Peer to Peer networking.

[smiller]

I am trying to set up several Windows XP Professional
computers on a peer to peer networking that has a variety
of windows environments. Some days they can see
everyone. Other days the can only see xp computers. I
have tried everything. I have tried everything listed in
the Microsoft knowledge base but to no success. Please
Help.

 

[Michael_L]

What protocols are you running on the nework?
Are TCP/IP addresses static or dynamic?
When you lose sight of the other workstations can you
still ping the IP address and the computer name?
You have looked at the knowledge base have you readup on
browser elections and master browsers?
Are any machines running firewalls?
Have you tweaked the services settings on the machines?

I think it would be useful to know which machine is the
masterbrowser when it is working and which machine is the
masterbrower when it it not working. You can discover
this by opening a command prompt and using the nbtstat
command. The format to discover the master browser is
nbtstat -a <IP number>. You'll need to use this on every
IP number on the internal network. One machine should
show msbrowse in the information that is echoed back.
This is the master browser.

In any case it sounds to me like something is interfering
with netbios and or the browse list. Also, make sure that
netbios over TCP/IP is turned on everywhere.

Michael

 

[Michael_L]

I did a little more research and found a knowledge base
article that has an easier way to discover the master
browser using browstat. The article number is 188305.
Let me know if this helps or if you have already been
there.
Michael