inbound connection limit and rebooting error

[Boneless]

I'm running XP pro SP1 on my server and appears to have hit the inbound connection limit of 10. Does SP2 add more connections, or do I have to switch to server 2003 now?

I have a separate issue where a workstation would reboot when trying to run video like from MSNBC.

[glc]

Nope - 10 connections is a hard limit on all non-server M$ operating systems.

[Boneless]

For using licensed workstations, can xp pro work or is there a certain way to buy a license for server 2003?

[glc]

Server 2003 is not XP. You have to buy the media and licenses and install it clean. You will need a license for each client, those can get costly. The server comes with 5, and you can buy 5 packs.

[Boneless]

So I would need to have a workstation OS and also buy a CAL?

[glc]

Well, you don't put a workstation OS on the server. Yes, you need a CAL on the server for every connection. Welcome to the cost of doing business.

[Boneless]

Ok, let me see if I got this right. Windows server 2003 for my file server, and Win XPpro should be fine for the workstations. However, I need CAL's for all my inbound connections and those are entered on the server and not from the workstations? Or are these entered from the workstations? Is a CAL like a license key when you first install an OS? Thanks for the help

[Boneless]

Also, is there a way to check in win xp to see who/where the inbound connections are?

[glc]

Yes, you install the CALs on the server.

[Boneless]

Would Win2000 server be an acceptable solution to my problem? I only need a file server and I expect the server to maybe last 3 yrs since my workstations are already 3yrs old. At this point I'm not prepared to purchase a server and about 11 CAL's. I already put the hardware together for my server without knowing about the 10 user limit in XP and would hate to purchase a new server system with win2003

[mairving]

It would be a solution. You would still need to have CAL's. The cheapest MS way to go would be to get Small Business Server. Cheaper still would be to install Linux/BSD and use Samba for file sharing.

[Boneless]

I entered "net sess" on my server command prompt and saw that one of my computers has two connections to my server. Altogether I have 9 comps which includes my server so I figure I should have at least 1 more connection, maybe 2 to the server. However I still get the "too many user" error on one comp meaning that only 8 of the comps can see the server including itself. How can I figure what the two connections are to maybe close one one so my 9th comp can access the server?