Oh my, where to begin. My name is Jon and I'm a Novell addict. I first became interested in Novell software around 2003 or so, when in third grade, my class was taken to the computer lab. What an experience it was! All custom built AT style PCs (which I later found out were scattered throughout our entire school, I bet the tech coordinator had her hands busy!), running Windows 98 SE. My prior experience with computers in a school environment were in a different district, which exclusively ran Macs (and I was not interested in them). These were different though, every computer had the same "Novell Login" prompt. My curiosity only grew after I logged in, when I discovered an odd window coming up after logging in: not the Windows desktop (well, yes, the desktop, but not JUST that), but a red, yellow, and white box that you former (or current?) ZEN admins will never be able to scrape from your brains labeled "Novell ZENworks 6.5 Desktop Management".

That weekend, when I traveled to my grandparents (where I had unrestricted computer access), I began reading up on what Novell was. I registered for their Downloads site, making up some info, and began poking around at what they had to offer. Unfortunately, not having much tech expertise beyond filling out a web form and browsing their cool-as-hell website, I wasn't able to do much. Although later on, I began downloading evaluation copies of software like ZENworks 6.5 (which just the 600MB ISO for Desktop Management took >2 hours to download on their 1MB/256k cable connection) and GroupWise 6.5. Alas, I couldn't install them as I had no hardware to run NetWare on (and had no clue what NetWare was, or how to obtain licenses for it, or really much of anything for that matter).

As I got older and grew up a little, I began learning more about computer hardware, software, tech in general, networking, etc. and decided it was time to really deep-dive into what Novell had to offer and see if I could emulate the configuration I had in my past. I was able to download the ZIP files from Novell's download portal (using those same creds from back in 2003) to get an evaluation of ZENworks 6.5 and found some torrents for various NetWare versions. It took some time to get comfortable with the NetWare console, so I ended up running eDirectory on Windows Server 2003 instead. Learned some valuable information about how you can't run both AD and NetWare on the same server without changing eDirectory's ports around. I also managed to get ZENworks for Desktops running properly-ish. I wasn't knowledgeable enough back then to keep things secure, and opted instead to move to an Active Directory/Exchange 2003 environment. Had that running on the public internet for about 2-3 months before someone compromised that server and I had to wipe and reload.

Fast forward to around 2015, I had a temp job at the USPS that provided me a lot of money in exchange for my will to live. Having saved some cash for the 3 months I worked there, I happened to get on eBay early one morning and found some deals: a CD case of late 90s-early 2000s Novell software, and another auction of "random Novell stuff". I had no idea what kind of jackpot I had stumbled upon. When the boxes arrived, I was delighted to discover a near-complete archive of 2005's Novell download site. Software Evaluation CDs from 2005-2006 for tons of different software, patch CDs, NetWare install CDs, OES install CDs, and some Professional Resource CDs containing tons of files from Novell's "Cool Solutions" web site, TIDs, product notes, message board archives, and more. I began running NetWare 6.5 on an old HP server I had and got GroupWise 6.5 running, ZENworks 6.5 Desktop Management, and somehow managed to get everything cobbled together where the server didn't ABEND every five minutes.

As I got older, I began to collect more and more Novell stuff (both online from various websites and eBay auctions, mostly), including a new-in-box copy of Novell GroupWise 6.5, a barely-used copy of NetWare 3.12, a new OEM copy of NetWare 4.11, and a ton of non-Novell stuff from an MSP I used to work for. As my previous living situation made it difficult to take proper care of the (probably now lost to time) Novell software I had come upon, I recently found myself wanting/needing to archive my library of software so that I 1) won't lose any of it to disc rot, 2) won't lose any data because of disc scratches, and 3) will have fast available copies of my library so I won't need to wreck my home looking for missing discs. I'm still in the process of archiving media and putting it on this page. I hope you'll get some use out of it as I have.

Legal disclaimer: The media made available on this website has been sold to me from a variety of different sources. I am not the manufacturer of this software, and am not it's legal owner, this website is only a mirror. I make no warranty or claim of usability for any of the data found on this website, and any and all media has been archived solely for the purpose of making sure that the general public has access to this data (as it was at one point available but most of this data was not archived). As most of this software is nearing 20 years old (or more), I consider it "abandonware", meaning it has been abandoned by it's manufacturer and is no longer available for sale or download from any legitimate sources. While the term "abandonware" has no context in copyright law, I declare that any and all copyrighted software remains the legal property of it's respective manufacturers (in this case, most likely Novell, Inc. (now a part of the Attachmate Group (now a part of Micro Focus (now a part of OpenText))) or Microsoft). If any copyright holder takes issue with any and all software published on this website, please produce legitimate documentation indicating your legal ownership of the copyright and links to exactly what software, if any, is infringing upon your copyright, and email it to our webmaster email address, and we will work with you to address any issues you may have. Please note, however, that the data made available here is solely for research and "software archaeology", and is not intended for use in any production environment unless proper licensing in such an environment has been purchased from the software manufacturer.