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October 1, 1998
COPSTalk for Windows NT User's Guide *
Legal Stuff *
Copyright Notices *
Trademark Notices *
Software License Agreement *
Limited Warranty Information *
Government Restricted Rights Legend *
What COPSTalk for Windows NT does *
What COPSTalk for Windows NT requires *
COPSTalk for Windows NT Serial Numbers *
Evaluation versus fully-licensed versions *
Duplicate serial number checking *
COPS Support Information *
How to install COPSTalk for Windows NT *
How to use COPSTalk for Windows NT *
Accessing remote AppleShare IP Servers *
COPSTalk for Windows NT Utility *
COPSTalk for Windows NT Uninstall Program *
Cross-platform issues with COPSTalk for Windows NT *
General cross-platform and Macintosh-related concepts and terms. *
User Authentication Issues *
Character Set Issues *
Known Problems *
"Save asÖ" to different format with same name may fail *
Saving user name and password does not work when the server is a UNIX-based server *
Persistent connections are established, then disconnected, when a duplicate serial number is detected *
Does not perform as expected on VirtualPC systems *
This documentation and software are copyright © 1996, 1997, 1998 COPS, Inc., (COPS). Portions copyright © 1997-1998 by NTCS, Inc. Permission to use and/or copy the documentation or software is restricted to rights specifically granted below. Except where specifically noted, this documentation may not be copied in whole or part by any means without written permission.
COPS, COPSTalk, LT-I, LT-M, LT-95, and LT/2 are trademarks of COPS, Inc.; Windows, DOS, Macintosh, AppleTalk, LocalTalk, EtherTalk, Token-Ring, and other product and company names mentioned herein are trademarked by their respective owners. They are used here in an editorial sense.
The product, programs, documentation and all revisions included with this product are licensed to you for use only on a single computer as documented herein. You may make back-ups as required to ensure availability of the program and/or documentation on a single computer, but in no event shall the backups be used by anyone, anywhere except to replace the software in your primary computer. To violate this notice is against U.S. Copyright laws and COPS will seek civil remedies and/or pursue criminal prosecution against violators.
This software involves valuable proprietary rights of COPS and others. There is no transfer to you of any title to or ownership of the software or any patent, copyright, trade secret, trade name, trademark, or other proprietary rights related to the software regardless of the form in which originals or copies exist. COPS reserves the right to make changes and improvements in the products and documentation at any time without notice.
If the software product is provided by COPS on a computer diskette, COPS warrants the software diskette to be in good working order. Should the diskette fail to perform as warranted above, COPS will replace the diskette at no additional charge to the customer. COPS' liability in such cases shall be limited to replacement of the diskette provided. In no event will COPS be liable for any damages, including lost profits, lost savings, or other incidental or consequential damages arising from use, or inability to use. No claims are made as to merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. COPS does not warrant the software product provided to be free from all bugs, errors, and omissions. This warranty gives you specific legal rights, and you may also have other rights that vary from state to state.
All express and implied warranties for this product are limited in duration to a period of 1 year from the date of purchase and no warranties will apply after this period.
The Product Registration Card must be returned to COPS to entitle the owner to the Limited Warranty benefits.
Use, duplication, or disclosure by the Government is subject to restrictions as set forth in sub-paragraph (c)(1)(ii) of the Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software clause at DFARS ;252.227-7013 and paragraph (d) of the Commercial Computer Software - Restricted Rights at FAR 52.227-19. Subcontractor/ Manufacturer is COPS, Inc., 5600 Oakbrook Parkway, Suite 240, Norcross GA 30093.
COPSTalk for Windows NT is designed to allow Intel-based PCs running Windows NT 4.x to access files on fully AppleTalk Filing Protocol (AFP)-compliant file servers, including AppleShare and AppleShare IP servers, Macintosh computers running Personal File Sharing, and other third-party servers that comply with the AFP specifications. With COPSTalk correctly installed and configured, users can log into AFP servers, open files from the server, save files to the server, and copy files between the server and the user's machine.
Unlike most software products, COPSTalk for Windows NT is designed to be nearly invisible when it is working correctly. There are no user-configured options for the product as it is currently designed., and using COPSTalk to access files on AppleShare-type file servers should be nearly indistinguishable from using the networking services that are built into Windows NT 4.x.
COPSTalk for Windows NT requires the following:
COPSTalk does not currently work with any version of Windows NT other than 4.x, does not support TokenRing network adapters, and does not work with DEC Alpha, MIPS, or PowerPC versions of Windows NT.
COPSTalk for Windows NT may be run in two different modes: as a ten-day evaluation version, and as a fully-licensed version. The evaluation version has only one limitation: it will run for only ten days from the date it is installed. Otherwise, the evaluation version works exactly like the fully-licensed version. The COPSTalk serial number determines whether COPSTalk runs as an evaluation or full version. If the serial number used is DEMO4xxxxxxx (where each "x" represents a numeric character), the product will run in evaluation mode. If the serial number is a series of four upper-case alphabetic characters followed by eight digits, and is a valid COPSTalk serial number, the product runs as a fully-licensed version.
To change an evaluation version into a fully-licensed version, it is not necessary to reinstall. Simply open the COPSTalk for Windows NT Utility program (Start Menu à Programs à COPSTalk à COPSTalk for NT Utility), and insert your COPSTalk for Windows NT serial number in the serial number field.
If you have installed an evaluation version and do not enter a valid serial number before the eleventh day after installation, COPSTalk will not continue to run. You may update the serial number at any time to change the evaluation version into a fully-licensed version, even after the evaluation period has expired.
COPSTalk for Windows NT is licensed for use on a single computer (except in the case of site licenses; contact COPS Sales for details). COPSTalk registers itself on your AppleTalk network when it starts up, and if it detects that there is another machine using the same serial on your network, it will cease to function until a unique serial number is entered via the COPSTalk for Windows NT Utility.
Should you encounter problems with COPSTalk for Windows NT that are not covered in this userís guide, please check our web site at http://www.copstalk.com/support; itís possible that we have already encountered the problem and have posted suggestions for solutions or workarounds. If not, please feel free to contact our support department. You can e-mail questions and suggestions to support@copstalk.com, or you may contact us by phone at 770-840-0810 (9am to 6pm Eastern Time), or via fax at 770-448-7821.
Before installing COPSTalk for Windows NT, ensure that the AppleTalk protocol is installed on your PC. To do this on a Windows NT Workstation machine, open the Windows NT Control Panel, double-click the Network icon, and click on the Protocols tab. If AppleTalk Protocol is listed, the AppleTalk Protocol is installed, so you can click the Cancel button to close the Network Control Panel. If AppleTalk Protocol is not listed, click the Add button, and select AppleTalk Protocol from the list of protocols available. Click OK, then OK again to close the Network Control Panel.
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To install COPSTalk, simply run the SETUP.EXE program on your COPSTalk for Windows NT floppy disk or that you downloaded from our web site. The installer will prompt you for your user name and organization, as well as your COPSTalk serial number. If you are installing COPSTalk as an evaluation version, use the "DEMO40000000" default serial number. If you have purchased COPSTalk, enter the serial number on your floppy disk or that you received from COPS. All necessary files will be copied to your computer, and all registry entries should be made automatically. It will be necessary to restart your computer after installing COPSTalk before you will be able to access AppleShare servers.
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After installing COPSTalk for Windows NT and restarting your computer, you should be able to connect to AFP servers. To connect to a server, double-click on the Network Neighborhood icon on the Windows NT desktop, then double-click the Entire Network icon, then double-click on AppleTalk Network. You should see a list of the AppleTalk Zones on your network, or a single item if your network does not have any zones configured.
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Double-click on the zone icon for the zone that contains the server you want to connect to. You'll be presented with an AppleTalk login dialog that will ask you for your User Name and Password for that server. Enter the user name and password, then click OK. If you want COPSTalk for Windows NT to remember and store your user name and password for future logins, click on the "Remember User Name and Password" check box. To log in as a guest, simply enter "guest" in the user name field and leave the password field blank.
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If your user name and password are accepted by the server, you will then see icons for each of the volumes on the server. You can then double-click on a server volume to browse the contents of the server volume just as if it were a hard drive directly connected to your computer. You may also click on the volume icon with the right mouse button and select "Map Network Drive" from the context menu that appears to associate a drive letter (e.g., drive F:) with the server volume. Many applications perform better when accessing files from network volumes if the volumes are mapped as a drive letter.
If you receive an error message stating that the user name and password you have entered are incorrect, double-check the spelling and capitalization of your user name and password and try again. If the login still fails, check with the administrator of the server you're trying to access to confirm that the user name and password are configured on the server. If the problem persists, please contact COPS' support.
Apple Computer's AppleShare IP 5.x and AppleShare IP 6.x servers allow users to access the server via the Internet using TCP/IP. This allows a user with an Internet connection to connect to a properly configured AppleShare IP Server anywhere in the world if it is also connected to the Internet. Also, Open Door Networks' ShareWayIP products extend this ability to any Mac-based AFP server.
COPSTalk for Windows NT fully supports AppleShare IP Servers and ShareWay IP servers, including remote servers. If you use COPSTalk for Windows NT to connect to an AppleShare IP server on the same AppleTalk network or internetwork as your Windows NT machine, COPSTalk will automatically switch to TCP/IP once the connection is established (provided that the TCP/IP protocol is installed and configured correctly on your Windows NT machine). To connect to AppleShare IP servers at a remote location via the Internet, or to connect to any ShareWay IP server whether local or remote, you must first tell COPSTalk how to find the server. This is done using the AppleShare IP Host Editor application, which is installed in the COPSTalk program group. To configure a server, launch the AppleShare IP Host Editor, click on the "Add" button, enter a descriptive name for the server in the "Display Name" field, then enter the host name (e.g., "afp.copstalk.com") or IP address (e.g. "207.48.231.3") of the server you want to connect to in the "Host Name or IP Address" field, then click OK. The ASIP Host Editor will attempt to resolve the name to an IP address, and will confirm that the address exists. If the server's host name cannot be resolved or the IP address cannot be reached, the ASIP Host Editor will warn you but allow you to add the server anyway. You may also enter any brief comment describing the server in the Comment field.
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Once the server has been added via the ASIP Host Editor, you may access the server by opening the Network Neighborhood window, double-clicking on Entire Network, then double-clicking on AppleTalk Network, then double-clicking on the AppleShare IP Hosts item and finally double-clicking on the server's icon.
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NB: You must be connected to the Internet in order to connect to an AppleShare IP server at a remote site. If you're using a dial-up Internet connection, establish the Internet connection before attempting to connect to a remote AppleShare IP server.
COPSTalk for Windows NT includes a utility program that is added to the COPSTalk program group by the installer. This utility allows you to view and edit your COPSTalk serial number, and to obtain information about the version number of the COPSTalk for Windows NT component files and certain Windows NT system items. This information may be of importance in troubleshooting problems with COPSTalk for Windows NT.
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The COPSTalk for Windows NT installation program also creates an uninstall program that can be used to remove COPSTalk for Windows NT, should you elect to discontinue or suspend using COPSTalk for Windows NT. You can access this utilty from the COPSTalk item on the Programs menu.
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COPSTalk connects to AppleTalk Filing Protocol (AFP) Servers. This includes Macs running Personal File Sharing, Macs running any version of AppleShare Server, inlcuding AppleShare IP 5.x and 6.x, and various third-party AFP servers running on UNIX systems.
A server is a computer or other device that provides access to files and services from clients on a network. Servers may be dedicated devices or software running in a workstation allowing sharing of its files.
A server may publish its files as one or more volumes; normally, the entire disk is a volume.
Users are those allowed to use a particular server, they are assigned passwords and rights (privileges) to files, folders/directories and volumes. Users may be placed into groups and privileges may be assigned to the group.
Different platforms use various terms for the file structure. The two most common are Macintosh with its folders and DOS/Windows with directories. For all practical purposes, they are the same.
AFP provides for many levels of access privileges. For instance, you have privileges to view the contents of a directory/folder, but not read or write files. You may be able to write to a directory/folder but not see its contents. These privileges are established by the owner or administrator of the folder or directory.
AFP servers may be configured to limit certain file/folder activity. Normally you have complete access to all folders. The table below lists the possibilities.
See all files and folders and make changes
See all files and folders and NO changes
See folders only and make changes
See folders only and NO changes
See files only and make changes
See files only and NO changes
Make changes only
No privileges
There may be additional information including comments associated with a file; COPSTalk will display this information.
The Macintosh uses type and creator codes to identify the type of data in a file and to associate a file with a particular application. This is analogous to the extension of a DOS/Windows file, where these two functions are combined.
Macintosh computers use their own unique scheme for managing the information in a file. Macintosh files contain two components, a data fork and a resource fork. The data fork contains information about the file that both Macs and PCs can access, information about the actual contents of the file. The resource fork contains information that is only usable for a Macintosh; this includes application code, icons, dialog boxes, menus, etc. When a Macintosh file is copied to your PC through COPSTalk or any other method, the information in the resource fork is lost.
Fortunately, losing the information in the resource fork does not prevent the PC user from accessing the contents of most files. In fact, to facilitate cross-platform use, many common applications (QuarkXPress, for example) do not store any information in the resource fork. There are, however, some cases where the differing filing conventions of PCs and Macintoshes mean that you cannot access crucial information. One example is the composition of a Macintosh font ñ all of the font data is contained in the resource fork, and there is no data fork. Macintosh applications, control panels, extensions, desk accessories, etc. are also composed mostly or entirely of information in the resource fork, there is little or no information in the data fork. This is evident when you copy a large Mac file to your PC and it is listed with Zero bytes or less than indicated on the Mac. These types of files cannot be copied to the PC and back to the Mac without losing critical information.
In practical terms, you can copy any file from an AFP server, usually a Mac, and use it ñ applications permitting ñ in Windows or DOS. Many applications provide transparent file conversions; popular programs such as Microsoft Excel and Word, Adobe PageMaker, Adobe Illustrator, QuarkXPress, Claris FileMaker, Word Perfect for DOS, Windows and Macintosh, etc. provide automatic file conversions.
User-level access control allows the user to log on once with one user name and one password to gain access to multiple servers. Share-level access control requires the user to provide a name and password each time the user attempts to connect to a server. Macintosh networking convention mandates share-level access.
Each time you attempt to log on to a Macintosh acting as a file server, you will be prompted to provide a user name and a password. If the Macintosh has guest access enabled, you can log on as a guest, but you will still see a user name and password prompt each time you log on.
Windows NT networking convention, on the other hand, expects that there will be a single user name for all network resources (though the passwords for each may be different). PC users who are accustomed to the user-level networking features of Windows 95 and Windows NT may be frustrated by having to remember distinct user names and passwords for each Macintosh server. For this reason, we encourage network administrators to configure their Macintoshes with the end userís convenience in mind. In many environments, security considerations preclude the administrator from offering guest access to all of the networked Macintoshes. However, if the administrator takes advantage of the Users and Groups control panel on the Macintosh side, each PC user need only remember one unique user name and password, even if he must use it for each logon.
While the range of legal characters in file names on both platforms is quite large, there are differences in the mapping of ASCII values to printable characters between the platforms.
A common instance is the bullet character on the Mac ("ï"), which is fairly popular for use in file names, and is created by typing option-8 on the Mac. This character is displayed differently by Windows NT.
From the point of view of each operating system, the file names are identical. The names are merely being displayed differently because of differences in the character sets across the platforms. When there is an apparent difference in file names as a result of a difference in the character sets on the two machines, no change is made to the file name when it is copied in either direction.
Both the Macintosh and Windows NT reserve certain characters for system functions and do not allow these characters to be used in file names. On the Mac, for instance, the colon (":") cannot be used, since it is used internally in specifying file paths as a delimiter between folder names. A larger range of characters is reserved on the PC: the characters
\ / : * ? " < > |
cannot be used in file names.
The AFP client software in COPSTalk makes every effort to maintain file names across both platforms, and in general the names will be preserved when browsing and copying. However, the limitations imposed by each platform do have a number of implications for viewing and copying files between Windows NT and the Mac. For instance, Mac users are accustomed to being able to use slashes in file names, which are of course still illegal in Windows file names, even under Windows NT.
When you attempt to copy a file from a Mac or other AFP server to the PC that contains a character in its name that is invalid for use in a DOS/Windows file name, COPSTalk relies on the server to provide a version of the file name that is valid for DOS/Windows.
All AFP-compliant servers provide a mechanism for supplying truncated file names to clients that cannot use the Macintosh file naming conventions. Generally, the AFP server provides a name that is a shortened version of the name, with a unique character at the beginning to indicate that the name has been truncated, and any characters that are not legal on the client machine removed or converted to other characters.
The exact algorithm for truncating names and removing illegal characters is, however, up to the designers of the AFP server, and some do a better job than others of providing short names that bear some relationship to the original name.
In the case of one type of AFP server, the algorithm works along these lines (the Macintosh name is shown on the left, the AFP short name on the right):
If the short name and the long name are not identical, the first character becomes a "!".
Generic Contract=!GENERIC.CO
If there is a space in the name, the AFP server will usually replace it with a "_";
CAR Proposal=!CAR_PRO.POS
If the name is longer than 8 characters, the first 8 are shown and then the truncation algorithm takes over.
COPS AppleTalk Agreement=!COPS_AP.PLE
Most importantly, if the name contains illegal characters, they are converted to underscores or omitted.
My Memo 1/1/96=My_memo.11
Remember: the truncated or modified version of the file name is provided by the server youíre connected to ñ not by COPSTalk.
If you try to copy a file from a Windows NT machine to an AFP server and the name contains a character that isnít valid for a Macintosh file name, the Windows NT MS-DOS short file name will be used to create the file on the server.
If you attempt to save a document to a different file format but with the same document name to the same directory location from certain Microsoft Office applications, the save attempt may fail. Specifically, COPS has observed this behavior with Microsoft Excel 97 when attempting to save a document in Excel 97 format to a document with the same name in the same location, but in Excel 5.0 format. This problem does not occur when the file is saved to a different directory, or under a different name.
When this occurs, the document is saved as a new document with a numeric file name, and you will be able to close the original document, open the new temporary file, and save it using the desired name.
The ability to save the server user name and password appears to fail with some UNIX-based servers. Specifically, we have had multiple reports of problems with certain netatalk servers. Users have reported that they have successfully logged onto the server and selected the "save user name and password" option, but when their machines are restarted, they are presented with the server login dialog again.
While this problem has only been reported on UNIX-based servers running netatalk, it is possible that the same problem may occur with other servers as well. If you encounter such a problem, please contact COPS with details about the server.
Because the components that make up COPSTalk for Windows NT start automatically when the computer is started, it is possible for persistent connections (i.e., servers for which you have mapped volumes and selected the "reconnect at logon" check box) to be restored before COPSTalk is able to perform its duplicate serial number check. If you have persistent connections and are using the same serial number as someone else on your network, these connections will be successfully established at startup, but will be unavailable after the serial number check is performed and the duplicate serial number is detected. Typically, this will be within ten to fifteen seconds after the persistent connections are restored, but in extreme circumstances it might take slightly longer. Therefore, it is theoretically possible (though extremely unlikely) that a user might open a file from the server volume or begin a file transfer before the connection is broken, and then be unable to save changes or complete the file transfer operation.
One user has reported that when running Windows NT on a PowerMac using Connectixís VirtualPC software emulator, COPSTalk appears to hang after logging in when attempting to browse directories on the server. COPS has been unable to test this configuration, and use of COPSTalk on systems running VirtualPC may not be possible.