My wife's Dell Inspiron laptop runs Win XP Home and is networked to my PC and NTL Broadband via a wireless adapter and a cable/DSL router. She also needs to be able to use the laptop on her school LAN. However she has been advised that to do so the OS needs upgrading to XP Pro, and that she will then be unable to network at home since Win XP will only allow and recognise one LAN setup. (Advice from the school IT Manager is suspect on occasions).

The suggested solution is that the current OS and (home) LAN settings be left as they are, the hard drive (40GB) be partitioned, and that XP Pro be installed on the new partition and then set up to access the school LAN. She has a teacher's upgrade version of XP Pro, PowerQuest PartitionMagic 8.0 to partition the HD and PowerQuest BootMagic for dual booting. However the upgrade needs an OS to upgrade (!) and since that is on the C drive, she has been given a recovery CD with a valid licence for school use which will enable XP Pro to be installed on the partition.

My problem is that having perused all 167 pages of the PartitionMagic users guide, I am left with more questions than answers. In a nutshell, there is loads of confusing detail but no big picture! XP Home and XP Pro use/will use NTFS partitions, but BootMagic needs a FAT32 partition to work in this case. I reckon that a 10GB partition should be adequate for XP Pro. The guide mentions 2GB and 8GB boot boundaries - I assume that 8GB applies in this case - but how does this affect XP Pro if installed beyond that boundary? And how do I set a partition for BootMagic?

Can anyone please help with a SIMPLE explanation of what I need to do to partition the laptop (ie type of partitions etc), will the setup work, and are the two OS's likely to conflict (as the IT Manager predicts will be the case)?

Denis,

I'd imagine Win XP (Home or Pro) would recognise and handle more than one LAN setup very easily - looks like the school IT manager is talking rubbish IMO...

Older OS had problems if the boot partition was too big. IIRC NT4 wouldn't start if the boot partition ( C: ) was over 2gb. XP shouldn't have problems like that though?

Denis,

Not sure if this helps, but my XP Home Laptop can access my home network via my wireless and / or wired set-ups. (2 networks surely?)

Surely all Mrs Denis needs to do, is whip out the wireless card before work, and get a log-in name & password for the school network ?

The same would apply if taking the laptop on holiday or business, hooking up to a hotel network doesnt require 2 OS's, so i fail to see why a school network should require the same.

Or maybe my spark's logic is just too realistic for this I.T mallarky

OK, I only read the first paragraph, as I'm guessing the other 3 are detailed questions about running XP Home and Pro partitions. And you don't need to, Win XP will handle more than one network connection!

Assuming the existing connection is set up to dynamically find an IP address, etc. and that the school network can provide these details, it's just a question of plugging it in (or the wireless equivalent).

Rob.

The only problem I can see, and its a big limitation of XP home is that it cannot logon to NT/2000/2003 domains. As long as you dont have a domain at home, you can use XP Pro to access the school resources then logon to the local machine at home using a totally different and separate profile (select computer name from domain dropdown list), that way it WILL work in both places using just the one install of windows. This assumes the use of DHCP at both locations.

Steve, the very sharp and knowledgeable Assistant Principal E-Learning at the school has confirmed that there are major problems configuring laptops for connection to school and home LANs, although he is unconvinced that the advice about XP Pro is correct. He recommended dual booting which is the route he has taken, as apparently have a number of the senior leadership team at the school. If someone can advise how to configure two LANs on XP, I would be delighted to hear - but I can only see the option to configure one. OTOH there does not seem to be any limit on dial-up connections.

Denis, I assume the school have a wired lan connection. In that case you will need to get another lan card or use the one builtin to the laptop if it has one.

Upgrade laptop to XP Pro (you will endup with a virtually simillar setup), and take it to school and hookup to the lan there. Get the admin to join the laptop to the domain if required, this process changes the logon to an NT style username/password login.

At school select the domain from the bottom dropdown, and use the supplied username and password

at home select computer name from bottom dropdown. and use the usual username and password (this is currently the name clicked on, using xp home)

Just seen Manny's comment about XP Home and NT/2000/2003 domains. The school domain is currently NT but is being upgraded to 2000, I think. That could explain the advice to upgrade to XP Pro.

I didnt think you could dual boot with 2 versions of XP.

You can Dual boot Win2K & XP Pro, i've done it on my desktop PC

I assume 2 versions of XP is no different?

So if I upgrade to XP Pro the laptop will be able to connect to the school domain AND retain the current home LAN settings? Incidentally my PC is configured to automatically detect (LAN) settings whereas the laptop is not, but both use the same proxy server settings. I assume that NIS2004 will need disabling whilst the laptop is connected to the school LAN?

Many thanks for all the advice. It looks like the school could do with an IT Manager who knows his stuff

Denis, I have to connect to many different networks (including customers and home) and I use a product called MobileNetSwitch, which allows you to have multiple LAN configurations on the same PC and switch between them dynamically. And it works!

www.mobilenetswitch.com

Yes, NIS2004 might need disabling although mine works fine. Once you setup the rules etc.. shouldnt be a problem. Regarding proxy, because you will be logged on as a different user, the setting will be different and remembered at each location so no need to to keep changing.

So if I upgrade to XP Pro the laptop will be able to connect to the school domain AND retain the current home LAN settings? Incidentally my PC is configured to automatically detect (LAN) settings whereas the laptop is not, but both use the same proxy server settings.

Easiest way to do this is have both networks using DHCP to provide your IP address details , but if this isn't possible , you can make a batch file to set them manually.

You need to use the NETSH command to do this , and instructions can be found here http://www.winnetmag.com/WindowsNetworking/Article/ArticleID/41111/WindowsNetworking_41111.html

I got Partition Magic and could Burn/post if needed.

it kinda makes repartitioning realy easy and you dont need to blat your existing partition.

PM if needed.

It depends integrated she wants to be with the school network!

I run a Windows XP Pro laptop here in its own workgroup (not a member of a domain). When I visit my clients sites, I use the same connection but logon to the machine as a user thats valid on their sites network then map the network drives through my computer and map the printers as normal. I dont logon to their network as an authenticated user as such - the mapping means I can access all of their resources though.

My clients all have Win 2000 SBS networks which run the same IP address range as my network (192.168.*.* ). I have a static IP (not necessary) and I set up their DNS server manually in my connection parameters rather than having it auto detect. The only other thing I have to do is set IE to point at the proxy server when onsite but its not difficult.. and it is possible.

Im running a Netgear RP114 (4 port + uplink) router connected to an NTL ethernet cablemodem locally and just have RJ45 cables from the router to each machine.

I got Partition Magic and could Burn/post if needed.

We already have PartitionMagic 8.0, thanks.

IMHO you don't need to bother dual booting, just upgrade the OS to XP-Pro as stated above and then get the school IT bod to add it to the domain.

If the laptop has builtin network or there is space for both wireless and ethernet card then you can leave both cards in and enabled, then XP will automatically enable the appropriate connection. Then just use the school credentials to log in all the time.

Assuming your cable router provides DHCP then Internet Explorer will work in either place automatically.

Cheers