In regards to running an FTP server, if you want something super basic, you may want to try this: http://www.pablosoftwaresolutions.com/html/qu … ftp_server.html

I installed it on Win98 yesterday and had no problems with it.

I use smallftpd when I need something super-basic. It doesn't even require installation.

I used to rely on CopSSH and an SFTP client on the other side, but that's probably overkill.

Lately I have been intrigued by Bluetooth file transfers, which bypass all this network nonsense entirely, but although USB Bluetooth dongles are dirt cheap, that would require the PCs to be in reasonable proximity, and I'm not sure what Bluetooth support is like under Win9x anyway.

Maybe this is a silly quesiton but have you tried typing the UNC path direct into an explorer window? such as \\win98pc\sharename and see if you can get to it. Windows 9x is notoriously unreliable at showing up in Network places. Enabling NetBios over TCP sometimes fixes it but sometimes it works without it. Ultimately back in the day when I used to have to deal with this all the time I'd add and remove network protocols till it was fixed. If it was taking too long I could great a Folder on each PC with direct shortcuts to all the other PCs just so customers would stop bitching.

EDIT: Sorry I see you tried browing the UNC path. Perhaps try reinstalling "Client for Microsoft Networks" as a network protocol as well? Also, sometimes the order of protocol bindings matters as well.

Nope, I tried everything so far you guys told me, but it looks harder than I thought...

I still can browse the shared folders on 98 from my 7 PC, but can't do the other way around yet...

Hello, just some small feedback..

I got it working in VirtualBox. I was able to access a folder located on my Win7 computer.
I used two VMs, Windows Millennium and Windows 7.

Some things worth mentioning I did:

a) I added a registry entry in Me. In "HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control", I created a new key named "LSA", then a DWORD called "LMCompatibility" with a value of "3"
Note that this mainly for NTLMv2 support and is intended for use with the Active Directory client extension
b) I disabled the firewall (in a VM that's okay; becareful on a real PC!)
c) On Win7 I ran an utility named "netplwiz" and un-checked the option "Users must enter an user name and password to use this computer"
d) I connected directly to the shared folder (like "\\Win7-PC\Test") from Windows Explorer
e) Both Win7 and Me were set to the same user account name (by default, Me and 9x don't create an user account)

After this, it worked! Well, kind of.. The folder became part of "My Network Places" and I was able to open the text file (read/write)..
It's still not possible to browse the whole Win7 computer, though.

Maybe this permission issue is also somehow related to the different access controls in Win9x.
Win9x does support two types, "Share-level access control" and "User-level access control".
The first one allowes to set a password for each folder, while the second one uses user names/groups.
The drawback is, it wants to have a list of users and groups from a server.
Win7 however, seems to always use user-level access for it's own shared folders
(atleast I've never seen a menu item where you can enter passwords for folders).

Another possible issue is the NTFS file system. Unlike FAT it requires permissions.
See Understanding NTFS

I hope this helps a little bit.

And sorry it took so long..

Doesn't ME use the same NT technology that also uses XP ?? If it's like that, it's pointless to test it with ME/2k...

Today I added a 200GB hardisk in that Windows 98 PC and I installed XP on it (now I have a dual boot 98/XP 😁 ) and I can browse some shared folders on 7 from XP just fine, I didn't even have to adjust a single setting on XP.
Except that I can browse "previously" shared folders just fine, but I can't access new shared folders, even though I share them the exact same way as the older ones... but I'll talk about this later, let's focus on 98 now.

On 98, I can browse D:\ (the local disk where XP is) without problems even though it is NTFS (I installed Paragon NTFS which is a software that enabled NTFS on 98), I can copy-paste files, I can launch games directly from it without issues, but I can't still access those shared folders on 7 that I can access perfectly from XP.

Sorry, I thought Me had similar limitations because it is/was an OS from the 9x line.
I heard it somehow got improvements from the Win2000 TCP/IP stack, but I don't know any details about that,
except that it got Univeral Plug'n'Play. Still, I wouldn't call it a pointless test. I had the same issues you described, after all.
All I can say is that the "Client for Microsoft Networks" protocol and the
"File and printer sharing for Microsoft Networks" service look pretty much the same on 98SE.
And Win Me was intended as a pure home user's OS, evenmore than 98SE (that one had Personal Web Server, for example).
Btw, the reason I favored it in VBox was because I already had that VM ready to use and because 98SE did greet me with screens of blue.

Regarding NTFS.. I'm glad it works for you! 😀
Maybe Paragon NTFS ignores the NT permissions, just like Linux from a live CD does ?
I already had got some minor permission issues on a dual boot machine:
While running Win7 I was unable to delete files I had created in XP on the XP partition.

Edit: Yay, pictures are working again! 😀

Workgoup networking is pretty dumb. Often PC's don't show, and even sometimes they DO show even though they are turned off?
You can Ping the PC ok and stupid windows will still fail when you go \\pc
You can either setup proper windows domain which works much better, or
Just use IP addresses like \\192.168.0.100 which gets round windows stupidity

Quick update..

Connecting from Win95 (4.00.950) to a share worked like a charm..

No passwords this time, you can't expect this to work from such a dinosaur.

Tip: Also check that "Local Security Policy" thingy in Win 7. There's a lot you can tweak.

chinny22 wrote:

Workgoup networking is pretty dumb.

Nah, it's a challenge! 😉

chinny22 wrote:

Often PC's don't show, and even sometimes they DO show even though they are turned off?

That's not a bug, it's a feature! It's called "Ghosted Network Drives".

chinny22 wrote:

You can Ping the PC ok and stupid windows will still fail when you go \\pc.

Permissions, permissions, permissions.

chinny22 wrote:

You can either setup proper windows domain which works much better, or
Just use IP addresses like \\192.168.0.100 which gets round windows stupidity

Or just use IPX/SPX like in the good old times.. Just kidding!
But seriously, the whole LAN Manager architecture wasn't intended for TCP/IP, but rather for NetBIOS via NetBEUI.
I don't think they expected their technology to be in use for about ~25 years.

(Edit: Some fixes, links added)

Yeh, maybe bit harsh on 9x, NetBIOS and WINS was more their style.
I remember killing off a few WINS servers (usually about the time of upgrading to a 2003 DC) At least once DNS wasn't working correctly and computers couldn't find the server anymore, so was always held my breath after that, even though any 9x PC's had long gone.
2000 and XP though I'm not letting off though, they are just as bad at peer to peer but should have known better!

Jo22 wrote:

Btw, the reason I favored it in VBox was because I already had that VM ready to use and because 98SE did greet me with screens of blue.

You linked to this post in another thread and I thought I'd have a quick look-see.

I don't know if you tried this already, but a Google search for <vxd hsflop> suggests the standard Windows floppy disk controller does not work properly under VirtualBox without some persuasion.
https://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f … =33359&start=30

I prefer VMware Player for my Win9x virtual machines, but it's been a long time since I've messed with them.

Thank you very much! I'll have a look at this. 😀

Haven't used VMware Player for a while either, v. 3.1.4 was the last version I had.
I think the new VMware Player requires intel VT or AMD-V.