How to access Win2k workgroup?

July 7, 2006 1:05 PM

My work laptop running Win2k belongs to workdomain. My home computers are on homeworkgroup. How can I mount a share on my home network on my work laptop?

If I boot my laptop into the local administrator (non-domain) account, then i can mount the share by selecting RUN then typing \\home-server-name

However, it's a hassle and I would like to be able to access my home network shares while logged into my domain account on the laptop.

Is it possible?

posted by apark to computers & internet (7 comments total)

Have you tried replacing the server name with the server's IP address?
posted by mmascolino at 1:21 PM on July 7, 2006

Hmm. No I haven't tried the IP address thing. I'll try that when I get home tonight...
posted by apark at 1:23 PM on July 7, 2006

I do this the other way, accessing my work shares from my home desktop via VPN. This is how I do it...I am not sure if there are differences between domains and workgroups that would mean it wouldn't work for you.

1. In Windows Explorer, choose Tools - Map Network Drive.
2. Choose a drive letter and type in the drive you want to map
3. Click on Connect using a different user name.
4. In the username field, type the domain that you want to access, a backslash, then your username in that system. For you that would be homeworkgroup\homeusername
5. Type in the password for homeusername
6. Click OK then click Finish.
posted by cabingirl at 1:23 PM on July 7, 2006

It is possible. I was able to do it when I had Win2K on my work notebook and XP on my home computer. I think the shared folders just showed up when I would browse the network neighborhood or whatever it was called.

Unfortunately now I'm rolling XP on my work notebook and have a Mac network where the sharing "just works" so I can't tell you the exact details of what the setup was.
posted by birdherder at 1:26 PM on July 7, 2006

from a command line: (start/run/cmd)

net use * \\home-server-name\sharename /u:username password

username, is a local user on home-server-name with rights to sharename. password, of course, should be replaced with the correct password, or * if you don't wish the password to be echoed to the screen (you'll be prompted)
posted by deadmessenger at 1:27 PM on July 7, 2006

It can be done when logged on as anyone - using the run line like you were before.

Here's the catch: if the share has permissions to a LOCAL user - prefix the username with MACHINENAME\

i.e. accessing \\home-server-name\shareA while logged into the domain, use the username MACHINENAME\joeUser

accessing while logged in locally automatically assumes MACHINENAME\

When logged into a domain, it replaces that with DOMANNAME\
posted by jimmy0x52 at 2:17 PM on July 7, 2006

Deadmessenger has it.

You can also do something like this from the GUI, by opening an Explorer window and using Tools->Map Network Drive. Once you've entered the \\machine\sharename stuff, click on the link that says "Log on as a different user" and go from there.

There's also a little box you can check to make this connection persist across logons. You can get the same kind of persistence using deadmessenger's method by adding "/persistent:yes" to the end of his command line.

There is a lot of superstition attached to the idea that workgroup names must match. AFAIK, the only effect of mismatched workgroup names (since Win98, at any rate) is to make it harder to browse networked computers; machines in different workgroups/domains don't automatically show up under My Network Places / Network Neighborhood.

If you prefer to select your target share from a browser dialog instead of typing it in by hand, and you're in a different workgroup from the target, you should still be able to do that by drilling down into "Entire Network->Microsoft Windows Network", at which point you will see entries for all connected workgroups/domains.

Finally: if your laptop is an IBM/Lenovo, get this.
posted by flabdablet at 6:29 PM on July 7, 2006