On our work network, we have Win 98se machines and XP Pro machines on a LAN,
and we can't browse the network. when you type in the server name, I.E.
\\server\file we can brose each computer this way. We can ping all
computers from all computers in the network, by both IP address and name.
Mapped network drives work fine.
We also have a server running Win2003.
any solutions?
Check for a browser conflict between the WinXP computers and the Win98
computers. I"m not talking about Internet Explorer here. The browser is the
program that allows any computer to see any other computer on the LAN. The
browsers for WinXP (WinNT/2K/XP) and Win98 (Win95/98/ME) don't work well
together on the same LAN.
You can only run the browser on either Win98 computers or WinXP computers -
don't mix the two. And the browser service is very chatty - so you don't want
too many computers running it. The recommendations (see linked document below)
is 1 browser for every 6 computers.
I'll hope that at least 1/6 of your computers are Windows XP. Pick the correct
number of Windows XP computers that stay online constantly, and designate them
the browsers for the LAN.
Make sure the browser service is running on the browser computers. Control
Panel - Administrative Tools - Services. Verify that the Computer Browser, and
the TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper, services both show with Status = Started. Disable
the browser on the other computers, including all Win98 computers:
http://cms.simons-rock.edu/faq_by_subtopic/node138.html
After checking / disabling / enabling as above, power all computers off to reset
the browser settings on each. Then power the browser computers on, and finally
the other computers on.
The Microsoft Browstat program will show us what browsers (I'm not talking about
Internet Explorer here) you have in your domain / workgroup, at any time.
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=188305
You can download Browstat from either:
<
http://www.dynawell.com/reskit/microsoft/win2000/browstat.zip>
<
http://rescomp.stanford.edu/staff/manual/rcc/tools/browstat.zip>
Browstat is very small (40K), and needs no install. Just unzip the downloaded
file, copy browstat.exe to any folder in the Path, and run it from a command
window, by "browstat status". Make sure all Windows XP computers list the same
master browser.
For more information about the browser subsystem (very intricate), see:
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=188001
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=188305
<
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winntas/deploy/prodspecs/ntbrowse.mspx>
--
Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.
My email is AT DOT
actual address pchuck sonic net.
