Slow network browsing after original NT4 PDC removed from W2K network

[Lee W]

I have a network built originally around a single WinNT 4
Primary Domain controller and 15 Windows 2000 Pro
workstations. Over the years, and three Windows 2000
Servers all configured as Domain Controllers and running
in mixed mode have been added to the network. All
services the original NT PDC was hosting have been moved
to other servers. I now want to permanently retire this
machine. When I shut it down, network browsing slows to a
crawl. When a user on a workstation clicks on My Computer
it takes more than 30 seconds for the mapped drives and
Etc to be found (it was near instantaneous), other similar
symptoms manifest themselves inside of applications that
access server-side databases and Etc. If I turn the WinNT
server back on, all symptoms stop--the browsing returns to
normal speed. I assume this a problem with the master
browser role and have tried shutting down all servers,
workstations, and switches, and then restarting it without
the NT server, but that didn't help the problem persists.
I have also tried leaving the network on in this condition
overnight in hopes the problem might resolve itself, but
it didn't. Any assistance with this would be most
appreciated.
Thanks,
Lee

 

[Doug Sherman [MVP]]

Not sure what the status of the NT4.0 Server is in this domain. So, use the
browstat utility from the Win2k Server support tools to identify the master
browser:

browstat GP 1 <netbios name of domain>

This should return the name of your Win2k PDC emulator. In any event,
create an lmhosts file on each client machine that points to this machine
per this article:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;314108

Doug Sherman
MCSE Win2k/NT4.0, MCSA, MCP+I, MVP