That's It-Converting Back To Windows 2000 from $%*XP$& , Unless...

  • Thread starter Thread starter Hammer Toe
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H

Hammer Toe

We've just about had it with Windows XP.

We recently converted our small business network (5 machines) from
2000 to XP and have been wrestling with the notorious 'Slow Network
Browse' problem for over a week.

Eg. *** initial access *** (after a boot/reboot) to the FILES AND
FOLDERS on another machine (also XP) on the LAN can take *** 2-5
minutes *** from an XP Client, whereas the same resources can be
(initially) accessed *** virtually instantaneously *** it we boot
Win98 or Win2K!!!

I've tried a number of suggested fixes/workarounds over the last week
without success so unless anyone has a solution to suggest, we're
going to give up on _&^(*__ XP @$% and convert back to 2000.

Suggestions anyone?
 
Can you check if the webclient service is running? Webclient allows you to
access DAV shares via HTTP as a normal file system. However, the timeouts
for DAV/HTTP are a bit different than that of traditional SMB, which can
result in what appears to be hangs. There has been some updates that can be
applied to the client as described in the KB articles below. Also, you can
try disabling the webclient service in the short term to see if that solves
the issue.

The reason many people see this on just the first access is, after the first
access the UNC providers cache the knowledge that "this share is handled by
SMB, not DAV" and DAV is not involved until this cache expires.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;812924

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;312181

Type the following command to determine whether webclient is running:

sc queryex webclient

If the STATE shows RUNNING, then run the following command to disable it:

sc config webclient start= disabled

The initial connect issue should not occur on the next boot. To avoid a
reboot, you could run the following command:

sc stop webclient


Thanks,
Dave
 
Can you check if the webclient service is running? Webclient allows you to
access DAV shares via HTTP as a normal file system. However, the timeouts
for DAV/HTTP are a bit different than that of traditional SMB, which can
result in what appears to be hangs. There has been some updates that can be
applied to the client as described in the KB articles below. Also, you can
try disabling the webclient service in the short term to see if that solves
the issue.

The reason many people see this on just the first access is, after the first
access the UNC providers cache the knowledge that "this share is handled by
SMB, not DAV" and DAV is not involved until this cache expires.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;812924

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;312181

Type the following command to determine whether webclient is running:

sc queryex webclient

If the STATE shows RUNNING, then run the following command to disable it:

sc config webclient start= disabled

The initial connect issue should not occur on the next boot. To avoid a
reboot, you could run the following command:

sc stop webclient


Thanks,
Dave
Click to expand...

Dave: THANKS 'EXTREMELY' VERY MUCH!!!

The tip you suggested about stopping/disabling the WebClient service
seems to have (FINALLY!!!) enabled me to fix the problem.

Specifically, the INITIAL delay in accessing remote shares for the
FIRST TIME after a reboot via:

My Network Places->
Entire Network->
Microsoft Windows Network->
Workgroup Name->
Targer Computer Name->
Share (on Target Computer) Name

and THEN trying to get a list of files and folders at the 'root level'
of that share (which should be trivial, one would think) is now
virtually non-existent.

A couple of questions though, if I may.

1. I've 'Permanently' DISABLED the Web Client service via

Computer Management->
Services and Applications->
Services.

Is this O.K. for a 'long term' fix?

I never 'followed' the

My Network Places->
Entire Network->
*** Web Client Network-> ***

path before.

Assuming (reasonably) that this is related/requires the WebClient
service and I avoid using this 'link', will/might I notice any other
adverse effects? (Ie. due to implicit use of WebClient???)

(All I do is copy/move files between PCs on the local lan, print to
remote printers, etc. via the 'Microsoft Windows Network' path and
browse the internet).

Any other things/adverse effects I might encounter if I leave the
service disabled?

2. If so and/because we now know the 'source' of the problem, might
there be a 'better' fix? (A fix from Microsoft??? A *** LOT *** of
people seem to be having this same problem)

3. BTW/just curious: what does 'DAV' stand for?

Thanks again.
 
Dave: THANKS 'EXTREMELY' VERY MUCH!!!

The tip you suggested about stopping/disabling the WebClient service
seems to have (FINALLY!!!) enabled me to fix the problem.

Specifically, the INITIAL delay in accessing remote shares for the
FIRST TIME after a reboot via:

My Network Places->
Entire Network->
Microsoft Windows Network->
Workgroup Name->
Targer Computer Name->
Share (on Target Computer) Name

and THEN trying to get a list of files and folders at the 'root level'
of that share (which should be trivial, one would think) is now
virtually non-existent.

A couple of questions though, if I may.

1. I've 'Permanently' DISABLED the Web Client service via

Computer Management->
Services and Applications->
Services.

Is this O.K. for a 'long term' fix?

I never 'followed' the

My Network Places->
Entire Network->
*** Web Client Network-> ***

path before.

Assuming (reasonably) that this is related/requires the WebClient
service and I avoid using this 'link', will/might I notice any other
adverse effects? (Ie. due to implicit use of WebClient???)

(All I do is copy/move files between PCs on the local lan, print to
remote printers, etc. via the 'Microsoft Windows Network' path and
browse the internet).

Any other things/adverse effects I might encounter if I leave the
service disabled?

2. If so and/because we now know the 'source' of the problem, might
there be a 'better' fix? (A fix from Microsoft??? A *** LOT *** of
people seem to be having this same problem)

3. BTW/just curious: what does 'DAV' stand for?

Thanks again.
Click to expand...

BTW: just thought I'd add that before disabling WebClient, I DID check
out the other articles previously mentioned in your reply and
'checked' (my system/situation).

As far as I can tell, I determined that I have have either 'installed'
the recommended patches (if applicable) OR the 'fix' does not apply
in my case.
 
Thanks for the information concerning the patches not improving the
situation. I'll forward this on to the DAV RDR folks and see if they can do
some further investigation.

1. The functionality you lose by disabling the DAV redirector (the
underlying driver represented by the WebClient service) is the ability to
access remote web servers as file shares. If, in your environment, the
remote data you access is shared out via traditional SMB/CIFS file servers
than you will never need the DAV redirector. If you ever want to map a
drive to a web site (that is setup to allow DAV browsing) you would need to
re-enable this service. From what you describe below, it sounds like you'll
be fine running with it disabled.

2. Yes, there should be a better fix than disabling the service in the long
run. I'll hand this thread off to the DAV RDR folks and hopefully they can
provide a better solution at some point.

3. For more information on WebDAV as a protocol, you can check out
http://www.webdav.org/


Thanks,
Dave
 
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