Work Group naming problems

[Guest]

The entire error is "Workgroup is not accessible. You might not have
permission to use this network resource. Contact the administrator of theis
server to find out if you have access permissions. The network path was not
found."

I jumped through hoops trying to determine why two new XPSP2 systems would
not be allowed in my workgroup WORKGROUP. They had resources on my Novell
server and internet access and live ping to all other pcs. They were simply
and completely locked out of the workgroup called WORKGROUP. I compared
services, firewall settings and registry entries with my laptop that worked
fine, and found no differences.

I finally created a new workgroup for them and they are in and active just
fine. As a matter of fact, on one PC, all 6 of my other workgroups show up
(no access available to some), and on the other PC, two workgroups show up.

My question is this: Why is there no consistency in which workgroups show up
on a given PC on a given day? And why can I change to a given workgroup but
not be granted permissions?

 

[Chuck]

The entire error is "Workgroup is not accessible. You might not have
permission to use this network resource. Contact the administrator of theis
server to find out if you have access permissions. The network path was not
found."

I jumped through hoops trying to determine why two new XPSP2 systems would
not be allowed in my workgroup WORKGROUP. They had resources on my Novell
server and internet access and live ping to all other pcs. They were simply
and completely locked out of the workgroup called WORKGROUP. I compared
services, firewall settings and registry entries with my laptop that worked
fine, and found no differences.

I finally created a new workgroup for them and they are in and active just
fine. As a matter of fact, on one PC, all 6 of my other workgroups show up
(no access available to some), and on the other PC, two workgroups show up.

My question is this: Why is there no consistency in which workgroups show up
on a given PC on a given day? And why can I change to a given workgroup but
not be granted permissions?

Dan,

The situation "I can see some of my computers one day, and others on another
day" could have several causes. Quite likely, you have a browser conflict.

Is the Novell server running IPX/SPX, or is it using IP?

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, by "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.