Hi Calum,
if you think MS$ is bad when running on a PC at home with a connection to the net then you really need to build a full blown network to see it really mess up!
If you open a DOS box and type net and hit return you will be given a load of help info similar to the way you could type rm --help
If you look at the options available and type say
net use /? you will be presented with information specific to the command you are interested in.
(Admins like myself tend to use CLI's regardless of the OS as it is quicker than messing about with a GUI)
These commands go all the way back to Lanmanager and Lanserver (IBM aka Big Blue who despite what the Troll thinks were actually responsible for major parts of Windows as at the time MS$ and IBM were friendly) hence there was and still is a huge similarity between the core of OS/2 and Windows.
These commands allow you to basically control networking on a given box. There is however a command missing from the list that $MS removed .. net admin which allowed you to mount remote machines and administer them.
Enough history.
The command net share displays the drives on your system that are shared. There are default shares automatically available namely C$, D$ IPC$ (Inter Process Communication) other driveletter$ shares if the drives exist and finally there is admin$ which generally point to c:\winnt.
Now normal users share their drives using the GUI to do the job. Admins tend to open a DOS box and type for example...
net share (no params) you get all current shares on the box ...
U:\>net share
Share name Resource Remark
-----------------------------------------------------------
IPC$ Remote IPC
C$ C:\ Default share
D$ D:\ Default share
ADMIN$ C:\WINNT Remote Admin
The command completed successfully.
OK cool those are shared on the box (notice all shares end in a $)
Lets share the tmp directory we will do that by mounting it on the z$ drive (see the limitation only 26 mount points max)
U:\>net share z$=c:\tmp /remark:"calum share"
z$ was shared successfully.
Cool
Let's view it
U:\>net share
Share name Resource Remark
-----------------------------------------------------------
IPC$ Remote IPC
C$ C:\ Default share
D$ D:\ Default share
z$ c:\tmp calum share
ADMIN$ C:\WINNT Remote Admin
The command completed successfully.
Et voila!
OK so you shared your drives and you think to yourself I need to use the C$ share on 192.168.35.19 no problem,
enter stage left net use...
U:\>net use
New connections will be remembered.
Status Local Remote Network
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
OK I: \\192.168.35.17\d$ Microsoft Windows Network
OK J: \\192.168.35.21\d$ Microsoft Windows Network
OK K: \\192.168.35.26\c$ Microsoft Windows Network
The command completed successfully.
Now lets mount a new drive on a remote machine
U:\>net use \\192.168.35.17 c$
The command completed successfully.
Now lets view it
U:\>net use
New connections will be remembered.
Status Local Remote Network
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
OK I: \\192.168.35.17\d$ Microsoft Windows Network
OK J: \\192.168.35.21\d$ Microsoft Windows Network
OK K: \\192.168.35.26\c$ Microsoft Windows Network
OK L: \\192.168.35.17\c$ Microsoft Windows Network
The command completed successfully.
So there ya go useful for admins, very quick, limited allows you to script (not like Unix) Loads of other commands
Limited abilities compared to Unix / Linux - Utilizes SMB which is a transport layer protocol (Layer 4) so it is NOT routable - Fast on a LAN. Shares are always referenced with a $ at the end except one special share .....
gates$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Hence MS$
Sorry for the confusion
Later
Sime
