TCP/IP protocol

NT4 includes full support for TCP/IP protocol, which on itself fills a thick book, so I am concentrating on this pages just on the basics. I also assume, that you have basic knowledge of TCP/IP addressing (if not, look at the Windows95 TCP/IP basics, the basics are valid for any system with TCP/IP protocol installed, regardless of CPU-typ and Operating system).

TCP/IP can be installed during the initial Network-setup/definition.
I am here assuming, that you have the Network already installed using NetBEUI, so to add now TCP/IP, enter in the "Control-Panel" the "Network"-Applet, select the tab:"Protocols" and then the "Add"-button:


Select from the list "TCP/IP Protocol".
You will now be prompted:

Unless you have an NT-server (or a similar server) with a DHCP-database, you will use static assigned IP-addresses, so select : "No".
Like always, NT needs to load some files from the CD-ROM:

Once the files have been load, do NOT yet try to configure the TCP/IP, you will get:

As requested, select first the "Close" button, so that NT can create the bindings between all the network-components, it will then prompt to define your TCP/IP address:

On an office-network, you need to get the IP-address assigned to you by your network administrator, at home, you can pick any IP-address, but I suggest to use the range of IP-address reserved for private networks: 192.168.x.x.

That's it, a reboot is required:


Once you are up, you can test your network connection to other systems using the TCP/IP "ping" (for some background info, see : Testing Connection using TCP/IP):


In this example, I pinged myself (192.168.10.1), the connected notebook (192.168.10.2) and a non-existing 3rd system (192.168.10.3), for which no answer could come.

With the enforced user-security on Windows NT4, using the TCP/IP "ping" is a
very efficient method to determine, whether your network hardware (network-boards, cables, hubs, terminators) are ok or not, to define, whether you have to search for a Hardware problem or a software/setup/user-definition problem.

About Johannes Helmig

Dr.Johannes Helmig is working as Director, Technical Knowledge Management in the Belgium office of Gerber Technology where he is involved in Customer Service and internal training, with special interest in Networking.

Click here for Johannes Helmig's section.

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