Workgroup is not accessible.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Tom Penharston
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T

Tom Penharston

I have a Windows XP client computer that cannot access the Workgroup.
This isn't just any client computer, this is the machine that I am
using to image several other clients. Microsoft would call this my
"reference computer". I've already deployed images to clients without
workgroup access and I need to fix this in my next image.

I am able to browse two other network locations. First we have a rouge
workgroup, TESTGROUP. I can browse TESTGROUP easily. Second, I can
browse the domain. I cannot, under any circumstances browse WORKGROUP.
Here's the dialog:

"Workgroup is not accessibile. 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 semaphore timeout period
has expired."

I haven't thought about semaphores in a while.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semaphore_(programming)

Whether my clients are on the Workgroup or joined to my domain the
error is the same.

When I initally ran the Network Setup Wizard the default workgroup was
MSHOME. I changed this to WORKGROUP. My media is a 2005 copy of XP
PRO SP2 2600. Re-running the wizard does not fix the problem.

I found newsgroup posts from Robert Lin MVP who addressed this error
message in 2003. He says "make sure no any firewall running". Today
the XP SP2 firewall is stable and highly recommended, I doubt it's the
problem. His other recommendations also seem out of date. Other posts
on the web refer to Linux SMB.

Microsoft is pretty detailed in a few articles, but so far I haven't
found specific information that will help my configuration.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q325487

Has anyone seen this before?
 
I have a Windows XP client computer that cannot access the Workgroup.
This isn't just any client computer, this is the machine that I am
using to image several other clients. Microsoft would call this my
"reference computer". I've already deployed images to clients without
workgroup access and I need to fix this in my next image.

I am able to browse two other network locations. First we have a rouge
workgroup, TESTGROUP. I can browse TESTGROUP easily. Second, I can
browse the domain. I cannot, under any circumstances browse WORKGROUP.
Here's the dialog:

"Workgroup is not accessibile. 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 semaphore timeout period
has expired."

I haven't thought about semaphores in a while.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semaphore_(programming)

Whether my clients are on the Workgroup or joined to my domain the
error is the same.

When I initally ran the Network Setup Wizard the default workgroup was
MSHOME. I changed this to WORKGROUP. My media is a 2005 copy of XP
PRO SP2 2600. Re-running the wizard does not fix the problem.

I found newsgroup posts from Robert Lin MVP who addressed this error
message in 2003. He says "make sure no any firewall running". Today
the XP SP2 firewall is stable and highly recommended, I doubt it's the
problem. His other recommendations also seem out of date. Other posts
on the web refer to Linux SMB.

Microsoft is pretty detailed in a few articles, but so far I haven't
found specific information that will help my configuration.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q325487

Has anyone seen this before?
Click to expand...

Tom,

I've seen this error from time to time, but never figured out the exact meaning.
Here are a couple more articles about the problem; please let us know if
anything here is useful.
<http://support.microsoft.com/kb/325122>
<http://support.microsoft.com/kb/817069>

The "not accessible...access permissions..." type of error is pretty common
here, and can have various causes.
<http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/06/mysterious-error-5-aka-access-denied.html>

One of the more common causes is, as you indicated above, a misconfigured /
overlooked firewalls; another is registry setting restrictanonymous.
Misconfigured / overlooked firewalls:
<http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/05/your-personal-firewall-can-either-help.html>
Registry setting restrictanonymous:
<http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/07/restrictanonymous-and-your-server.html>
 
Thanks Chuck, I just discovered that my subnet is the problem. On
other subnets my Workgroup is accessible. On the subnet that matters
most to me, I cannot access the Workgroup. I should be leaning towards
a misconfigured firewall somewhere on the subnet, correct?
-Tom
 
Thanks Chuck, I just discovered that my subnet is the problem. On
other subnets my Workgroup is accessible. On the subnet that matters
most to me, I cannot access the Workgroup. I should be leaning towards
a misconfigured firewall somewhere on the subnet, correct?
-Tom
Click to expand...

Tom,

Generally, you will not have firewalls connecting subnets. Many folks confuse a
NAT router with a firewall, and this is wrong for 2 reasons.
# Some NAT routers may have some firewall features, but they are NOT firewalls.
# The LANs connected to a NAT router are connected only thru a switch. NAT
routers do not firewall computers on the LAN.

OTOH, a misconfigured personal firewall is a good candidate for the problem,
yes.

Take a look at the LAN as a whole - choose 2 or 3 computers that are showing
this problem, and 1 or 2 computers that are NOT showing this problem. Let's
look at "browstat status" and "ipconfig /all" from each computer, as a start.
Read this article, and linked articles, and follow instructions precisely:
<http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/05/troubleshooting-network-neighborhood.html#AskingForHelp>
 
I had an opportunity to turn off computers one by one. The Workgroup
becomes accessible when I turn off machines with new XP images. My
new XP images are corrupting the Workgroup. My legacy 2000/XP machines
are fine when the new machines are turned off.

There is no obvious fix at this time. I must redeploy a couple of
these machines and observe their behavior.

-Tom
 
I had an opportunity to turn off computers one by one. The Workgroup
becomes accessible when I turn off machines with new XP images. My
new XP images are corrupting the Workgroup. My legacy 2000/XP machines
are fine when the new machines are turned off.

There is no obvious fix at this time. I must redeploy a couple of
these machines and observe their behavior.

-Tom
Click to expand...

Tom,

If you're talking about seeing computers (or not) in Network Neighborhood /
"workgroup inaccessible" as "corrupting the Workgroup", read my article about
the browser.
<http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/04/nt-browser-or-why-cant-i-always-see.html>

You can re deploy and observe behaviour all you want. But try running "browstat
status" when you do.
<http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/05/browstat-utility-from-microsoft.html>
 
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