XP Professional

What happens if you turn the firewall off for a while?

Same thing! I have tried it, even on all machines involved. I can not see any shared folders or PC's, except for the win 2k machines. Nt and '98, are nowhere to be found. They are all on the same network to.

The NT Server isnt running a domain? You're using workgroups? Have you tried typing "nbtstat -a OTHERCOMPUTERNAME" from the DOS prompt?

Go to the properties of the Local Area Connection on the XP box and modify the properties of "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)".  Select "Advanced" and go to the "WINS" tab.  The "NetBIOS" setting should be selected as "Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP".  If not, you won't be able to browse for non-2k/XP machines.

visioneer is correct. XP does not enable Netbios by default.
In the WINS tab, you have 3 options - Default, Enable, Disable.
You  must set it for ENable vs Default

Here's my standard information package regarding networking XP.

Some information networking XP to non-XP. XP has a whole new setup and must be adjusted to be backward compatible.

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Differences between Windows XP Home and Professional
http://www.wown.info/j_helmig/wxpdifs.htm

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First and formost, make sure there is no firewall software running! XP has built in PFW.Turn off the Internet Connection Firewall ICF in the advanced settings for the Lan Connection. Check for Norton Internet Security AV/Firewall, BlackIce, ZoneAlarm, PC-cillin (yes, some AV products have built-in firewall), VPN cliet (Raptor Mobile, Cisco VPN), et al.
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Next, check your XP networking setup:
http://support.chartermi.net/support/pipeline/windows/winxp_network.html
Although this link says to set netbios over tcp/ip to "default", follow the instructions below...
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Turn on "Simple file sharing" on the XP (Pro only) machine. Open explorer, click tools, click folder options, click the view tab and scroll down until you see "Use simple file sharing" then check the box..
For complete explanation, see here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;304040

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For the duration of testing, enable the Guest account on XP. If all works, you can deal with that issue later (username/passwords for everyone on every PC)
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Client for Microsoft Networks needs to be the primary network logon for all other machines

http://www.wown.com/j_helmig/wxpwin9x.htm
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All machines are in the same workgroup
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Enable NetBios over TCP/IP in WIndows XP
Step 1: Turn On NetBIOS over TCP/IP
Click Start, click Control Panel, and then click Network and Internet Connections.
Click Network Connections.
Right-click Local Area Connection, and then click Properties.
Click Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), and then click Properties.
Click the General tab, and then click Advanced.
Click the WINS tab.
Under NetBIOS setting, click Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP, and then click OK two times.
Click Close to close the Local Area Connection Properties dialog box.
Close the Network Connections window.

Step 2: Start the Computer Browser Service
Click Start, right-click My Computer, and then click Manage.
In the console tree, expand Services and Applications.
Click Services.
In the right details pane, verify that the Computer Browser service is started, right-click Computer Browser, and then click Start.
Close the Computer Management window.
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Windows XP (at least PRO) defaults a setting in Local Security Settings to something very unhelpful.
If all this does not solve your problem, check Local Security Settings, Network access: Sharing and security model for local accounts.  This may be set to (default) Guest only - local users authenticate as Guest.  Change this to Classic: local users authenticate as themselves.

Now you may disable the Guest account as recommended for improved security (for the XP box).  Without this set properly nothing will work for XP!


REFERENCES:

http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/article04-108

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;318030
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;314366
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;315267
http://www.practicallynetworked.com/sharing/troubleshoot/slowbrowse02.htm
http://www.michna.com/kb/WxNetwork.htm

Troubleshooting:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/home/using/productdoc/en/default.asp?url=/windowsxp/home/using/productdoc/en/sag_TCPIP_pro_PingConnect.asp
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=169790
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q308007

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BONUS TIP#1:

Speed up your browsing of Windows 2000 & XP machines AND Speed up viewing shared files across a network

Here's a great tip to speed up your browsing of Windows 2000 & XP machines.
Its actually a fix to a bug installed as default in Windows 2000 that scans shared files for Scheduled Tasks.
And it turns out that you can experience a delay as long as 30 seconds when you try to view shared files across a network because
Windows 2000 is using the extra time to search the remote computer for any Scheduled Tasks.
Note that though the fix is originally intended for only those affected, Windows 2000 users will experience
that the actual browsing speed of both the Internet & Windows Explorers improve significantly after applying it
since it doesn't search for Scheduled Tasks anymore.
Here's how :

Open up the Registry and go to :

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Explorer/RemoteComputer/NameSpace

Under that branch, select the key :{D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF} and delete it.

This is key that instructs Windows to search for Scheduled Tasks.
If you like you may want to export the exact branch so that you can restore the key if necessary.

This fix is so effective that it doesn't require a reboot and you can almost immediately determine yourself how much it speeds up your browsing processes.

If you like you may want to export the exact branch so that you can restore the key if necessary.
This fix is so effective that it doesn't require a reboot and you can almost immediately determine
yourself how much it speeds up your browsing processes.


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BONUS TIP#2

Windows XP automatically searches the network for shares and printers upon connecting to the network. This is probably useful in a SOHO or home network but not the enterprise. To disable XP automatic discovery:
In Explorer, click Tools
Click Folder Options
Click the View tab,
Uncheck Automatically Search for Network Folders and Printers in Advanced settings list.
 
It is important to disable this setting in Windows XP because it is the basis of a seriouse security flaw in XP. When you click My Network Places, your logon password may be transmitted automatically to numerous unspecified computers on the LAN. Windows XP tries to acquire the shared resources list of all computers on the LAN. At that time, the users local logon password is used when the password for the shared resource is not known. Your PC transmits the LMhash version of you password.

If there are NT4.0 or any other pre-Windows 2000 PCs on the LAN, XP will transmit your password to the pre-Windows 2000 PCs during its share and print search. It transmits the LM hash which is significantly weaker than XP or Windows 2000 hashes. In order to protect the LM hash, XP has a registry value HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa\NoLMHash which if set to 1 will prevent XP or Windows 2000 from generating the LM hash. pwdump will not be able to acquire the LM hash, which is a good thing.


http://is-it-true.org/nt/xp/atips/atips23.shtml
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Network troubleshooting

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Hidden in Windows XP's System Information utility is a very good tool for getting a lot more information about what's going on. Go to Start | All Programs | Accessories | System Tools | System Information. Then choose Net Diagnostics from the Tools menu. The program will ping your DNS servers, gateways, SMTP and POP3 mail servers, and proxies; test your modem and network adapters; and supply very detailed reports about your settings, as well as which tests passed and which failed.
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O_o

You simply need DNS for XP name resolution. Simply install DNS on the server and put the server's IP address as the primary DNS on the XP machines. You should do this for 2k also. For internet name resolution, add a redirector in the DNS server properties to your provider's DNS server or put it as the second DNS in XP and 2K.

Luc

Its not that simple.. u see, I have 5 Ip addresses from my ISP.. each one of these nodes uses the ISP's DNS server... So ..If I installed a dns server.. wouldn't I have somewhat of a conflict?.........Oh and it was mentioned earlier that I was running a workgroup.. The win 98 machines have no other choice but work group, The nT server is the pdc.. but the win2k machine will not join the domain, but they will join the workgroup!.. I do have the xp node seeing the server, the win2k machine, and nothing else not even the shared printers.. I haven't the foggiest as to how I got it to see the server. I do have another server on a different network with shared folders and printers, which I can see from everything except the XP.. I am trying everyhting here people, and I thank you for being patient with me.

Rick