Foolestroupe -

I don't believe Windows requires you to set up the "workgroup" network if there's another network accessible, and even in a pure Windows Workgroup LAN you don't have to use the default workgroup network name, as long as you use the same network name on all the computers that connect to it. I've used several non-default names with Windows setups in the past, although I'm now using the Vista default.

If a network already exists, you only want to join the existing network. Windows should only assign a default network name if you attempt to create a new network with the Windows machine you're working on as the "master machine."

Each of the Windows computers would need to "join" the existing Linux network, which might be as simple as "Browsing" for the Linux network in Windows Explorer at the "Network" branch.

The main difficulty might be that a Windows machine that has had a workgroup set up on it is automatically assigned the fixed address xxx.xxx.xxx.001, and doesn't really have DNS naming authority/capabiity. That machine attempts to decide what address each other machine will have on the workgroup net that it's the "focus" for (server would be an exaggeration) within the group, but it doesn't have real DNS naming capability.

Unfortunately, Microsoft has never given any help on how to "uncreate" a workgroup, at least since Win95 so far as I've found; so I'm not sure how you "unfix" the master workgroup computer address if it's been "locked in" by creation of a Windows workgroup.

You can only have one "Windows workgroup LAN" under the control of one Windows computer. The other Windows computers just find and join. But any Windows computer should be able to join any other existing network, including non-Windows ones, in place of or in addition to the Windows group network, provided that the other network has a suitable "master controller" or server functions to assign each computer an address within the net, and to resolve address conflicts.

The Linux box may have the ability to assign addresses to each Windows machine as each machine joins its network, and if it's only a little more robust than the Windows kind it should be recognized by any Windows machine just by "finding it."

Windows Local Network (workgroup) setup indicates that you can set Fixed Addresses on each machine if necessary on mixed networks, but for a typical Windows Workgroup it's not recommended - primarily I think because you have to manage the address assignments manually for all the computers on the net if you do it for one. It might be necessary for a mixed OS local network, but it's been too long since I've looked at it to offer a script of what needs to be done from memory, or even whether it might need to be done here.

John