AnyoneEB,

Windows XP is a version of Windows NT. NT's behavior is that a Win9x client must successfully authenticate to an NT host before accessing any resources. Your best solution is to create a username on the XP box... name it "user" and leave the password blank. Then when your Win9x box boots up and displays the "Log on to Microsoft Network" you type in "user" and a blank password and log in. This way when you connect to the NT/W2K/XP box, Win9x will offer these credentials and will be authenticated.

To add a user under Windows XP Pro, go to the Control Panel and start the User Accounts applet. Click the Advanced tab and then the Advanced button. This brings up the "Local Users and Groups" tree from the Microsoft Management Console. Click on Users in the tree. From the Action menu choose New User. Type "user" in the Username box, uncheck "User must change password at next logon", and click the Create button. Now click Close. Close the "Local Users and Groups" window. Click OK to close User Accounts dialog.

Now log out of your Win9x box and log back in with "user" and the blank password. Win9x saves passwords based on the username so if you log in with a new username all your saved passwords will be unavailable.

-Mike_L