Client connectivity for Windows NT Workstation, Windows 2000 Professional and Windows XP Professional

Windows NT Workstation, Windows 2000, and Windows XP Professional are intended to be suitable clients for any of the common network operating systems. To connect to NetWare servers, Microsoft provides CSNW, although Novell offers client software that has more functionality. To connect to a Linux server running Samba, no additional software is required.

Local security mechanisms for Windows NT Workstation, Windows 2000 Professional, and Windows XP Professional

Windows NT Workstation, Windows 2000, and Windows XP Professional share the same security subsystem as their server counterparts and use the same security mechanisms. User accounts can be defined locally on the workstation, or the system can be made a member of a domain, in which case user accounts from the central user account database can be used to log on to the workstation and therefore the domain as well.

Authentication for Windows NT Workstation, Windows 2000 Professional, and Windows XP Professional

Two pieces of information are required to log on to a Windows NT/2000 system: a username and a password. Of the two, the username is not casesensitive, but the password is. If the workstation has also been made a member of the domain, an additional dialog box allows you to specify whether you want to log on as an account from the local workstation or as a user account from the domain.