File Transfers via Serial or Parallel Port

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I would have thought this easy to find on a Google search, but perhaps it’s so easy there are few instructions or perhaps it’s all in Windows Help and I haven’t found it.

Anyhow, on a one-time basis I want to move a large number of large files from an old W95 machine to an XP machine. The old W95 box is out of bays, I don’t want to buy a burner, I’m not yet ready to set up a LAN, though that’s in the plans, and opening with the new box will invalidate the warranty (and possibly cause the owner, my spouse, to become very distraught).

Can I use the serial or parallel ports to accomplish the transfer, and can someone point me to simple how-to instructions?

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You could do this using the likes of Laplink but you will need the NEW version that suports XP as well as 95. These versions may come with the required cables. Laplink Gold 11 is going for $197.95 and I think this is with cables.

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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Ouch! Think cheap! I’m an accountant of Scottish descent!

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I have a 4 computer network, my NICs and router cost me about $200 total, the lap tops came with a NIC. So I am still doing better in the long run in setting up a 2 computer network, you will never know when you might need to attach another computer.

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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Your argument is irrefutable. If I plan to network the two machines eventually, might as well do it now. A vist to my local cheap computer store tomorrow.

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It’s tomorrow evening since my last post in this thread, I’m a little poorer, and I have the network running … in a wire connectivity sense. For some reason the XP machine is not seeing the W95 machine, but the W95 machine sees the XP machine just fine. The tail is wagging the dog. More new larnin’ has to be stuffed into my cranium.

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Did you turn on the Print and File sharing on the 95 machine. You may need to make the c drive shared . This needs to be done in order to be seen

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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Yes, turned on File & Print Sharing, but … forgot to make any drives on the W95 box available for sharing (all data on W95 machine is on the D drive).

Maybe I need to reboot the W95 box, which I’m using to write this now. Join us later for the next thrilling installment of “How not to set up a LAN”.

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John,
You may want to shut down the complete system, and then bring one at a time up. Some times it pays the get a very clean start.

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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The warm reboots didn’t work, so I’ll try cold boots. If I continue to have trouble, I’ll start another thread. Should I bring the host up first, or does it matter? Thanks, Dave.

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Afraid it didn’t work. Bummer. I’ve drilled through all the XP dialogs that I thought could possibly relate, and can’t see what I may have missed. I’ll do a search here first then post a new thread if I don’t get any inspiration. Thanks for your help Dave.

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OK, a few more basic questions in this thread, if anyone could help.

There’s a huge amount of discussion and information about XP’s built-in Firewall and ZoneAlarm (ZA) in this forum which I need to digest. (Some of this from memory as I’m at work.)

The 95 machine has ZA2.6nn, and I configured ZA to see the NIC, but couldn’t find the XP machine to register it with ZA.

The XP firewall is ON, but I would expect that would stop the W95 machine from seeing the XP machine, not the other way around, and the other way around is the problem. Later I’ll turn the XP Firewall off and see what happens; I’ll also uninstall ZA from the W95 box to see if that changes anything.

But I have some complete dumb newbie questions:

1. The guy at the store was a little vague and suggested I use IPX/SPX as the networking protocol, and right now I think I have both TCP/IP and IPX/SPX in the Newtork setup applicable to the NIC. Which protocol should it be?

2. Where and how do I find the IP address and Subnet of the XP machine to register in ZA?

3. Does ZA need to see PPP; i.e., should that box in ZA Security, Advanced, be checked?

4. If I turn the XP Firewall OFF, what do I do about security against the Intenet when using DUN on the XP?

5. One thing that is weird to me is that on the W95 machine I mapped two paths on the XP as Drives to the W95 machine; I can see them and use them fine (and it zings!). But after I mapped them, Explorer on the W95 machine doesn’t show the XP machine up in Network nodes list. Does mapping make the node not show?

(This is a lot to ask, I know.)

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Since you are running Windows 95 you may need netbui. It is on the XP cd and is not installed by default. You will need to use the copy that comes with each OS.

You do not need to uninstall ZA, juts turn it off for the test. Which version are uo running the or Pro?

For the ZA Security settings in the Advance screen all I do is check the network card, see attachment.

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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Installed NetBeui, and the W95 box is now seen by the XP box.

Many thanks, Dave. ZA is the free version, didn’t uninstall it, just set it not to load on startup.

Would you or anyone else like to take a crack at my other dumb questions above? Especially, do I disable/uninstall all other protocols, and how do I preserve the XP box’s Internet security using DUN with the XP Firewall turned off?

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Now that you can see each other, you should be able to use ZA. I have been running the free version on XP since Beta2 of XP, when ZoneLabs came out with a beta copy for tesing with XP. It has worked just great.

I am NOT sure which questions have NOT been answered please restate ones that you still need help with.

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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Dave, you have been an enormous help, and please accept my thanks. I feel like I’ve had my own personal MSCNE at my side.

ZA is restored and I disabled all other protocols (TCP/IP & IPX/SPX) except NetBEUI, and all is still working.

I think with a little more research I can resolve the only remaining question I have, so I’m a very happy camper for now.

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Was the netbui installed only to the Xp machine = I have the same problem

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In my case, both machines, and I unchecked or removed all other network protocols.

Obtain the NetBEUI drivers for XP from the installation CD per the following edited MS instructions.

In your Windows XP OS CD-ROM browse to the ValueaddMSFTNetNetBEUI folder. Copy Nbf.sys to the %SYSTEMROOT%System32Drivers directory. Copy Netnbf.inf to the %SYSTEMROOT%Inf hidden directory. (You may need to change Explorer to view Hidden Folders).

Click Start, Control Panel, double-click Network Connections, right-click the adapter you want to add NetBEUI to, click Properties, on the General tab, click Install, Protocol, Add. Select NetBEUI Protocol, click OK. Restart your computer if prompted to.

Drivers for W95 are in the Cab files (wherever they may be, mine are on my hard drive), although in my case there were more recent drivers which came with the NIC.

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Wish I had seen this post when I was struggling to get my Win 98 machines and my Win XP machine to see each other. Many suggestions from many local “experts” that I’m sure contributed to the eventual success but uninstalling ZoneAlarm made all the machines see each other. Once that was accomplished I reinstalled ZoneAlarm and all has been well ever since.

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Which protocol(s) do you have installed? After I temporarily disabled ZA, my machines still wouldn’t talk both ways until I went to NetBEUI.

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TCP/IP is the only one on my Win XP Machine. On the Windows 98 machines there is TCP/IP, IPX/SPX, and NetBEUI. These were all recommended by my local “experts” and as I said it is now working perfectly. Howerer again, it did not start working until I removed ZoneAlarm Pro, established the connections and then reinstalled ZoneAlarm Pro. I am using a Linksys router if that makes any difference. I do know it also has a Zone Labs firewall built in to it but it is recommended that you use a ZoneAlarm firewall in addition.

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