Workgroup Access Failure

[Guest]

I have 2 computers running Windows XP Pro/SP2 and 1 computer running Windows
XP Home/SP2 on a peer-to-peer network, sharing cable internet access via a
cable/dsl router and sharing folders and a printer on the LAN. All computers
can access each other's shared folders, but one computer has a problem
accessing the other via My Network Places. The 2 XP Pro computers use classic
file sharing.

On the problem computer running XP Pro in Windows Explorer, if I click on My
Network Places, Entire Network, Microsoft Windows Network, then the Workgroup
name Mshome, I get the message "Mshome is not accessible. You migh not have
permission to use this network resource. Contact the administrator of this
server to find out if you have access permissions. The list of servers for
this workgroup is not currently available." However, when I type \\computer
name for each computer in the address bar, each computer shows up in the
workgroup and can be accessed.

Why can't Windows list the computers for the workgroup without being
specifically instructed to via the address bar? This is happening on only one
of the computers with both the Computer Browser and TCP\IP NetBIOS Helper
services running.

I have noticed, however, that on this problem computer, sometimes the
Computer Browser service fails to start on startup, even though it is set to
Automatic. Starting the service, however, does not resolve the problem. What
could be preventing the service from starting?

Thanks

 

[Chuck]

I have 2 computers running Windows XP Pro/SP2 and 1 computer running Windows
XP Home/SP2 on a peer-to-peer network, sharing cable internet access via a
cable/dsl router and sharing folders and a printer on the LAN. All computers
can access each other's shared folders, but one computer has a problem
accessing the other via My Network Places. The 2 XP Pro computers use classic
file sharing.

On the problem computer running XP Pro in Windows Explorer, if I click on My
Network Places, Entire Network, Microsoft Windows Network, then the Workgroup
name Mshome, I get the message "Mshome is not accessible. You migh not have
permission to use this network resource. Contact the administrator of this
server to find out if you have access permissions. The list of servers for
this workgroup is not currently available." However, when I type \\computer
name for each computer in the address bar, each computer shows up in the
workgroup and can be accessed.

Why can't Windows list the computers for the workgroup without being
specifically instructed to via the address bar? This is happening on only one
of the computers with both the Computer Browser and TCP\IP NetBIOS Helper
services running.

I have noticed, however, that on this problem computer, sometimes the
Computer Browser service fails to start on startup, even though it is set to
Automatic. Starting the service, however, does not resolve the problem. What
could be preventing the service from starting?

Thanks

Bill,

Look in Event Viewer (Control Panel - Administrative Tools), and see if there
are any error messages when you started up, or when you tried to manually start
the service.

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, by "browstat status". Make sure all computers give the same result.

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>

The browser requires anonymous access, so look at registry key
[HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa], value restrictanonymous.
<http://www.microsoft.com/windows200...2000/techinfo/reskit/en-us/regentry/46688.asp>
<http://www.jsifaq.com/subf/tip2600/rh2625.htm>
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=246261
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=296403

The above articles refer to Windows 2000. Remember WinXP is NT V5.1, and Win2K
is NT V5.0.

Have you used the Registry Editor before? If not, it's a scary tool, but it's
pretty simple once you get used to it. Here are a couple articles that might
help:
<http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/...home/using/productdoc/en/tools_regeditors.asp>
<http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/registry>

Just remember to backup the key (create a registry patch) for
[HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa] before making any changes, if
appropriate.

From the Annoyances article:
You can create a Registry patch by opening the Registry Editor, selecting a
branch, and choosing Export from the File menu. Then, specify a filename, and
press OK. You can then view the Registry patch file by opening it in Notepad
(right-click on it and select Edit). Again, just double-click on a Registry
patch file (or use Import in the Registry Editor's File menu) to apply it to the
registry.

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

 

[Guest]

Chuck,

The computer browser seems to be stopping on its own while the computer is
running. Following is the error posted in System Events:

The Computer Browser service terminated with the following error: This
operation returned because the timeout period expired.

The command qc query browser returned the following results:

SERVICE_NAME: browser
TYPE : 120 WIN32_SHARE_PROCESS (interactive)
STATE : 1 STOPPED
(NOT_STOPPABLE,NOT_PAUSABLE,IGNORES_SHUTDOWN)
WIN32_EXIT_CODE : 1460 (0x5b4)
SERVICE_EXIT_CODE : 1460 (0x5b4)
CHECKPOINT : 0x0
WAIT_HINT : 0x0

Running browstat status on the computer with the problem returned the
following results.

Status for domain MSHOME on transport
\Device\NetBT_Tcpip_{C20B1C7A-373F-4CD6-90
FB-4C665CAD35E6}
Browsing is active on domain.
Master name cannot be determined from GetAdapterStatus. Using
\\MICHAELMANIA
Could not connect to registry, error = 53 Unable to determine build
of br
owser master: 53
Unable to determine server information for browser master: 51
1 backup servers retrieved from master MICHAELMANIA
\\MICHAELMANIA
Unable to retrieve server list from MICHAELMANIA: 51

MICHAELMANIA is the computer running XP Home. It does not have any shares,
so I do not expect to see it from the 2 computers running XP Pro. However,
MICHAELMANIA can access the shares of the other computers and print on the
network printer.

The computer names of the other computers are ATHLON and DELL. ATHLON is the
computer with the browser problem.

Bill