[aggregate reply to multiple messages]
On Tue, Aug 31, 2010 at 3:38 PM, James Kerr <[email protected]> wrote:
> I just get an error stating " Workgroup
> is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this network
> resource. Contact the administrator of this server to find out if you have
> access permissions. The network path was not found".
In my experience, you'll get that a lot on a strictly peer-to-peer network.
Nominate one computer on the network to be the "server". This
computer should be one which is "never" shut down or restarted.
Ideally, put it on a UPS. Really ideally, don't let it be used for
user tasks at all. If you don't use it for anything else, it can be
an old piece of crap, as long as it can boot Windows. Run the NetBIOS
browser service on that computer. Disable the NetBIOS browser service
on all the other computers.
End result, that one computer maintains the NetBIOS browse list, and
everyone else looks to him for the browse list. No more browser wars.
If the "server" goes down you won't be able to browse the network,
but if you type in names manually (or map drives, or use shortcuts)
they'll still work.
> LMHOSTS Lookup is enabled.
LMHOSTS is used for name lookup; it has nothing to do with the
browse list. Also, if the LMHOSTS file is not present (the default),
it won't be used for anything.
Might be worth checking the file to see if it is indeed empty. I
think I've heard of malware hijacking it.
C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\lmhosts
> NetBIOS is set to the default but I have had it set to
> enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP ...
The two are equivalent, as long as your DHCP server isn't explicitly
telling the client to disable WINS.
> there are no addresses listed in WINS tab.
As with LMHOSTS, WINS is used for name lookup; it has nothing to do
with the browse list.
>> Computer browser service running?
>
> Yes, and its running on most of the PCs on the network ...
There's your problem.
> the only errors I see in the logs are related to computers fighting
> over who is the browser but those are benign errors that can be
> ignored as far as I know.
Browser wars are actually almost certainly the cause of the problem
you are experiencing.
> Why oh why won't this guy buy a damn server for his
> nightmare network?
If you've got the knowledge, another option is to find an old
computer and throw Linux on it. Linux and Samba can do a fairly good
job of emulating an NT4 PDC. You won't get any of the management
features you get with Active Directory, but a SOHO network like you
describe prolly isn't going to make much use of them anyway.
-- Ben
~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~
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