Due to its Plug-and-Play capability, Windows 2000 should detect your network card and
install the proper drivers (which worked fine on my system with my Realteak card, but first I had to learn
that INTELl does not anymore support the “EtherExpress 16 ISA” and therefore also Windows2000 does NOT
support the “INTEL EtherExpress 16” ISA network card), some older non-Plug&Play ISA network card
may not be detected automatically and need to be installed manually.
Even if Windows 2000 takes care about the installation of the network card, I strongly suggest
to verify the network configuration:
 | First check: The Device-Manager right-click on the NIC and select “Properties” |
 | tab: General The “Device Status” should show: “This device is working properly“ If there is any error-message, fix that first using Trouble-Shooting. |
 | tab: Advanced My Realtec8029 is a combo-card with both a BNC (Coax)-10base2 and a TP (RJ45)-10baseT connector. I need to configure the type of the network cabling (for me: still BNC) |
 | Tab: Resources For a PCI-card, the resources ( I/O-address and IRQ) are defined by the system, usually nothing to worry about and no need to change anything. |
| Note: Talking about Resources: Since a modern Multi-Media PC requires a lot of Resources, especially the Interrupts , Microsoft introduced on the later Windows95 versions and then on Windows98 the Interrupt-Sharing of PCI-devices. NT4 was NOT able to share Interrupts, but Windows 2000 also supports the Interrupt-Sharing of PCI-devices ( as listed under “Computer Management”):  |
 | Second Check: Properties of your “My Network Places“ (Right-click) |
 | Since you have a network card installed, there is the icon for : “Local Area Connection“. Right-click to ask for the Properties. By default, Windows2000 has installed: – Network Client – File and Printer Sgaring – TCP/IP-protocol |
 | If a different network component is required, select the button “Install”, which will display the screen” “Select Network Component Type“, then the type of network component, usually the “Protocol” |
 | Although TCP/IP is quickly becoming the standard protocol in most networks, the system still supports the use of IPX/SPX and NetBEUI protocol |
 | Talking about IPX/SPX ( which is still the default protocol for Novell Netware 3.x and 4.x servers): Windows 2000 includes a Client for Netware. |
If you decide to use the TCP/IP protocol, you should verify now the TCP/IP configuration.
Then you are ready to look at the equivalent of the Win95/98/NT4 Network-Neighborhood,
now called “My Network Places” / “Computers Near Me”.
