All, Yay... DEC's rigidness in how things Should Be Done did not disappoint me again... the DS300 was in password protection mode. I cleared it with the usual procedure, and am now able to configure it... which is almost as painless as it was with the DS200's I have ! (*just with TCP/IP added ;-) *) Thanks to all who have helped/responded! Now, back to the usual political BS we read here.. --fred