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Replace workgroup master browser 2003 with 2008 server

I recently replaced a 2003 server on a WORKGROUP of mostly XP Pro machines with a 2008 R2 Standard server. The old 2003 server was the master browser for the WORKGROUP but the new 2008 server will not take over. I tried forcing an election with BROWSTAT but nothing happens.

The new 2008 server has the same name and same IP address as the old 2003 server. How can I force an election and force the 2008 server to be the master browser? I don't want my users to loose the ability to find this, the only file server, or any other machine on the WORKGROUP.

I have enabled file and print sharing on the 2008 server and turned on the computer browsing service, setting it to 'Automatic' startup.

When I run a BROWSTAT status I get:
"Browsing is NOT active on domain."
"Master name caoont be determined from GetAdapterStatus."

DMTechGrooup

Also, why are you running in workgroup mode vs as a domain and using DNS/WINS?

There are some good tips in these links :

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/winserverPN/thread/2f5e55a9-c579-40e5-b2e7-ed7f8f2441d3/

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb726965.aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb726989.aspx

Davis McCarn

I know you need to enable NetBios on the Wins tab of the advanced TCP/IP properties and this article says you may need to get xactsrv.dll from the installation media or another server:
http://blogs.technet.com/b/networking/archive/2008/12/16/netbios-browsing-and-windows-server-2008-x64-server-core.aspx

joinaunion

Good read here scroll down to Not Active On Domain.
http://networking.nitecruzr.net/2005/05/browstat-utility-from-microsoft.html

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BRIANANDERSON007

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joinaunion

Intresting you mentioned nothing about Linux Nas being involved.Just a little bit of a conflict don't you think?

BRIANANDERSON007

ASKER

Nothing posted here helped. In the end it looks like my workgroup finally held an election on their own, no matter how many times I tried to force them to do it, and my Linux NAS has taken over as the Master Browser. I'm going to just live with this solution as this has already wasted too much of my time. Thanks for the links, but in the end none of them helped fix my problem.