everything working (I know you have done some of this but treat it as a checklist for each pc)

Have all computers joined to your domain, and all computers using the same username/password.
If you are unable to join the PC to the domain for some reason name the workgroup the same as the domain.
Use the same username/password on all computers.
Don't use a blank passwords, even a simple 1 is enough.

This will work around any $IPC errors, by default windows will attempt to use the logged on user name/password to access a share. non Win9x versions want this in <domain\username> format.
Luckily having a workgroup with the same name will still match this criteria. Later versions also error with blank passwords set.

Windows 7 and above make the following registry change
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa]
"LmCompatibilityLevel"=dword:00000001

Windows 10 and above enable SMB1 Server (so old PC's can access shares on the new PC) and client (so new PC can access shares on older PC's)
https://www.partitionwizard.com/partitionmagi … smb1-win10.html

The above works for me from WFW 3.11 up to Win11 is a workgroup setup.
A domain controller should actually work better as you have a central server maintaining access control, but haven't run one at home for the past 5 years now.
Also as you have a domain controller, probably worth setting up Win9x to default to domain level security (to make use of that central access control list)
https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/using-sa … %20when%20asked.

With all that said, I sometimes have trouble with accessing shares in one direction, eg my P3 can't access my modern laptops share, but the laptop can access the P3's share, as long as it works 1 way I'm not bothered to troubleshoot further.

chinny22 wrote on 2025-06-27, 02:46:

To give the best chances of everything working (I know you have done some of this but treat it as a checklist for each pc) […]
Show full quote

To give the best chances of everything working (I know you have done some of this but treat it as a checklist for each pc)

Have all computers joined to your domain, and all computers using the same username/password.
If you are unable to join the PC to the domain for some reason name the workgroup the same as the domain.
Use the same username/password on all computers.
Don't use a blank passwords, even a simple 1 is enough.

This will work around any $IPC errors, by default windows will attempt to use the logged on user name/password to access a share. non Win9x versions want this in <domain\username> format.
Luckily having a workgroup with the same name will still match this criteria. Later versions also error with blank passwords set.

Windows 7 and above make the following registry change
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa]
"LmCompatibilityLevel"=dword:00000001

Windows 10 and above enable SMB1 Server (so old PC's can access shares on the new PC) and client (so new PC can access shares on older PC's)
https://www.partitionwizard.com/partitionmagi … smb1-win10.html

The above works for me from WFW 3.11 up to Win11 is a workgroup setup.
A domain controller should actually work better as you have a central server maintaining access control, but haven't run one at home for the past 5 years now.
Also as you have a domain controller, probably worth setting up Win9x to default to domain level security (to make use of that central access control list)
https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/using-sa … %20when%20asked.

With all that said, I sometimes have trouble with accessing shares in one direction, eg my P3 can't access my modern laptops share, but the laptop can access the P3's share, as long as it works 1 way I'm not bothered to troubleshoot further.

Now I noticed this strange behavior on my Windows 98 PC:

If I remove the saved "disconnected" network drive (192.168.50.194/12TB) and I connect it again, but instead of giving the right path I type something wrong or random, like \\192.168.50.194\12 and THEN I retype it correctly, \\192.168.50.194\12TB, it can connect and adds the network path, but as soon as I shut down and restart the 98 PC I have to do this trick again, I don't understand why if I try to connect to the right path \\192.168.50.194\12TB right away it doesn't work and wants it wrong at least once before connecting, it's the weirdest bug ever

With all that said, I sometimes have trouble with accessing shares in one direction, eg my P3 can't access my modern laptops share, but the laptop can access the P3's share, as long as it works 1 way I'm not bothered to troubleshoot further.

I wouldn't be bothered if my 1 way would be from my 98 to the server, because I have all my .iso files on the server and I need the network path accessed from 98 in order to mount them with Daemon Tools.
I don't want to archive all my iso files on the Windows 98 PC itself for storage sake

Must admit I'm lazy and don't map drives. I'll just type \\192.168.50.194 in the open folder box, then double click on the folder.

But working on that logic what if you just map to \\192.168.50.194 does it at least connect that far? Sound's like it would.

I found years ago if I gave the share the same name as the drive label, windows refused to connect to the share, but don't think that's what's happening here

Mapping drives is so easy though

Off the top of my head it's like

Net use z: \\192.168.1.7\share /user:Fred /password:Freddie /persistent

Probably some minor mistake in there you'll catch with net use /?

myne wrote on Yesterday, 02:01:

Mapping drives is so easy though...

Exactly! Its easy enough to do if/when needed , but 99% of the time I'm not even using the network and that 1% when I am I can either use the map or browse method.
However my retro stuff sits on an old 24 port enterprise level switch with noisy fans so only turn on when I actually want to use it.
That means in my case most of the time I'd get a "windows cannot restore mapped drive" message when I do map a drive.