I have a small home network with 3 computers running XP Home via a switch.
Under SP1 this network ran without a hitch for nearly 2 years - solid as a
rock. Since SP2 has been installed on all 3 PC's I have been experiencing
browser problems.. SP2 or just bad luck ? (no other changes to the PC's have
been made) Anyone got any ideas or had similar problems ?
The rule of thumb for browsers is to have 1 browser (computer with the service
running) for every 6 computers (minimum). For a three computer domain
(workgroup), 2 browsers is recommended (the master browser, and one backup
browser). Generally, browser problems caused by rollout of XP SP2 are related
to the Windows Firewall blocking file sharing datagrams.
If you enable the File and Printer Sharing exception on all WF, ensure that you
have 2 computers running the browser service, then shutdown all computers, when
you restart one computer should be elected the master browser, and all three
computers should know which one that is, simultaneously.
The Microsoft Browstat program will show us what browsers 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.
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>
