I can't see other servers and workstations

Hello,

When i click on 'entire network' and 'Microsoft Windows Network' i can't see
other workstations in our network, sometimes it works, but mostly not. We
have SBS2003 and windows 2000 servers + WindowXP clients.
I think it has something to do with WINS, but i'm not sure.

Please help me out.

Kind regards,

Edward

 

The machines should be domain members and you want to be logged into the
Domain and not logged in "locally" at the workstation,...in other words the
third line of the login prompt must contain the domain name and not the
local machine name.

If all machines are in the same subnet then WINS is not needed, but it is
still a good idea to have WINS running. If the Domain is healthy then DNS
should be fine and all clients should contain that DNS Server in their
network settings either statically or via DHCP.

 

The Microsoft Windows Network display is driven by the computer browser
service, and relies on Netbios names. Are any of the servers (particularly
the SBS2003 which will be the domain master browser) multihomed or enabled
for remote access? Do you see browser election messages in the event log?

 

Bill!

I just discovered that I have a browsing issue here with Win98 machines that
I can't figure out. Suddenly all Win98 clients can no longer see or browse
the network. However manually typing the \\machinename in the address bar
brings up the machine. This is preventing Outlook from finding Exchange on
the Win98 machines since Outlook (except the most recent version) is Netbios
based and requires Netbios to properly find the Exchange Server.

I suspect it is the result of some stupid patch that came to the Servers via
Automatic Updates.

I have redundant, fully functional WINS and DNS Servers. NetBios over
TCP/IP is enabled on the Servers. On the Win98 machine the box is checked
but the whole thing is greyed out (may have always been that way, don't
know).

As I write this I am on hold with MS PSS listening to elevator music.
Chances are you would see this and respond before I get off hold. Do you
have any ideas?

 

The patch mentioned in kb article 238853 took care of it even though the
effected machines were in the same subnet.

--

Phillip Windell [MCP, MVP, CCNA]
www.wandtv.com

 

Glad it's working, but that seems a bit puzzling. Is there a server on the
subnet which acts as the browse master, or is the browse master W9x?

I'm in Sydney, so I am rarely online while you are at work. It's the
middle of the night here!

 

Ah! Ok. Sorry about that. My cousin is in Kenya so I run into that with him
too.

The first domain controller with the PDC "role" is also the master browser
and it in the same subnet as the Win98 client in this case. However after
the "Automatic Updates" (using SUS) brought all the servers up to date with
patches the win98 client would no longer recognise it as the Master Brower.
The packet capture from the client was odd, it was like on one hand it
recognized it as the browser yet tried to become the Browser itself at the
same time,...the packet capture just didn't make much sense. So after the
238853 patch it started working right. The patch was some kind of Win98 SP2
related thing.

 

Thanks. Something to bear in mind!