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| Introduction
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Windows File Sharing allows you to map a Windows network drive to
your Virtual Private Servers home directory across the Internet.
Once you have mapped the Windows network drive to your Virtual Private
Servers you can "drag-and-drop" files to and from your
Virtual Private Servers as if it were a local drive.
Samba
The Windows File Sharing feature for Virtual Private Servers is made possible
by Samba,
an SMB client and server for the UNIX O/S. SMB is the protocol by
which PCs running the Windows O/S share files and other information
such as lists of available files.
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| Configuring Your Windows PC
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Here is a step-by-step setup process for configuring your Windows
PC to support the File Sharing feature. Once you complete this setup,
you can have your PC automatically reconnect each time you log in.
Therefore, you only need to set up Windows File Sharing once.
- Install network protocol software
on your Windows PC
"Client for Microsoft Networks" and the "TCP/IP"
protocol stack must be installed. This is done with the "Network"
configuration panel in the "Control Panel". TCP/IP is
probably already installed since it is necessary in order to connect
to the Internet.
- Create or update your Windows
"lmhosts" file
Locate and modify a file titled "lmhosts" in your "C:\Windows"
directory. If the file does not exist then you will need to create
it. In some revisions of Windows 95/98 a sample "lmhosts"
file is included with the software installation. You can search
for the existence of this sample file by using one of two methods.
One way to find the file is simply by using your Windows Explorer
to review the contents of your "C:\Windows" directory;
looking specifically for a filename like "Lmhosts.sam".
You can also search for the file by using the file search capability
in your "Start -> Find -> Files or Folders..."
menu.
If you find the file "lmhosts.sam",
open the file using Notepad or some other text file editor.
If you did not find the file, then launch Notepad to create
a new file. Add a line to the bottom of the file you have just
opened. The line should contain the IP address of your Virtual
Private Servers and a nickname that you would like to identify
the IP address with. Please consider the following examples:
1.2.3.4 nickname
192.41.255.255 "Virtual Private Servers"
Note that if the nickname you choose
includes a space or other special characters, you will need to
enclose the nickname with quotation marks. If are administrating
multiple Virtual Private Servers accounts, then you will need
to specify a unique nickname for each IP address you include.
Also, please make sure that each host entry ends with a line feed.
Press your enter key a couple of times after the last entry in
your lmhosts file just to be safe.
After you have finished adding
the lines to your lmhosts file, save the file to your "C:\Windows"
directory under the name "lmhosts". Most windows editors
will want you to specify a file extension like ".txt"
or ".doc". You can prevent this from happening by
enclosing the filename in quotation marks.
- Enable plain text passwords
Depending upon the version of Windows you are running, you may
need to update your system registry in order to enable plain text
passwords.
- Windows 2000
The system registry must be updated. Download and run the
following program, which will automatically update the registry
for you.
- Windows 98/NT
The system registry must be updated. In the "Start Menu"
select "Run...". This will bring up a Run window
with a text entry field. Input "regedit" and hit
"Ok". This will bring up the Registry Editor. Select
the following folders:
Windows 98
expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
then expand System
then expand CurrentControlSet
then expand Services
then expand VxD
then select VNETSUP
Windows NT
expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
then expand System
then expand CurrentControlSet
then expand Services
then expand Rdr
then select Parameters
On the right hand side you
will see a collection of name:data pairs. To add a new entry
here for "EnablePlainTextPassword", select the
"Edit" menu, then select "New", then
"DWORD Value". This will create a new name:data
pair. Change the name from the default "New Value #1"
to "EnablePlainTextPassword". The name:data pair
should now look like:
EnablePlainTextPassword 0x00000000 (0)
Highlight the "EnablePlainTextPassword"
and then select the "Edit" menu and the "Modify"
menu item (it should be the first menu item). In the "Edit
DWORD Value" dialog box change the "Value data"
value form "0" to "1" and make sure
the "Hexadecimal" Base radio button is selected.
Then select the "Ok" dialog. Exit the Registry
Editor.
NOTE: One other
thing in NT4 SP3, go to your NT control panel for
networking, Look at TCP/IP properties, look at the
WINS Address tab, and check the Enable DNS for Windows
resolution box.
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- Windows 95
Plain text passwords are enabled by default. No action is
necessary.
- Restart your Windows PC
- Map a Windows network drive to
your Virtual Private Servers
Now that you have included IP address/nickname pairs in your lmhosts
file, you are reading to establish network connections using the
File Sharing capability. To do this, open your Windows Explorer
and select the "Map Network Drive..." menu item located
in the "Tools" menu. This will open up the "Map
Network Drive" dialog box.
Using the Map Network Drive dialog,
you will map a specific drive letter to the File Sharing Connection.
Select an available drive letter using the "Drive:"
selection box. The value for the "Path:" definition
should be of the form "\\NICKNAME\LOGIN" where NICKNAME
is one of the nicknames you defined for a specific IP address
in your lmhosts file and LOGIN is the login id for the Virtual
Private Servers at that IP address.
For example, if you defined the
nickname "Virtual Private Servers" for the IP address
of your Virtual Private Servers account and the login id for
your account was "biff", then you would enter "\\Virtual
Private Servers\biff" as the value in the "Path:"
text entry field. If you would like the drive mapped each time
you logon to your computer then select the "Reconnect at
logon" check box.
Select the "OK" button
after you have selected a Drive letter and specified a path.
Your computer will then attempt to map the drive to the home
directory of your Virtual Private Servers. This process can
take several minutes so please be patient. If a connection is
established, you will be prompted for your login password. After
you enter your password and successfully authenticate, your
Windows Explorer will display the drive letter on the left-hand
side along with your local drives. You can now double-click
on directories to expand paths and double-click on files to
open them locally. If you need to upload files to a specific
directory, you need only drag the file from your local folder
to your Virtual Private Servers folder. Likewise, if you want
to download a file to your local machine, you would select the
file in your Virtual Private Servers folder and drag it to your
desktop or a local file folder. It's that easy!
NOTE: Because UNIX
uses a different EOL (End Of Line) scheme than DOS/Windows
you will need to translate any text (html, perl script,
etc.) files before copying them up to your Virtual Private
Servers. UNIX text files have lines delimited by a single
line-feed character (0A hex), whereas DOS text-mode
files are delimited with a carriage-return/line-feed
pair (0D/OA hex). We have placed a very useful utility,
fixcrlf,
that you can install on your Windows PC to do help convert
DOS files to UNIX and UNIX files to DOS. Using fixcrlf
you simply drag-and-drop your file on to the fixcrlf
dialog. It automatically detects which the ASCII file
type and makes the proper conversion. Please note that
binary files do not need to be converted.
Tip: Use an editor that
is "UNIX aware" like HotDog
Pro from Sausage Software. This way you
don't have to worry about converting the file before
uploading your content. You can then edit your content
right on your Virtual Private Servers volume directly
over the Internet.
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