Can't see Win95/98 machines in workgroup

[Guest]

I have a bunch of problems with a workgroup network. There is a Novell 4.11 server and all the machines have IPX/SPX loaded in order to talk to it. All the machines are connected via a 3com ethernet switch. There is a router attached to that switch for connection to the internet. All the machines have TCP/IP loaded, and all the Win2000 machines have NetBios over TCP/IP enabled. There is no DHCP server: all IP addresses are fixed. All machines have the same workgroup name. There is no domain controller. The DNS server is external, public DNS server. Different machines use different DNS servers.

Some of the Win2000 machines cannot see the Win98 or Win95 machines that have shared resources (typically printers). One of the Win2000 machines can only see other Win2000 machines. Some of the Win98SE machines can't see other Win95 or Win98 machines. If you search for the other computer by name, you can usually (but not always) find it. Trying to add a printer usually fails if you search for the computer/printer.

This sounds like a master browser kind of problem to me but I have played will all kinds of settings and can't find anything that helps.

Any suggestions on what I should be checking?

Thanks

 

[Michael Johnston [MSFT]]

It sounds like you may have multiple master browsers on the network. Stop the computer browser service all but two of the
Windows 2000 machines. On the Win9x machines, open the properties of File and Printer Sharing from the properties of network
neighborhood. Disable the option to for Browse Master. Wait about 30 minutes and see if the list behaves itself.

Thank you,
Mike Johnston
Microsoft Network Support
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[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

In addition to the other reply, are you using WINS? You should, rather than
relying on broadcast for the W9x PCs -

 

[KRGrantham]

We're not using WINS that I know of, unless that's a
service that the Novell server is providing. We have no
Windows servers on the network. We are also not using DHCP
(our router is provided by the ISP who does not enable
that for some reason known only to them). Our Novell
server is old enough that it doesn't fully support IP (or
I would remove IPX from the network altogether).

Could some of the problem be caused by having more than
one protocol?

Thanks