Cannot browse workgroup after SP2 upgrade...

[Ben]

I have a home peer-to-peer workgroup that has worked fine
for a year. Two desktops (XP Pro)and one laptop (XP
Home). Using static IP, not DHCP.

Then I installed SP2, and can no longer browse the
workgroup or access shared files. NetBios over TCP is
enabled and the Computer Browser Service is started.

Since I'm not using DHCP, I can hit the Internet via a
Linksys router just fine. Can't browse the workgroup
under 'entire network', or 'view network computers', get
error:

"<workgroup> is not accessible. You might not have
permission to use this network resource. Contact the
administrator of this server to find out if you have
access permissions. The account is not authorized to log
in from this station."

Cannot browse to a shared printer on the 2nd desktop but
was able to delete/reinstall the printer by specifying the
network name & sharename of the printer,
it "\\Connie\Brother". I disabled the firewall on all 3
machines, didn't help. Disconnected the router, no effect.

Can anybody help? Thanks in Advance!

 

[Pete Brumberg]

Have you had any luck with this problem? I have the same situation
with a 5 computer setup at work. One thing I was told was to check to
see if your "guest" user account had been turned off. Mine was turned
off - apparently installing SP2 automatically turns off the guest
account. I turned my guest account back on and restarted.
Unfortunately that had no affect in my ability to connect.

Let me add a little bit to this question for anyone else out there who
may be able to help. I installed SP2 while at work on Wednesday
morning, restarted after install and was able to work the remainder of
the day on the workgroup. I took my laptop home that night and the
next morning I could not connect at all to anything in the workgroup
(including printers and any other PC). I had not changed any settings
over night. I tried connecting to the LAN and restarting my PC and
all the others in the network. I'm running XP Pro.

Another PC in the office has XP Home. We installed SP2 on that
machine as well, and it does not seem to be having any problems
connecting.

Thanks for any help.

 

[Hans-Georg Michna]

I have a home peer-to-peer workgroup that has worked fine
for a year. Two desktops (XP Pro)and one laptop (XP
Home). Using static IP, not DHCP.

Then I installed SP2, and can no longer browse the
workgroup or access shared files. NetBios over TCP is
enabled and the Computer Browser Service is started.

Since I'm not using DHCP, I can hit the Internet via a
Linksys router just fine. Can't browse the workgroup
under 'entire network', or 'view network computers', get
error:

"<workgroup> is not accessible. You might not have
permission to use this network resource. Contact the
administrator of this server to find out if you have
access permissions. The account is not authorized to log
in from this station."

Cannot browse to a shared printer on the 2nd desktop but
was able to delete/reinstall the printer by specifying the
network name & sharename of the printer,
it "\\Connie\Brother". I disabled the firewall on all 3
machines, didn't help. Disconnected the router, no effect.

Ben,

please have a look at http://www.michna.com/kb/WxSP2.htm.

Hans-Georg

 

[Ben]

I've got a network at a client site with 100+ pcs and sent
off an email saying 'Don't install SP2!!!'

Being somewhat obsessive, I've spent the weekend on this
thing and come up with the following observations.
1. The problem is BROWSING the network. you can access
shared resources using the path name, ie
\\workstation_name\resource name.
2. You can map shared drives, again by specifying path
directly.
3. I've got a UNIX box running SAMBA, which displays the
Win-doze shares correctly. Haven't tried to copy anything.
4. You've gotta use Static IP on your LAN. DHCP won't
work because SP2 can't browse to the DHCP server.

I've got a case open with MicroSoft, they've escallated
the case to next-level. I'll keep you informed.

Additionally, I've discovered that my wife's Toshiba
laptop video settings are screwed up and can't be
adjusted. Worked just fine prior to SP2...

 

[Ben]

Thanks for the reply, Hans-Georg!

I looked at the 'exceptions' tab, all ports for
File/Printer sharing are checked, and File/Printer sharing
itself is checked. Anyway, the firewalls are (supposedly)
disabled, still can't browse the network.

You do have an interesting page with some good tips...

Regards,
-Ben

 

[Hans-Georg Michna]

Thanks for the reply, Hans-Georg!

I looked at the 'exceptions' tab, all ports for
File/Printer sharing are checked, and File/Printer sharing
itself is checked. Anyway, the firewalls are (supposedly)
disabled, still can't browse the network.

You do have an interesting page with some good tips...

Ben,

thanks. Perhaps you have to check some other potential causes
like Winsock corruption, IP stack repair, things like that. And
particularly the chapters on browsing problems.

Hans-Georg

 

[Derek]

I have the exact same problem. After I install sp2, I can't see no
computer in My Network Places. Net view only shows itself. I have
disable the firewall, but the service is STILL running as suggested.
File and printer sharing is enabled. Computer browser service is
running as well. I can access other computer by searching the
computer by IP. But it won't show in My Network Places. And I can't
even add a printer because I can't browse to it. I have reset my
computer name, my workgroup name as other people tried. None of them
works. Anyone got a solution?

Derek

 

[Hans-Georg Michna]

I have the exact same problem. After I install sp2, I can't see no
computer in My Network Places. Net view only shows itself. I have
disable the firewall, but the service is STILL running as suggested.
File and printer sharing is enabled. Computer browser service is
running as well. I can access other computer by searching the
computer by IP. But it won't show in My Network Places. And I can't
even add a printer because I can't browse to it. I have reset my
computer name, my workgroup name as other people tried. None of them
works. Anyone got a solution?

Derek,

please have a look at http://www.michna.com/kb/WxNetwork.htm and
check the chapters on NetBIOS node type and, if you have non-XP
computers in the network, on enabling NetBIOS over TCP/IP.

I can't be certain, of course, and I don't know why one of these
problems should crop up after installing Service Pack 2, so
perhaps check http://www.michna.com/kb/WxSP2.htm as well.

Hans-Georg

 

[Pete Brumberg]

Ben,

thanks. Perhaps you have to check some other potential causes
like Winsock corruption, IP stack repair, things like that. And
particularly the chapters on browsing problems.

Hans-Georg

Just an update. I was able to get connected to the other PC's on the
workgroup after several troubleshooting emails with an employee from
Microsoft. We discovered I was able to ping all of the other machines
on the network by IP address, but could not ping any by name. To fix
this issue, we created a hosts and lmhosts file in the
windows\system32\drivers\etc folder that mapped the name of each
machine to the appropriate IP address.

We had tried several things prior to this, including creating an
identical user and password on two of the machines, disabling and
re-enabling the guest account, several changes to windows firewall
including turning it off completely. We're still working to determine
the exact problem, but for now I'm mapped to the network. I still
can't browse the network through network neighborhood and gain access
to the workgroup. That is of course the main issue at hand - if I get
any more information I'll repost.

 

[Hans-Georg Michna]

Just an update. I was able to get connected to the other PC's on the
workgroup after several troubleshooting emails with an employee from
Microsoft. We discovered I was able to ping all of the other machines
on the network by IP address, but could not ping any by name. To fix
this issue, we created a hosts and lmhosts file in the
windows\system32\drivers\etc folder that mapped the name of each
machine to the appropriate IP address.

We had tried several things prior to this, including creating an
identical user and password on two of the machines, disabling and
re-enabling the guest account, several changes to windows firewall
including turning it off completely. We're still working to determine
the exact problem, but for now I'm mapped to the network. I still
can't browse the network through network neighborhood and gain access
to the workgroup. That is of course the main issue at hand - if I get
any more information I'll repost.

Pete,

thank you very much for reporting back!

If you need hosts and lmhosts to find the computers by name then
the name resolution was not working. That's a relatively common
problem.

You could check http://www.michna.com/kb/WxSP2.htm and
http://www.michna.com/kb/WxNetwork.htm for solutions to this
particular problem. My first guesses would be NetBIOS over
TCP/IP not enabled, if non-XP computers are present, or NetBIOS
node type mistakenly set to Point-to-Point (Peer-to-Peer). If
you find the time, check these two. You have to rename hosts and
lmhosts first, then reboot.

Hans-Georg

 

[John R Weiss]

NetBEUI!

I've had problems connecting to computers within MS LANs since I started working
on them in 1995. The only "universal antidote" has been installing NetBEUI as
an additional protocol.

After rebuilding my machine after SP2 trashed the RAID 0 array, I had "deja vu
all over again" trying to connect to my LAN (Internet access through the router
was fine). Installed NetBEUI, and problem solved.

There's NO REASON for it, and I have found no admission of this problem from
anyone at MS in 9 years, though I have talked with MANY amateur and professional
net admins who have seen the same problem and used the same solution.

NetBEUI is not installed automatically; you have to find it in one of the
options folders of your XP distribution CD, your old Win2K or NT4 CD, or several
places on line.

 

[Hans-Georg Michna]

NetBEUI!

I've had problems connecting to computers within MS LANs since I started working
on them in 1995. The only "universal antidote" has been installing NetBEUI as
an additional protocol.

After rebuilding my machine after SP2 trashed the RAID 0 array, I had "deja vu
all over again" trying to connect to my LAN (Internet access through the router
was fine). Installed NetBEUI, and problem solved.

There's NO REASON for it, and I have found no admission of this problem from
anyone at MS in 9 years, though I have talked with MANY amateur and professional
net admins who have seen the same problem and used the same solution.

John,

the reason is that NetBEUI is no solution, merely a bad
workaround.

Hans-Georg