Elusive Windows Networking Problem

[runningmanms3]

I have a problem with Windows Networking. Running a computer with Windows XP Pro x86, I am unable to connect to a decently sized workgroup (15 computers) All of the other computers have no problem. The main problem with this connection failure is that I can not see all of the computers in My Network Places. I can always see 5 of the 15 computers, and can access their files. The other computers can be accessed by typing in their direct IP address. Why can't I just have all computers simply show up when I want to view workgroup computers? I feel like this has something to do with NetBIOS but I have enable NetBIOS on all computers and this computer is the only computer that doesn't operate correctly.

[Tripredacus]

Verify file shares are enabled on the other 10 computers. Also verify that your computer does not share a SID with any of the 10 you cannot see. And are you sure this is XP Pro and not XP Home?

[IcemanND]

Also make sure all of the computers are in the same workgroup.

[AO3]

Is this a per to per network?

[runningmanms3]

File shares are enabled on all computers, and the other 14 computers on the network see each other perfectly. The computers are all in the same workgroup as well. An interesting piece of this is that the offending computer, which is XP Pro, can see 5 of the other computers in the network when I got to "view other computers within workgroup), whereas all of the other computers can't be seen. All of the other computers can be accessed by directly typing in the IP in the "my network places" address bar, such as \\192.168.15.100 . All computers can be pinged from the offending computer as well. There is no central server, since this is a workgroup, so I believe that is technically a peer to peer network. I have forced a computer to be a "server" in that it is always the master browser (through small registry changes) and it has a static IP. I have also enabled NetBIOS over TCP/IP for all computers. Since I can ping and directly view computers with knowledge of their IP, it just seems like I'm not recieving updates from the master browser, or the computer is not accepting them.

Thank you for trying to help me with this. I have spent a lot of time researching this topic, and this is the last offending computer I just can't figure out. Also of note, I have disable all firewalls and completed uninstalled any trace of norton software on the computer. I also uninstalled and reinstalled all network drivers on the computer as well. Please ask me any more questions that may be of interest.

[Tripredacus]

Is your Master Browser server running WINS as well?

You may have seen these already.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/903267

[runningmanms3]

I am not sure if I am running WINS. I typed did the ipconfig /all from my master browser and i received this.

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]

© Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : CTS-Server

Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :

Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown

IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel® 82562V-2 10/100 Network Con

nection

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-1D-09-83-77-11

Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No

IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.15.100

Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0

IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : fe80::21d:9ff:fe83:7711%5

Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.15.1

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.15.1

fec0:0:0:ffff::1%1

fec0:0:0:ffff::2%1

fec0:0:0:ffff::3%1

Tunnel adapter Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 80-00-F4-9C-9D-1B-C8-69

Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No

IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 2001:0:4137:9e50:8000:f49c:9d1b:c869

IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : fe80::ffff:ffff:fffd%4

Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : ::

NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled

Tunnel adapter Automatic Tunneling Pseudo-Interface:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Automatic Tunneling Pseudo-Interface

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : C0-A8-0F-64

Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No

IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : fe80::5efe:192.168.15.100%2

Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : fec0:0:0:ffff::1%1

fec0:0:0:ffff::2%1

fec0:0:0:ffff::3%1

NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled

Two disturbing facts I have learned doing this are that it is apparently telling me that I do not have NetBIOS over TCP/IP enabled, which I have checked as "enable always" under the WINS tab, and that for this computer at least, the node type is listed as unknown. I'm not sure what that means. The computer that was originally having all the problems was configured in p-mode, and I followed the instructions in the very useful link given to me by Tripredacus on how to change that, however it did not fix the problem. Help?!?!

[Tripredacus]

Try checking the Node Type on both the Offender and one of the computers that can see all the network.

[runningmanms3]

I just checked the node type of another computer, and it too says Unknown. So now both my master browser and another computer that works with everything else both have a node type of unknown. The node type of the offending computer that could not and still can not see all the computers on the network is now unknown after I performed the fix mentioned in that microsoft KB Article to release it from the peer-peer node type.

[runningmanms3]

No other ideas?!?!

[Tripredacus]

Did you compare the SIDs on the computers? You can find the SID in the registry under HKEY_USERS. There will be a two long numbers starting with "S-". The SID should be random enough that the first few parts can just be compared to the other machines. Example: S-1-5-21-1490568653. The rest should also be different but that should be enough.

Also try to stop and restart the Computer Browser service.

[TheReasonIFail]

Isn't peer to peer limited to 10 PC's or is that no longer the case?

Also,

Try breaking up the PC's into two workgroups, see if that makes a difference.

Edited September 30, 2008 by TheReasonIFail

[windoze user]

Any resolution for this? I am experiencing the same issues. I have a small network (5 machines running XP) and it appears the server list from the master browser isn't shared around the network. I can ping and directly address the machines but I can't browse out on the network unless I'm doing so from the first machine to boot on the network. The first machine to boot can "see" all of the other machines in the workgroup.

This is something that has just recently occured as I used to be able to browse all machines just fine. I don't know exactly when the problem began because I was using previously created shortcuts and within the last month or two tried to browse out and suddenly couldn't. i can see in the event log the browser service timing out trying to get the network list ??

Thanks in advance.

[Tripredacus]

The computer used to be the master browser but rebooted. Then one of the other computers gets to be the master browser. I don't know how to check for sure which one it is. Maybe you could post your error here from the event viewer?

[windoze user]

I'm just not sure why the browser lists aren't being shared as each machine takes over as master. I'll post the event viewer log when I get home but I'm also going to try disabling the browser service on all but one machine and see if the list gets shared in the event they are fighting over who is master. Even before I do that I'll review each machine's response to the nbtstat -n to verify they are all trying to become master.

Thanks