Installing Microsoft Network Client 3.0
Preparation
We begin with a freshly cleaned-out test system:
- AMD Duron 700 MHz Processor
- ASUS A7V Motherboard
- 256 MB Generic PC133 RAM
- 6 GB Fujitsu HD
- 48X Generic CDROM Drive
- 3Com Etherlink XL 10/100 NIC
Note that by cleaned out, I mean that there are no partitions on the hard drive of this computer. It is as if the computer has just been built (and preferably burned in - see below).
The first thing we have to do is to create a bootable floppy which we can use to boot this system. If possible, use a DOS bootable floppy to keep things simple. Since my DOS machine is currently sitting under my bed, I will use Windows 98 to create a boot disk. There are so many ways to do this in Windows 98, but I am going to do this the old-fashioned way by inserting a blank floppy, going to the DOS prompt, and typing format c: /q /s. Next, we must add some utilities which we will need. The files we will need are: HIMEM.SYS, EMM386.EXE, SMARTDRV.EXE, FDISK.EXE, FORMAT.COM, and EDIT.COM. If you are rusty on your DOS and Windows file locations, then type the following (pressing enter after each line) after you have formatted your disk:
- CD\WINDOWS\COMMAND
- COPY FDISK.EXE A:
- COPY FORMAT.COM A:
- COPY EDIT.COM A:
- CD\WINDOWS
- COPY HIMEM.SYS A:
- COPY EMM386.EXE A:
- COPY SMARTDRV.EXE A:
Note that in older versions of DOS, these files are all located in the same directory (usually C:\DOS).
Once you have completed setting up your boot disk, you need to prepare the Microsoft Network Client 3.0 setup disks. This requires that you have two blank, formatted 1.44MB floppies. Once you have those, label them Microsoft Network Client Setup Disk and OEM Driver Disk. Then, we will be ready to download Microsoft Network Client 3.0 from Microsoft's FTP site. The URL for the files is:
ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/bussys/clients/msclient
In this directory there will be two self-extracting files, dsk3-1.exe, and dsk3-2.exe. Download these two files and extract them into two separate folders. Copy the contents of dsk3-1.exe to the Microsoft Network Client Setup Disk you created earlier, and the contents of dsk3-2.exe to the OEM Driver Disk, noting not to copy the original dsk3 packages.
Finally, you will need the NDIS 2.0 compliant DOS drivers for your network card, if your card is not natively supported by Network Client. You will know if your card is natively supported if it is listed in the adapter list when you run setup. Usually, these drivers are downloadable from your card vendor's website, and will come in 4 files. The main driver will be in the form xxxxxxxx.DOS, where xxxxxxxx will be a name similar to your card's. There will be another file with a name similar to your card's name, xxxxxxxx.NIF. The remaining two files are OEMSETUP.INF and PROTOCOL.INI. Once you have downloaded these driver files, copy them to an appropriately named directory on the Microsoft Network Client Setup Disk. We are now finished with preparation and can begin setting up our system for network access.