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System requirements:
- Microsoft Windows 95/98 or Windows NT® 4.0 with SP6a
- Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.01 or higher
Microsoft has developed extensions for the Windows 95, Windows 98 operating systems and Windows NT 4.0 operating systems that allow those client platforms to take advantage of features provided by the Windows 2000 Active Directory® service. These client extensions were developed for customers who want to deploy Windows 2000 Server in environments running Windows 95, Windows 98 or Windows NT 4.0 workstations and member servers.
Active Directory Features Supported
Windows 95/98-based and Windows NT 4.0-based clients lack many of the features of Windows 2000 Professional that are related to Active Directory. The Active Directory client extension is an upgrade or patch for Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows NT 4.0, which enables the following Active Directory features:
- Active Directory Service Interfaces (ADSI). ADSI allows scripting to Active Directory and provides a common programming API to Active Directory programmers.
- DFS fault tolerance client. This provides access to Windows 2000 distributed file system (DFS) fault tolerant and fail-over file shares specified in Active Directory. In order to benefit from this new functionality the computer object where the Client extension is installed must exist in a Windows 2000 domain.
- Active Directory Windows Address Book (WAB) property pages. These allow users who have permission to change properties on user objects (for example, phone number and address) by means of the user object pages, which can be accessed by clicking the Start menu, and then pointing to Search and For People. This also includes support for display specifiers that allow rendering of new schema elements stored on the user object in Active Directory.
- NTLM version 2 authentication. The client extensions take advantage of the improved authentication features available in NTLM version 2.
Active Directory Features Not Supported
Significant architectural advancements have been made in the Windows 2000 Professional client platform. They deliver functionality that the Active Directory client extensions on Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows NT 4.0 cannot deliver. Users can take advantage of these additional capabilities by upgrading to Windows 2000 Professional. Note that the client extension does not provide the following:
- Kerberos support. The Active Directory client extension does not deliver Kerberos support for Windows 95/98-based and Windows NT 4.0-based clients.
- Group Policy or IntelliMirror support. The Active Directory client extension does not deliver IntelliMirror® management technologies or Windows 2000 Group Policy functionality.
- IPSec or L2TP support. The Active Directory client extension does not deliver advanced virtual private networking (VPN) protocols, like Internet Protocol security (IPSec) or Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol (L2TP).
- SPN or mutual authentication. The Active Directory client extension does not deliver Service Principal Name (SPN) or mutual authentication.
Release Vehicles
- Windows 95/98-based Active Directory client extension is distributed on the Windows 2000 Server CD.
- The final release of the Windows NT 4.0-based Active Directory client extension is available for download from the Microsoft site. Download the release version now: Active Directory Client for Windows NT 4.0 (system requirements: Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 with SP6a; Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.01 or higher).
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