Microsoft Client for NetWare Networks on Windows 95
A quick tour of the Microsoft Client for NetWare Networks on Windows 95.
Contents
Installing
I'm starting with a clean install of the original retail release of Windows 95 (4.00.950).
The client was actually installed by default so all that really needs to be done is making it the primary network logon
Which requires the windows 95 CD of course.
This is just because of the 95 CPU fix - click yes to keep the updated non-crashing version of ndis.vxd.
Then reboot!
Quick Tour Part 1
The Microsoft client is a lot more bare-bones than the Novell one. It really only has the bare minimum. And in the Retail release of Windows 95 it doesn't even support NDS!
The login screen! This is logging into a specific server - Windows 95 doesn't know about NDS.
Set the password for the new local account.
Login scripts run!
Wo Am I?
This here is about as flash as the Microsoft client gets. A dialog with an icon!
Drives are mapped which is the important thing.
Network Neighborhood just shows the server
Server context menu - not much here.
Server properties do show some minimal information though. If "Maximum connections" means the maximum number of licensed connections then this number is wrong - I've got a 250 user license.
Server just shows the volumes
Which you can browse
Nothing special like permissions or extra file data in the properties dialog
Installing NDS Support
To get NDS support you've got to install the Service for NetWare Directory Services. This was released as an add-on after Windows 95 came out. Its available from ftp.zx.net.nz here. Rather than messing around with installing TCP/IP and downloading things using the command line ftp client (its pretty tedious) I've taken a shortcut. I've already got a connection to my netware server so I just put a copy of the patch on there from another computer:
I've copied msnds.exe into a folder on my desktop
Because its a self-extracting archive and when you run it it will dump files in the current directory
Here is everything it extracted! No installer here though.
We've got to install it through the Network control panel. Hit the Add button.
Add a Service...
Have Disk...
Browse...
Then navigate to the folder where everything was extracted and select ndscli.inf
Ok...
This is what we're after - Service for NetWare Directory Services. Click OK.
Done! Click OK.
Well, almost done. The Windows 95 CD is of course required.
The default directory was something odd - I set it to my copy of the windows 95 install files on C drive (I really should put this on the netware server...)
This again - as usual, hit yes to keep the good version of ndis.vxd.
Then reboot!
Quick Tour Part 2: Now with NDS support!
On first boot you're asked to select a preferred NDS Tree.
A new login screen! This time with NDS support!
The Advanced button brings up this window.
The deault context ([Root]) didn't work for me - I had to set it to "zxnet". My server was setup using the "Simple installation of NetWare 4.11" option - other servers setup the same way may have this issue too. Once I changed it I could login fine.
Nothing different in the context menu
But the Who Am I window is certainly different!
Network Neighborhood now shows the tree
Which has a properties window! The NetWare Directory Services tab
And the NDS Administration Settings tab.
And inside the tree is the server and its volumes
And thats it for the Microsoft Client for NetWare Networks on Windows 95. Pretty basic but it works. A convenient way of getting the Novell client onto a computer without messing with CDs, floppy disks or antique web browsers.
Disclaimer & Comments
I'm not a netware expert, don't have any of those fancy novell certifications and have never administred a netware network; I've just played with it at home occasionally since 2004 or so. Email me if you've got any suggestsions or corrections for this page or any extra information you think is worth including here. My address is david at this websites domain name (without the www bit of course).