Win XP Home Clients On Win 2003 Server Domain

I've lots of desktop experience as an IT Technician in peer-to-peer and home
user environments but I'm a bit of a newby to servers having only worked on a
Win 2K domain server with a handful ofclients several years ago and I've no
Win 2003 Server experience at all.

A small business has contacted me, they have a Win 2003 Server which they
use basically as a desktop PC with a shared folder, and eight client PCs most
of which are Windows XP Home. I want to set the server up so that it
authenticates users logging on to the network because they want employees to
be able to log on remotely. I believe that Windows XP Home PCs can't be
joined to a domain and therfore will not be able to access the shared folder
after I do this, am I correct?

Hello Dell,

For joining a domain you need afaik XP professional.

Best regards

Meinolf Weber
Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers
no rights.
** Please do NOT email, only reply to Newsgroups
** HELP us help YOU!!! http://www.blakjak.demon.co.uk/mul_crss.htm

> I've lots of desktop experience as an IT Technician in peer-to-peer
> and home user environments but I'm a bit of a newby to servers having
> only worked on a Win 2K domain server with a handful ofclients several
> years ago and I've no Win 2003 Server experience at all.
>
> A small business has contacted me, they have a Win 2003 Server which
> they use basically as a desktop PC with a shared folder, and eight
> client PCs most of which are Windows XP Home. I want to set the server
> up so that it authenticates users logging on to the network because
> they want employees to be able to log on remotely. I believe that
> Windows XP Home PCs can't be joined to a domain and therfore will not
> be able to access the shared folder after I do this, am I correct?
>

Partly: Windows XP Home computers can not become Windows Domain members -
can't be "joined" to a domain. You need Windows XP Professional for this.
Vista Home and Home Premium are the same, you need at least Vista Business.

However, users of Windows XP Home computers can access resources (e.g.
shared folders and shared printers) that are hosted on domain member
computers.

So, if you make the server a Domain Controller, you can:
1. join any Windows XP Professional as domain members
2. create domain user accounts for the users that use the Windows XP Home
computers; those users will not be able to use the domain user accounts to
logon to the XP Home computers - they will need local user accounts on those
computers for that purpose
3. users that are logged on to the XP Home computers will be able to access
shared folders on the (domain controller or domain member) server. There
are several ways for the users to do so; a simple way is:

a. click Start, Run
b. \\servername\sharename
c. press Enter or click OK
d. when prompted, key the domain user account name (e.g.
DomainName\DomainUserName) and the corresponding password
e. click OK

I suspect it will be better in the long run to replace XP Home with XP
Professional - operation and support will be simplified and you/they will be
able to take advantage of other domian features such as Group Policies to
better manage the environment. With 8 clients, the Small Business Server
offering may be useful, but if the client already has a 2003 server, the
initial outlay for SBS may not be justifiable.

--
Bruce Sanderson
http://members.shaw.ca/bsanders

It is perfectly useless to know the right answer to the wrong question.



"Dell Boy" <Dell (E-Mail Removed)am> wrote in message
news:89087065-1370-4D63-AAED-(E-Mail Removed)...
> I've lots of desktop experience as an IT Technician in peer-to-peer and
> home
> user environments but I'm a bit of a newby to servers having only worked
> on a
> Win 2K domain server with a handful ofclients several years ago and I've
> no
> Win 2003 Server experience at all.
>
> A small business has contacted me, they have a Win 2003 Server which they
> use basically as a desktop PC with a shared folder, and eight client PCs
> most
> of which are Windows XP Home. I want to set the server up so that it
> authenticates users logging on to the network because they want employees
> to
> be able to log on remotely. I believe that Windows XP Home PCs can't be
> joined to a domain and therfore will not be able to access the shared
> folder
> after I do this, am I correct?

Hello,

Thanks for your post and as well as to Meinolf and Bruce for the detailed
information sharing.

Windows XP Home computers can't be joined to a domain.

However, you could try the method provided by Bruce to access shared
folders on domain member servers from XP Home computers.

Please note, this method will not work if the GPOs linked to those domain
member servers are configured as 'Do not allow unsecured communication with
untrusted clients'. This policy can be configured under Group Policy
Computer Configuration settings -> Windows Settings -> Security Settings ->
IP Security Policies on Active Directory.

I also agree with Bruce that for long term consideration, it is better to
replace all Windows XP Home computers with Windows XP Professional Edition,
which is designed for domain environment.

I hope this helps. Thanks.

Sincerely,
Neo Zhu,
Microsoft Online Support
Microsoft Global Technical Support Center

Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security
================================================== ===
When responding to posts, please "Reply to Group" via your newsreader so
that others may learn and benefit from your issue.
================================================== ===
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Hello,

I'm wondering if the suggestion has helped or if you have any further
questions.

Please feel free to respond to the newsgroups if I can assist further.

Sincerely,
Neo Zhu,
Microsoft Online Support
Microsoft Global Technical Support Center

Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security
================================================== ===
When responding to posts, please "Reply to Group" via your newsreader so
that others may learn and benefit from your issue.
================================================== ===
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.