File Sharing Troubles

Problem:
I have a Windows 2000 system with a file share that I was unable to access from a Windows 98 machine. Other machines running windows 2000 could access it just fine. All machines were running both TCP/IP and IPX. TCP/IP is being used primarily for file sharing, printing, and of course Internet access. IPX is in use for older games. The Windows 2000 machine could see and use shares on the windows 98 machine, but the Windows 98 machine could not use the 2000 shares. The 2000 machine was visible in the network neighborhood in windows 98. However when I clicked on it I got a “machine does not exist” error.

Solution:
I resolved this problem by unbinding IPX from file and print sharing on the windows 2000 machine. This is accomplished by right clicking on “My Network Places” and selecting “Properties”. Next Click on the Advanced menu. Then select “Advanced Settings”. Once that window appears, uncheck the checkboxes for “NWLink IPX/SPX/NetBIOS Compatible Transport Protocol” under “Client for Microsoft Networks”, and “File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks”. This will force the 98 box to use TCP/IP when connecting to the share on the 2000 machine. No reboot was required on the 2000 machine for the fix to take affect.