Increase network (file-sharing) speed between win-7 and win98 ?

[Nomen]

I've got a win7 laptop (core i7) with a wifi connection speed that's at least good for 10 mb/sec download (according to speedtest.net).  It has a mapping to a shared folder on a win-98 system.  A file-copy test of a large file from the win-98 to the win-7 system runs at 430 - 440 kbytes/sec.  I try the same test from the 98 system to a win-xp netbook (intel atom) and the file-copy speed is 1754 kbytes/sec.  The XP and 98 systems are hardwired (ethernet) to the lan, while the win-7 system is wifi connected to the lan.  Anything I can do to increase file-copy speed between the win-7 and 98 systems?

 

[Retroid]

So not sure if you made any progress here. Problem is when you inject "WiFi" into the picture, so many variables come into play that it's really hard to give good advice, other than generically to ensure that you don't have lots of competition on your chosen WiFi channel either from neighboring devices or your own devices. Probably best to hook your Windows 7 machine into the LAN and do some tests there, to see if it's Windows 7 to 98SE as the problem or if it's the WiFi that's the problem.

Just as an FYI, in a quick home test I was able to pull from a Windows XP VM running over WiFi a 150MB file from my Windows 98SE share of a USB stick folder (USB 1.1) at 606 Kbytes/sec. The Wireless G hotspot should support theoretical limit of 54 Mbps, which is higher than the limits of USB 1.1 (12 Mbps). However, 606 Kbytes/sec is only 4.7 Mbps, which is well under both of those limits, so I am guessing other performance limiters are the 500MHz Pentium III CPU speed, and probably crummier than average TCP/IP implementation in 98SE. Just out of curiosity, I think I will boot this 98SE laptop into XP and run the same test, just to see what kind of performance difference results.

[Retroid]

So, for the curious, XP to XP file transfer performance over the same physical conditions as the above test of 98SE to XP file transfer performance showed a significant (>50%) boost in performance. That test clocked in at 948 Kbytes/sec (7.4 mbps). That got me closer to the USB 1.1 theoretical limit, but I have a feeling that WiFi latencies are what are holding me back.

If anyone actually still cares and responds to this post, I will perform the same two tests (XP to XP and 98SE to XP transfers) strictly over the wired LAN to see what improvements might be had there.

So, since it seems that the 98SE IP stack is kind of wussy out of the box, would anybody care to point me to a thread about optimizing TCP/IP performance in 98SE? I've long since thrown out all those wonderful articles I used to reference regarding tweaking the MTU settings in the Windows 9x family.

Blessings, all!

[Nomen]

After I posted the original post I did some searching and I think I found a few things to change (although the discussions I found about them really didn't indicate they would really work or be that effective).  Anyways, I just did a re-test.  Same setup as the first post in this thread.  Win-7 laptop (on wifi) was tested (speedtest.net) and was good for the full bandwith of my internet connection (30 mbps down, 5 mbps up).  File-copy (410 mb file) from win-98 to win-7 came in at 413 seconds (1,024,605 bytes / sec).  File-copy (same file) from win-98 to XP was 329 seconds (1,286,206 bytes/sec).  I'm trying to figure out how to get win-7 to see a shared folder on the XP pc so I can repeat the test between win-7 and xp.

[dencorso]

You need:

On 11/21/2017 at 8:20 AM, Vistaboy said:

I would add this one KB922120-v6 to be able to see XP system in W7/8/10 net

On 11/21/2017 at 7:03 PM, dencorso said:

Good suggestion! I agree that one is a useful addition to my shortlist of must-have hotfixes above.
And here's some good info on it (beyond MS's KB922120), at Linksys: KB922120