Windows 2000 Server OS...

Having huge difficulty linking a new computer I just built onto my existing network. Running 2000 Professional on the computer I just hooked up, and my server (2000 Server Professional) is indicating the following:

"No more connections can be made to this remote computer at this time because thre are already as many connections as the computer can accept."

Please note that this was the only computer on at the time. The license agreement I have is for more then one computer! I am running a very simple workgroup where everyone logs in as the administrator. No bells and whistles. (KISS....Keep it simple stupid is my motto.)

Are there any networking experts out there that would have any suggestions? Have to get back up and running by morning.

Thanks.

There is a hard coded limit of the number of connections the "server" service can accept in Windows Workstation. I can't remember whether this is 5 or 10, but once it is reached, the symptom you describe happens.

All sorts of things can cause a connection to the server service, including printing, virus scanner updates, etc. Use the "Computer Management" MMC app in Admin Tools on the server machine to see who's connected. Can't remember exactly what it is under, but I think it's "Shares" then "Sessions" or something.

As far as I can remember connections to IPC$ do count against this limit too so it's easy for someone to get counted, anyone who does "net view \\yourserver" immediately counts as a connection until their session times out.

Note that out of the box however, I don't *think* anonymous users can be counted against this limit, because they have to authenticate to even get to IPC$

the first thing you might want to check is the IP ranges? what is your subnet setup as, will it allow as many computers as you are trying to setup? Is the new PC on the same workgroup as the server?

If you right click my computer>management go to Event Viewer>System. Does it have any errors on the server or the PC about not being able to network? Next try rebooting the server to and then trying to connect to it, maybe it just needs a good ol reboot.

How are you linking these computers? Switch hub crossover? let me know

Have you added any client licenses to the server?

Your windows 2000 server should have come with 5 or 10 client access licenses when you bought it, however, you will need to add them to the system, I believe.

Under administrator tools, there should be a shorcut to the mmc Licensing applet, where you can add those 5 or 10 licenses.

I haven't worked with windows 2000 on a small scale like that without adding licenses, so, I cannot say if that would produce the behavior that you are experiencing for sure. I suspect though that it would.

Good Luck,

IchNiSan

..............

One thing I would check is to see if the server service is started in computer management. I run Win2k and have not entered any licensing on my DC. I would also check to see if there is anything in the system log on the server. If you are getting the error "no more connections to this remote...: it sounds like it is communicating with the server so IP ranges and cabeling are probably good.

First, what exactly is your OS? There is no such beast as "2000 Server Professional". If you are running 2000 Pro and having people attach to shares, the limit is 10 connections per share.

If you are running 2000 Server family, connections are based on licenses. Per Server licensing means you have to specifiy the number of connections to a share on that machine. Per Seat licensing means that each client can connect multiple times to multiple servers.

BUT, if you are running 120 eval version of 2000 Server, you are "hamstrung" to a limited number of connections, regardless of how many licenses you put in under Per Server.

A couple of points to ponder.....

Hope it helps.