"A Duplicate Name Exists on the Network" error on Client bootup?

Have you done a malware scan on the systems - some virus/trojans can cause this problem

younghv: How would i go about flushing the DNS A records?
Thanks

ipconfig /flushdns

For other OS's:
http://www.tech-faq.com/flush-dns.shtml

I would start by flushing the DNS records as mentioned.  Have you done any imaging in the last few days.  I know with Ghost and several other imaging programs the computers name and SSID may remain the same.  I would try to locate that computer and change the name.  It doesn't sound like you are having an issue with duplicate ip address, so I would hold off looking into that.  

If this is AD, there won't be a SID problem with ghosted/imaged boxes. The unique SID gets created when the box is added to the domain.

The /flushdns command will work from the command line on individual computers, but you can handle your entire Domain from one of your servers.

What kind of Domain are you running?

More details on your setup is always better than less.

Turn the problem PC off for a while.  Then open a command prompt on another PC and type "nbtstat -a <conflictPCname>"  You will get alist of names and look at the status field.  One of the names should be say "conflict" next to it which will tell you which name in particular is conflicting.  You can also use "nbtstat -A <IP>" to get a remote clients name table via IP instead of name.

There are hex numbers next to the names, this dictates what exactly in conflict.  I have a lisrt of HEX codes listed and what they mean below.


00 - The Workstation code is advertised by all NetBIOS hosts however
  will likely not be used by a resolver because all services of interest
  can be found by the more specific codes that follow.

  20 - The File Server code indicates that the target is serving a file
  share, IPC service, Named Pipes, etc. It is the hex code that would
  most commonly be queried for because without the File Server service
  no shares, browse lists, pipes, or otherwise can be accessed.

  1B - Domain Master Browsers (DMB) register this hex code. To retrieve
  a list of hosts of a domain for which the Local Master Browser (LMB)
  is on another subnet a special procedure is necessary. The procedure
  is as follows:
    o Query WINS for the Domain Master Browser (DMB) with a Name Query
      Request for the DOMAIN<1B> name.
    o Retrieve a list of LMBs from the DMB
    o Select an LMB from the returned list and query that LMB for a
      browse list per usual.

  1C - Domain Controllers register the 1C code but do not serve or
  facilitate the resolution of any services that might be addressed by
  an SMB URL. Not to be confused with the 1B or 1D codes.

  1D - Local Master Browsers (LMB) serve the list of hosts that appear
  in Network Neighborhood for a particular subnet. They can be found by
  simply broadcasting a Name Query Request for the DOMAIN<1D> name or
  by enumerating the list of hosts from a browse list.

We had this problem once and reset the switches on the network and the problem went away.

ericcoz -
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