akafiti
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Computers not showing in My Network Places
I have 5 offices spread out at different locations. All of the locations are tied together using either a Pt-2-Pt T1 or a branch office VPN tunnel. They are all within the same domain.
We recently had our servers upgraded from Windows 2000 to Windows 2008 R2. Now, when I go into My Network Places on my machine (or any machine at location A - the main location where all the servers reside) - I only see the computers located at location A. I used to be able to see all the computers at each office.
My Windows update server does seem to find the other computers as well as my Anti-virus application as well. Can anyone tell me why I can't see these other machines (they are on a different IP subnet (i.e 111.111.120.x and 111.111.125.x)). I would like to be able to account for all the computer names directly through my network places if possible.
We recently had our servers upgraded from Windows 2000 to Windows 2008 R2. Now, when I go into My Network Places on my machine (or any machine at location A - the main location where all the servers reside) - I only see the computers located at location A. I used to be able to see all the computers at each office.
My Windows update server does seem to find the other computers as well as my Anti-virus application as well. Can anyone tell me why I can't see these other machines (they are on a different IP subnet (i.e 111.111.120.x and 111.111.125.x)). I would like to be able to account for all the computer names directly through my network places if possible.
ASKER
E,
That's extremely helpful. I did start the computer browsing service. I then went in and checked the WINS configuration. I guess I'm not sure exactly what to look for in there, but....
looking at the active registrations on the WINS server it IS showing all the PC's i'd expect to see.. however they are still not appearing in my network places... you think it'll just take some time to propogate? Is there something I can do to push them to show?
That's extremely helpful. I did start the computer browsing service. I then went in and checked the WINS configuration. I guess I'm not sure exactly what to look for in there, but....
looking at the active registrations on the WINS server it IS showing all the PC's i'd expect to see.. however they are still not appearing in my network places... you think it'll just take some time to propogate? Is there something I can do to push them to show?
If memory serves, the PCs on each LAN will elect a subnet master browser which will then send the browse list to the domain master browser (which is the PDC). Or at least that's how NT 4 used to do it. It would take a while for everything to fill in because the subnet masters do not transmit browse lists in real time, just periodically. The subnet master browser is elected based on version, so server OS beats desktop OS, and newer Windows version beats older version.
I would guess you'd also have to make sure the Computer Browser service is running on either all PCs or at least whichever box gets elected on each subnet. I believe you'd need to have each PC and especially all your Domain Controllers registering with WINS, and if you have multiple WINS servers then you'd need the approriate push/pull replication configured and you may not see Computers in the browselist until after the WINS replication. Last, PCs would have to have NetBIOS over TCPIP enabled (which they normally would have).
Here is the most recent description of the process I can find, it applies to Windows 2000 but presumably is still good from 2008. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/188001
I would guess you'd also have to make sure the Computer Browser service is running on either all PCs or at least whichever box gets elected on each subnet. I believe you'd need to have each PC and especially all your Domain Controllers registering with WINS, and if you have multiple WINS servers then you'd need the approriate push/pull replication configured and you may not see Computers in the browselist until after the WINS replication. Last, PCs would have to have NetBIOS over TCPIP enabled (which they normally would have).
Here is the most recent description of the process I can find, it applies to Windows 2000 but presumably is still good from 2008. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/188001
ASKER
Well, one of the other locations are now showing in the list.
Still nothing for 3 other locations. Any other ideas? All the computers are showing in Active Directory Users/Computers though.
Still nothing for 3 other locations. Any other ideas? All the computers are showing in Active Directory Users/Computers though.
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ASKER
The tool provided game me what I was looking for.
In a nutshell, you should enable and start the service called Computer Browser on the server holding the PDC FSMO role. The article goes on to describe configuring WINS, which is a deprecated technology.
FYI, browsing has nothing to do with name resolution and the mechanism computers use to locate one another. It's more of a cosmetic thing for people to use.