Cannot browse network

[Guest]

Hi,

I have a Windows based network. 2 domain controllers running Windows 2000
server, several other member servers and about 60 computers running XP and
2000 and OS X.

A few days ago I stopped being able to browse the network by My Network
Places. if I try on a Windows 2000 Domain Controller I get the error message:
<Domain> is not accessible. The list of servers for this workgroup is not
currently available.

I can still access all network servers and computers by using \\servername
etc.

Can anyone offer any advice on how to fix this?

Thanks,

Will

 

[John Wunderlich]

I have a Windows based network. 2 domain controllers running
Windows 2000 server, several other member servers and about 60
computers running XP and 2000 and OS X.

A few days ago I stopped being able to browse the network by My
Network Places. if I try on a Windows 2000 Domain Controller I get
the error message: <Domain> is not accessible. The list of servers
for this workgroup is not currently available.

I can still access all network servers and computers by using
\\servername etc.

Can anyone offer any advice on how to fix this?

Nine times out of ten, this is caused by just one computer on your
network that has a firewall enabled. On a network, a "browse
master" is elected that keeps the list of available servers. That
list is passed out when any computer on the network wishes to browse
the network. The browse master election process is perturbed when a
computer with a firewall insists that it is the only device on the
network (because broadcasts are blocked) and forces itself to become
the browse master; after which it refuses to communicate with other
machines because of its firewall. If you can ferret out which
machine this is and either disable its firewall or stop/disable its
"Computer Browser" service (which isn't useful with a firewall
anyway), then things should return to normal.

For more info:

"Internet firewalls can prevent browsing and file sharing"
<http://support.microsoft.com/kb/298804/en-us>

HTH,
John

 

[Guest]

Hi,

Thanks for your response.

I have checked all Windows PC's on the Lan, and all have the firewall
disabled - i have also disabled the firewall by Group Policy... And still I
can't browse the network.

I also have about 10 Mac's on the Lan - am I right in assuming that they
cant affect the Lan browsing?

Is there anything else I can try?

Thanks in advance,

Will

 

[John Wunderlich]

I have checked all Windows PC's on the Lan, and all have the
firewall disabled - i have also disabled the firewall by Group
Policy... And still I can't browse the network.

I also have about 10 Mac's on the Lan - am I right in assuming
that they cant affect the Lan browsing?

Is there anything else I can try?

Usually the problem isn't with the Windows firewall but with a 3rd
party firewall like ZoneAlarm...

You might try issuing a "browstat elect" command to force a browser
election on the network. Then over the next few minutes, try to
discover a master browser using the "browstat status" or "browstat
getmaster" commands. If one shows up, say "XXX", then issue the
command:
browstat vw <dev> \\XXX 0x40000000
If the command results in a list of local devices, examine the list for
more than one computer with the "MBR" attribute (there should be only
one). If there is more than one, one of them is causing your problem.

I don't believe Macintoshes will affect the browsing unless they have a
Windows networking client installed (Samba?). If you suspect them,
turn them off/disconnect them for a short time.

HTH,
John