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Novells 32bit client and the most recent client available for DOS and Windows 3.x. This can connect to Netware 2.2 or newer and supports logging in from Windows as well as DOS. If you've got lots of RAM and a 386 processor this is probably the one to go with.
Unless you're using an NEC PC98 computer or planning to make a bootable CD-ROM you're proabbly fine just downloading dw271e.exe. Note that this version does not include a graphical (windows 3.1x based) installer - you've got to run install.exe from DOS. The DOS-based installer will still configure Windows 3.1x support correctly.
I've had some difficulty with v2.71 not being able to see the NetWare server on some machines (but not all!). Its possible it may be a NIC driver issue and seems to affect both IPX and NetWare/IP. If you have trouble, give v2.5 ago from the table further down the page.
| File | Readme | Date | Description |
| dw271e.exe | Readme | 18 February 1999 | Final release of the DOS/Windows 3.1 client. End of support was 31 December 2002. |
| dw271i1.exe | Readme | 3 November 1999 | Fix for starting the client from a CD, adds support for installing on NEC PC98 computers |
System requrements for the first release (2.1) are as below according to TID 2911817. Later client versions likely want more RAM and disk space. If you're running a 386 or have less than 8MB of RAM you might be better off with the 16-bit VLM client.
Versions 2.6 and 2.70 are not available to download as I have so far failed to locate a copy. They don't appear to have been archived online so they'll probably need to come from a Novell Support Connection or Clients CD-ROM of the right age.
| Version | Date | Notes | Link |
| 2.71 | 18 February 1999 |
This is the final official client of any sort for DOS and 16bit Windows. It went out of support on 31 December 2002 (link). Updates: dw271i1.exe, Readme - 3 November 1999 - Fix for starting the client from a CD, adds support for installing on NEC PC98 computers |
Readme, dw271e.exe |
| 2.70 | 31 January 1999 |
TID 2952540 confirms that 2.70 did exist, gives 31 August 1998 as the date on its client32.nlm and says it was released with Netware 5. The actual release date is unknown to me at this time but surely later than this given 2.6 was supposedly released in October 1998
Its possbile that this release was never made available for download from novell.com/download given that Client 2.6 was listed as the current release on 28 january 1999 only 21 days before 2.71 was released. A copy of this may have to be extracted from a Netware 5 Clients CD. |
? |
| 2.6 | 27 October 1998 |
This version was replaced a little over 3 months after release (less if 2.70 really did exist) - not long enough for archive.org to grab a copy it seems. There are few usenet posts and even fewer websites visible to google mentioning it. The file name, as far as I can tell, was dw26en.exe but there are no hits for this on google and no non-novell download sites mentioned in googles usenet archives. The archive.org likely has a copy but without a search engine there is little chance of finding it. As a result I've been unable to locate a copy of this version. It may require tracking down a Novell Support Connection CD-ROM of just the right age. |
dw26en.exe |
| 2.5 | 15 April 1998 |
Not a lot on the internet or archive.org about this version. The copy here came from ftp.kernel.ee/pub/arc/Novell/DosWinClnt/ and appears to be the real thing (Install.exe included with the copy here contains the string "2.50 Novell Client Install for DOS and Windows 3.1x (980325)" which is about as certain as I can be without installing it on something). This appears to be a Netware 5 release of the client (client.nlm contains the string "NetWare 5 Requester"). The readme file mentions the client only supports IPX connections to Netware 5 servers. Given that TID 2952540 says 2.70 shipped with Netware 5 perhaps 2.5 was used with some beta releases? |
dw23e_n.exe, Readme |
| 2.20 | 9 July 1997 |
This version was difficult to find as archive.org didn't manage to capture any novell page mentioning its filename. Only three usenet posts give the filename but they're all in russian. The copy here comes from http://files.mpoli.fi/pub/hardware/NET/NOVELL/ which appears to have the only remaining copy on the internet visible to google. Product support page on archive.org Updates: adm32_22.exe, Readme - These files are provided as a supplement to the electronic release of the IntranetWare Clients 2.20 for DOS/Windows 3.x and Windows 95. |
Part 1,
Part 2,
Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Readme |
| 2.12 | 1 June 1997 |
Readme Updates: clty2kp1.exe, Readme - Y2K Patch adm32.exe, readme - IntranetWare Client Admin Files (for DW & 95) |
dwenu_n3.exe |
| 2.11 | 22 October 1996 | This is the version shipped with netware 4.11 and IntranetWare. Can be installed from dos (install.exe) or windows (setup.exe) Updates: clty2kp1.exe, Readme - Y2K Patch |
Net Install |
| 2.11 BETA | 5 September 1996 |
"This beta version of Client 32 for Dos/Windows 3.1x is provided as a client update to the Public Beta CD for NetWare 4.11(Green River). DW32NB.EXE contains a Network Install version of the Beta Client."
A very roughly reformatted copy of the readme (TID 2912906) is available in html and rtf. The original (html, rtf) had lost all of its line breaks when Novell imported it into the Support Connection CD making it fairly unreadable. |
Net Install, Readme |
| 2.1 | 24 June 1996 |
First release version of Client32? Includes network application launcher, server patches, Client32 Automatic Client Upgrade. Updates: clty2kp1.exe, Readme - Y2K Patch |
Net Install, Diskette Install, Drivers |
This information from TID 2952540 (Novell Support Connection 2000-03). If you have a client32.nlm file with a date between two release dates its most likely a patch has been applied based on the version that was released next before the date on the file. Some information in the comments column comes from TID 2922501. TID 2952540 seems to leave the 2.5 and 2.6 releases out - oversight perhaps?
| client32.nlm | |||||
| Date | Size | Internal Version | Client Version | Develiered With | Comment |
| 20 June 1996 5:59pm | 459023 | 2.01 | 2.10 | dw32n1.exe | TID 2922501: Original shipping version |
| 21 August 1996 6:10pm | 461359 | 2.01 | 2.11 | IntranetWare 4.11 | TID 2922501: Also released as dwenu_n2.exe |
| 11 December 1996 11:42am | 446020 | 2.02 | 2.12 | dwenu_3.exe | TID 2952540 is probably wrong here, TID 2922501 gives dwenu_n3.exe |
| 30 June 1997 10:52am | 459389 | 2.20 | 2.20 | BorderManager 1.0 | TID 2922501 calls it Novell IntranetWare Client for Dos/Windows version 2.20. I think this version was on the IntranetWare August 97 clients CD. |
| 31 August 1998 7:27pm | 517551 | 3.03 | 2.70 | NetWare 5 | |
| 28 October 1998 12:19pm | 517615 | 3.03 | 2.71 | ZENworks 1.1 | |
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).