New workstation is not visible in Network Neighborhood

[Steve]

Hi Everyone, I have been struggling with this problem for several weeks. I
have just about exhausted every method I have been able to find on the
Internet to fix this issue.

I am working on a small network of 10 computers. They are all XP Pro machines.
They all belong to workgroup PSI. All computers are using static IP
addressing with
'Enable NETBIOS over TCP/IP' selected. All are using Simple File Sharing.

I recently installed a new Dell Optiplex 745 with a Broadcom NIC that I will
refer to as BACKOFFICE. This computer will not show up in any of the other
workstaion's Network Places view. I can ping the computer by name or IP from
any workstation. I can reach the BACKOFFICE computer by using UNC
(\\backoffice\share) from any workstation.

Because of the way this small business operates it is crucial that one
particular workstation be able to 'see' the BACKOFFICE computer in Network
Places. I refer to this other workstaton as LOWERLEVEL.

LOWERLEVEL cannot see BACKOFFICE in Network Places workgroup view. However,
BACKOFFICE can see LOWERLEVEL.

Here is data I have gathered from the BACKOFFICE computer

Windows IP Configuration
Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : BACKOFFICE
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcast
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcom NetXtreme 57xx Gigabit Controller
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-1A-A0-BF-C8-5D
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.101
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 170.215.255.114 66.133.150.12


browstat status ( with LOWERLEVEL computer powered off)

Status for domain PSI on transport
\Device\NetBT_Tcpip_{F8927E90-2D58-4A1C-9AA0-
185DABFF1B98}
Browsing is NOT active on domain.
Master name cannot be determined from GetAdapterStatus.

browstat status ( with LOWERLEVEL powered on)

Status for domain PSI on transport
\Device\NetBT_Tcpip_{F8927E90-2D58-4A1C-9AA0-185DABFF1B98}
Browsing is active on domain.
Master browser name is: LOWERLEVEL
Could not open key in registry, error = 5 Unable to determine build
of browser master: 5
\\\\LOWERLEVEL . Version:05.01 Flags: 41203 NT MASTER
1 backup servers retrieved from master LOWERLEVEL
\\LOWERLEVEL
There are 5 servers in domain PSI on transport
\Device\NetBT_Tcpip_{F8927E90-2D58-4A1C-9AA0-185DABFF1B98}
There are 2 domains in domain PSI on transport
\Device\NetBT_Tcpip_{F8927E90-2D58-4A1C-9AA0-185DABFF1B98}

Here is the information taken from the LOWERLEVEL computer:

Windows IP Configuration
Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : lowerlevel
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/100 VE Network Connection
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-13-20-3F-E8-A7
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.103
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1


browstat status


Status for domain PSI on transport
\Device\NetBT_Tcpip_{C8EBEAFB-08ED-4D22-8D77-D0F8BF2B2018}
Browsing is active on domain.
Master browser name is: LOWERLEVEL
Master browser is running build 2600
1 backup servers retrieved from master LOWERLEVEL
\\LOWERLEVEL
There are 5 servers in domain PSI on transport
\Device\NetBT_Tcpip_{C8EBEAFB-08ED-4D22-8D77-D0F8BF2B2018}
There are 2 domains in domain PSI on transport
\Device\NetBT_Tcpip_{C8EBEAFB-08ED-4D22-8D77-D0F8BF2B2018}


This is really driving me crazy. I suppose it will turn out to be something
simple but at this point I am going in circles.

If anyone has any ideas I would be very grateful. I would be happy to gather
other any info that would be helpful in solving this.

Thanks verymuch for you consideration,
Steve

 

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

Hi Everyone, I have been struggling with this problem for several
weeks. I have just about exhausted every method I have been able to
find on the Internet to fix this issue.

I am working on a small network of 10 computers. They are all XP Pro
machines. They all belong to workgroup PSI. All computers are using
static IP addressing with
'Enable NETBIOS over TCP/IP' selected. All are using Simple File
Sharing.

I recently installed a new Dell Optiplex 745 with a Broadcom NIC that
I will refer to as BACKOFFICE. This computer will not show up in any
of the other workstaion's Network Places view. I can ping the
computer by name or IP from any workstation. I can reach the
BACKOFFICE computer by using UNC (\\backoffice\share) from any
workstation.

Because of the way this small business operates it is crucial that one
particular workstation be able to 'see' the BACKOFFICE computer in
Network Places. I refer to this other workstaton as LOWERLEVEL.

LOWERLEVEL cannot see BACKOFFICE in Network Places workgroup view.
However, BACKOFFICE can see LOWERLEVEL.

This is really driving me crazy. I suppose it will turn out to be
something simple but at this point I am going in circles.

If anyone has any ideas I would be very grateful. I would be happy to
gather other any info that would be helpful in solving this.

Thanks verymuch for you consideration,
Steve

In a workgroup without a WINS server, browsing can be unreliable. Just make
sure file/printer sharing is enabled, you have the appropriate exceptions in
your Windows firewalls (disable them all temporarily as a test), and reboot
all PCs.

That said, I find it hard to believe that they *need* to browse, esp.in such
a small network. Write a little batch file that maps a drive letter for each
of them & put it in their startup folders. I prefer that to UNC paths (
\\computer\share) anyway as it gives me the flexibility to move things
around behind the scenes - the users just know the drive letters.

 

[Steve]

Thanks for the reply!

Do they really need to see the computer in Network Places? - maybe not from
a purely technical standpoint. But from a simple user standpoint, they do.

In any case, it appears now that the problem is solved. At the onset of the
problem I changed all the computers in the workgroup to 'Enable NetBIOS over
TCPIP' as recommended by several reosurces I found on the Internet.

I have now changed them all back to the default setting and everything works.

This seems to fly in the face of all the stuff I have read that recommends
all the computers in a small workgroup be explicitly set the 'Enable NetBIOS
over TCPIP'

At any rate, things are working and the owner is happy and thats what counts.

Steve