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Zaheer IqbalFlag for United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

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Cant Browse Workgroup from Most PCs on the network!!!

Hi

I dont know why and I cant think what has changed but I cannot browse the windows workgroup on our netowrk it says it is not accessible.. I can browse it on my coleagues pc but it only shows about 5 pcs when there is about 100 in that workgroup..
It has to be summat to do with Master Browser setup..
How would i need to set this up on our network..
Thanks..
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Longbow

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Ok well I have solved m ost of the problem using nbtstat and trying to find out which computers were set as master browsers..
So I can now browse the network, but I cant set the correct computer as the master browser each it keeps jumping around..
Ok this is the situation we have Domain called MBRO two server DAISY (Master BRowser) Archie (Backup Browser).. But nobody actually logs into the domain. DAISY is also DHCP.
We have a workgroup called (Middlesbrough), would it be possible that DAISY can handle the browser broadcasts or would I need to set a specifc master browser under this workgroup.
At the moment as I see it is All Windows 2000 Pcs have this set in the registry ISDomianMaster = False or No. MaintainServerList = Auto..  What happens if I change this to No. on PCs in the workgroup aprt from one or two...  Is that what I need to do..
Thanks...
Tell you what...  You said you have a server there.  You can make this really easy on yourself.  Turn on the WINS server service on one of the servers.  Lets assume you use DHCP to provide addresses to everyone.  You will need to turn on options 44 and 46.  Set the WINS server IP option as the IP address of the server running WINS.  Then set the other option to 0x8 (aka H for hybrid).

Now reboot all of the PCs or do a "ipconfig /release" and "ipconfig /renew" in a command window (to release and renew their IP settings).

If you don't use DHCP, just go to each PC and set their WINS server as the server running WINS.

This will make browsing far more stable and eliminate the need to make registry hacks to force who can be and who can't be a master browser.

If you need more direction with WINS, just post back again.

Jeff
Thanks masterbaker..
I always though WINS was dying out...
So how do i go about implementing it. Where u say 0x8 (aka H for hybrid). what does this mean exactly..
Currently we are in Broadcast mode, what is the difference..

Thanks..
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masterbaker
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Ok we do have a domian setup here called MBRO but users dont actually login into to it because there is no need we are a novell house really.
Thanks for the comments...I ll post back soon.
So what are the benefits to me for having WINS...?
Why is being fazed out??
WINS provides a database of machine names and IP addresses.  Hey, that sounds a lot like DNS. :)  Basically Microsoft did what they tend to do, create their own standards.  They fixed that behavior in Win2k and beyond by having Active Directory tie to DNS instead of WINS.  A network running Win2k servers with DNS and Active Directory works great.  Since Windows uses DNS now (hooray for standards), there's no need for WINS.

Lets say you had a network with five different offices connected over WAN links.  In order to browse resources at other sites, your PCs had to know they existed.  WINS was a way to do this.  If everyone registered their machine with a WINS server at their local site, you could have the WINS servers replicate the data to each other so everyone would be able to see everyone.  This was the way to do it back in the Windows NT Server days.  This functionality stuck around for Windows 2000 Servers as some people were not ready to jump on the Active Directory bandwagon.

I used to support an environment with NT4/Win2k domains and Novell NDS.  We used WINS there to allow the machines at different sites to browse resources across the whole network.  I just don't believe you can exist in a workgroup environment without a server running WINS or DNS w/AD without running into problems.  You see all sorts of posts on this site regarding workgroups where some PCs can see others while only some can print, etc.  It is just prone to problems.  

Jeff
Thanks were abouts are u in the world man USA???
Yup, you got it.  I'm on the west coast of the US....  somewhere around 6000 miles away from you.  This Internet thing is pretty nifty, eh?

Thanks for the points and the score.  I hope my comments were helpful.

Jeff
Yeh they were well are you anywhere near HOuston because we have offices in USA New Jersey also..
BULKHAUL LTD.  No probs nice to know you man..