Where are the machine names?

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John Simpson

Sorry that this is so simple a question but it's been bugging me for a
little while.

I have network with a mixture of 4 laptops with W2000, one desktop with
W2000, two desktops with XP and two desktops with Wme. all run through
Netgear switches and a Netgear RH348 ISDN Router. I have DCHP disabled and
all machines have a static IP address (there's a reason for this that I
won't go into).

The issue is that when I boot up the laptops, and look at 'Computers near
me' often nothing appears but the local machine. Similarly on SOME of the
desktops. If I walk away and leave it for 5 mins or so, quite often they
will 'appear' on their own. If I do a Search for the missing machines, more
often than not they will be found ... and THEN they will appear in 'CNM'.
It all seems a bit random. I'm pretty new to networking .. is this a common
effect, or is there something I can do.

Kind regards
John Simpson
 
Sorry that this is so simple a question but it's been bugging me for a
little while.

I have network with a mixture of 4 laptops with W2000, one desktop with
W2000, two desktops with XP and two desktops with Wme. all run through
Netgear switches and a Netgear RH348 ISDN Router. I have DCHP disabled
and all machines have a static IP address (there's a reason for this
that I won't go into).

The issue is that when I boot up the laptops, and look at 'Computers
near me' often nothing appears but the local machine. Similarly on SOME
of the desktops. If I walk away and leave it for 5 mins or so, quite
often they will 'appear' on their own. If I do a Search for the missing
machines, more often than not they will be found ... and THEN they will
appear in 'CNM'. It all seems a bit random. I'm pretty new to
networking .. is this a common effect, or is there something I can do.
Click to expand...

One of the machines on a peer-to-peer network maintains a list of the
resources on the network, which is used by each machine to populate
network places. The problems you're experiencing are caused by the fact
that this machine (called the 'browse master') has not yet been nominated.
This can take a few minutes when you first boot up the machines on the
workgroup. You'll notice the same behaviour if you crash or reboot the
browse master.

OTOH, the browse master is not used for accessing shares with UNC names or
network drives. Next time you're unable to access a shared folder through
network places, try typing \\hostname\shared_folder directly in Explorer's
address bar to access your shares.

Search the MSKB for "browse master" for more information.
 
Machines don't show up by being found by the machine you are sitting at.
The Net'hood display comes from reading them from a Browse List. The Browse
List is kept on the Master Browser of the subnet and the Master Browser is
determined by "elections" among the machines.

The times it doesn't show up is probably when the machine that is the Master
Browser was shut down and it took time for another Master Browser to be
"elected" and then build the Browse List.

When you forced a search for a particular machine I believe it simply caches
that one machine name locally, but I'm a little fuzzy on the specifics of
that.
 
Sorry that this is so simple a question but it's been bugging me for a
little while.

I have network with a mixture of 4 laptops with W2000, one desktop with
W2000, two desktops with XP and two desktops with Wme. all run through
Netgear switches and a Netgear RH348 ISDN Router. I have DCHP disabled and
all machines have a static IP address (there's a reason for this that I
won't go into).

The issue is that when I boot up the laptops, and look at 'Computers near
me' often nothing appears but the local machine. Similarly on SOME of the
desktops. If I walk away and leave it for 5 mins or so, quite often they
will 'appear' on their own. If I do a Search for the missing machines, more
often than not they will be found ... and THEN they will appear in 'CNM'.
It all seems a bit random. I'm pretty new to networking .. is this a common
effect, or is there something I can do.

Kind regards
John Simpson
Click to expand...

John,

The other posters offer a good start, but if you want the definitive answer from
Microsoft, this is good reading (if you have a large pot of coffee handy):
<http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winntas/deploy/prodspecs/ntbrowse.mspx>

Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.
 
Sorry that this is so simple a question but it's been bugging me for a
little while.

I have network with a mixture of 4 laptops with W2000, one desktop with
W2000, two desktops with XP and two desktops with Wme. all run through
Netgear switches and a Netgear RH348 ISDN Router. I have DCHP disabled and
all machines have a static IP address (there's a reason for this that I
won't go into).

The issue is that when I boot up the laptops, and look at 'Computers near
me' often nothing appears but the local machine. Similarly on SOME of the
desktops. If I walk away and leave it for 5 mins or so, quite often they
will 'appear' on their own. If I do a Search for the missing machines, more
often than not they will be found ... and THEN they will appear in 'CNM'.
It all seems a bit random. I'm pretty new to networking .. is this a common
effect, or is there something I can do.

Kind regards
John Simpson
Click to expand...

John,

The Microsoft Browstat program will show us what browsers you have in your
workgroup, at any time.
<http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=188305>

You can download Browstat from:
<http://www.dynawell.com/reskit/microsoft/win2000/browstat.zip>

Browstat is very small (40K), needs no install, and runs from the command
prompt. Just drop it onto a couple workstations, and run it.

Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.
 
Wow guys, ... comprehensive and terrific answers ... many thanks.
Kind regards
John Simpson
 
Hello,

Just to pile on a little more reading for you. Here are a couple of more
articles that detail the whole browsing process;

188001 Description of the Microsoft Computer Browser Service
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=188001

188305 Troubleshooting the Microsoft Computer Browser Service
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=188305

Larry Stotler, MCSE
Microsoft Product Support

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