Refresh LAN view in XP Home?

[Ken Knecht]

Is there a way to refresh the computer's view of the network in XP Home?

For example, Network Neighborhood on one system doesn't see the other
computer's drive icons, but a shortcut to a drive folder on the other
computer works. What's going on?

Refresh in the window's View menu doesn't help.

Is there an alternative to MS's network software when running XP?

Ken

 

[Chuck]

Is there a way to refresh the computer's view of the network in XP Home?

For example, Network Neighborhood on one system doesn't see the other
computer's drive icons, but a shortcut to a drive folder on the other
computer works. What's going on?

Refresh in the window's View menu doesn't help.

Is there an alternative to MS's network software when running XP?

Ken

Ken,

Check for a browser problem on your LAN. 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 browser, when properly setup, will automatically
refresh the LAN view.

Make sure the browser service is running on the WinXP computer. Control Panel -
Administrative Tools - Services. Verify that the Computer Browser, and the
TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper, services both show with Status = Started. Stop, then
Disable the browser on the other computers.

After checking / disabling / enabling as above, power all computers off to reset
the browser settings on each. Then power the computers back 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, as "browstat status". Make sure all 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://support.microsoft.com/?id=231312
<http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winntas/deploy/prodspecs/ntbrowse.mspx>
<http://www.microsoft.com/technet/archive/win95/w95brows.mspx>

--
Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.
My email is AT DOT
actual address pchuck sonic net.

 

[Steve Winograd [MVP]]

Is there a way to refresh the computer's view of the network in XP Home?

For example, Network Neighborhood on one system doesn't see the other
computer's drive icons, but a shortcut to a drive folder on the other
computer works. What's going on?

Refresh in the window's View menu doesn't help.

Is there an alternative to MS's network software when running XP?

Ken

Automatic network browsing in Windows XP isn't very reliable. The
simplest solution is to manually create shortcuts to shared disks and
folders: go into My Network Places, click "Add a network place", and
follow the prompts.

You can access a shared disk or folder directly, without using My
Network Places, by typing its name in the Start | Run box in this
format:

\\computer\share
--
Best Wishes,
Steve Winograd, MS-MVP (Windows Networking)

Please post any reply as a follow-up message in the news group
for everyone to see. I'm sorry, but I don't answer questions
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