Can't view work group computers

Hi All

Have a 5 machine network 4 of which are on XP SP2 the other on XP SP1

Since upgrading to SP2 when I go to My Network Places and view network
computers only the sp1 machine is visible.

If I reboot everywhere all the machines appear for a while but then apart
from the SP1 machine disappear. I can search for any machine and all can be
found. All my network places are present and can be accessed

They connect through a Dink ADSL router

I have tried setting the primary DNS on all machines as the router ip
enabled net bios over tcp/ip switched off the windows firewall

The machines are set for always on and I have configured the network card
for always on

End of wits now

any help appreciated

Tony

On Sat, 20 Aug 2005 09:11:17 +0000 (UTC), "TMC" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>any help appreciated

you can ping between them, they all have the same workgroup names,
they have different Computer names, is a folder shared on each machine
?

try putting the computername you want to access into the Run box of
Start in the format \\compname then hit enter you should see the
services that are shared on that machine.

Phil
--
Remember - Global Warming is only a weather forecast :-)

"Phil Thompson" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Sat, 20 Aug 2005 09:11:17 +0000 (UTC), "TMC" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>>any help appreciated
>
> you can ping between them, they all have the same workgroup names,
> they have different Computer names, is a folder shared on each machine
> ?
> Yes to all network is working fine was working fine before upgrade as well
> it is merely that the view work group computers does not display the
> machines not even the local machine

> try putting the computername you want to access into the Run box of
> Start in the format \\compname then hit enter you should see the
> services that are shared on that machine.

Yes that works fine and displays all shared files on that machine
>
> Phil
> --
> Remember - Global Warming is only a weather forecast :-)

TMC wrote:
> Hi All
>
> Have a 5 machine network 4 of which are on XP SP2 the other on XP SP1
>
> Since upgrading to SP2 when I go to My Network Places and view network
> computers only the sp1 machine is visible.
>
> If I reboot everywhere all the machines appear for a while but then apart
> from the SP1 machine disappear. I can search for any machine and all can
> be
> found. All my network places are present and can be accessed
>
> They connect through a Dink ADSL router
>
> I have tried setting the primary DNS on all machines as the router ip
> enabled net bios over tcp/ip switched off the windows firewall
>
> The machines are set for always on and I have configured the network card
> for always on
>
> End of wits now
>
> any help appreciated
>
> Tony

Do you have any third party firewall or antivirus? eg norton internet
security.....


Work through this troubleshooter, it might sort your problem out:

http://www.michna.com/kb/wxnet.htm

In article <de6s3k$ifn$(E-Mail Removed)>, TMC
says...
> Hi All
>
> Have a 5 machine network 4 of which are on XP SP2 the other on XP SP1
>
> Since upgrading to SP2 when I go to My Network Places and view network
> computers only the sp1 machine is visible.
>
> If I reboot everywhere all the machines appear for a while but then apart
> from the SP1 machine disappear. I can search for any machine and all can be
> found. All my network places are present and can be accessed
>
> They connect through a Dink ADSL router
>
> I have tried setting the primary DNS on all machines as the router ip
> enabled net bios over tcp/ip switched off the windows firewall
>
> The machines are set for always on and I have configured the network card
> for always on
>
Start, Control Panel, Windows Firewall. Click on Exceptions tab and
make sure "File and Printer Sharing" is ticked. Its blocked by default.


--
Conor

If Pac-Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened
rooms, munching magic pills and listening to repetitive electronic
music.

In article <de73n0$27k$(E-Mail Removed)>, TMC
says...
>
> "Phil Thompson" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> > On Sat, 20 Aug 2005 09:11:17 +0000 (UTC), "TMC" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> >
> >>any help appreciated
> >
> > you can ping between them, they all have the same workgroup names,
> > they have different Computer names, is a folder shared on each machine
> > ?
> > Yes to all network is working fine was working fine before upgrade as well
> > it is merely that the view work group computers does not display the
> > machines not even the local machine
>
> > try putting the computername you want to access into the Run box of
> > Start in the format \\compname then hit enter you should see the
> > services that are shared on that machine.
>
> Yes that works fine and displays all shared files on that machine

On each machine open a command prompt and type nbtstat -n. Look for a
line that says something like __MSBROWSE__ and some other stuff. If
more than one machine has the line then the Master Browser Elect
process is failing and disabling the Computer Browser service on all
but one machine, usually the primary on the LAN, will solve it. In
addition there is a registry hack which stops XP searching for remote
schedule tasks - something which slows down network browsing:

Open up the Registry and go to :

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Current
Version/Explorer/RemoteComputer/NameSpace

Under that branch, select the key :

{D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}

and delete it.


--
Conor

If Pac-Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened
rooms, munching magic pills and listening to repetitive electronic
music.

"Conor" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) t...
> In article <de6s3k$ifn$(E-Mail Removed)>, TMC
> says...
>> Hi All
>>
>> Have a 5 machine network 4 of which are on XP SP2 the other on XP SP1
>>
>> Since upgrading to SP2 when I go to My Network Places and view network
>> computers only the sp1 machine is visible.
>>
>> If I reboot everywhere all the machines appear for a while but then apart
>> from the SP1 machine disappear. I can search for any machine and all can
>> be
>> found. All my network places are present and can be accessed
>>
>> They connect through a Dink ADSL router
>>
>> I have tried setting the primary DNS on all machines as the router ip
>> enabled net bios over tcp/ip switched off the windows firewall
>>
>> The machines are set for always on and I have configured the network card
>> for always on
>>
> Start, Control Panel, Windows Firewall. Click on Exceptions tab and
> make sure "File and Printer Sharing" is ticked. Its blocked by default.
>
>
> --
> Conor
>
> If Pac-Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened
> rooms, munching magic pills and listening to repetitive electronic
> music.

Thanks for all of the ideas

Unfortunately none worked

I am beginning to think that as everything works except for seeing the
computers on the view computers screen that there is a by design feature in
SP2 which abandons the checking after a while as an all round reboot brings
them back for a while.

I am researching the Master Browser issue further

Regards

Tony

>
> I am beginning to think that as everything works except for seeing the
> computers on the view computers screen that there is a by design feature
> in SP2 which abandons the checking after a while as an all round reboot
> brings them back for a while.
>
> I am researching the Master Browser issue further
>
> Regards
>
> Tony

What firewall are you running? there is a strange anomaly in the Windows
firewall that stops the master Nrowser seeing its own broadcast messages.
The effect is you don't appear to have permission to view the workgroup.
This applies even if you are the administrator.

The following is a copy of a post made to uk.comp.home-networking earlier
this year

There is a strange quirk in Windows file sharing since SP2. It is connected
to the Windows Firewall. the symptoms are that your Workgroup is not visible
on one of the computers in the local network. It is in fact the first one to
be powered up. This should not happen and the fix seems illogical but it
works fro me. This only applies if the Windows Firewall is active. A third
party firewall that disables the Windows Firewall changes the behaviour.

The following is a copy of a post I made on 15 April under the heading
"Workgroup not accessible - fixed"


I have been getting the message "Workgroup not accessible. You may not have
permission to access..." intermittently on one of my computers name WK02.
The other two computer in the workgroup are fine, although they are unable
to see WK02 as members of the workgroup. They can still access shares and
printers on WK02 even though they cannot browse the computer. All Workgroup
computers are XP (2 running Pro, one running Home) with full updates.


I have fixed the problem and have generated this post in the hope it will
help someone else. It would also be interesting if any experts could give an
explanation as to what is actually going wrong.


I discovered that if one of the other two computers were switched on first
(i.e. they became the master browser) then WK02 was visible to them and WK02
could browse the workgroup correctly. If WK02 was switched on first (the
normal situation as it is a desktop, the other two are laptops) then the
workgroup browsing fails.


After eliminating all other factors, and some research with Ethereal, I
discovered that it was the Windows firewall that was blocking the UDP ports
137 and 138. The Advanced setting for file and printer sharing was Own
Network as one would expect. The firewall log showed these were being
blocked. See below for port 138:


2005-04-15 09:36:44 DROP UDP 192.168.x.101 192.168.x.255 138 138
211 - - - - - - - RECEIVE


This is a broadcast message being sent out to the subnet from 192.168.x.101
and the receiving of this message being blocked by the firewall.


I changed the setting to custom using the network setting of
192.168.x.0/255.255.255.0 (x is the local subnet number) for both these UDP
ports and SUCCESS. The computer now behaves as expected.


I did try changing my network to a static IP address.
I did try disabling my other firewall (Kerio 2.5.1) to eliminate that from
the equation - no different
I did try enabling and disabling the Windows firewall several times and
found the results consistent


My other two computers have alterative firewall products and these have
disabled the Windows firewall. Everything else works.


The question remains - why is putting a custom scope, set to my network
address/subnet mask, any different from the default? I notice that the log
shows a mask of 192.168.x.255 rather than the 255.255.255.0 that one would
normally expect.


I hope this might help somebody

"John Steele" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:430e1074$0$97122$(E-Mail Removed)...
>
>>
>> I am beginning to think that as everything works except for seeing the
>> computers on the view computers screen that there is a by design feature
>> in SP2 which abandons the checking after a while as an all round reboot
>> brings them back for a while.
>>
>> I am researching the Master Browser issue further
>>
>> Regards
>>
>> Tony
>
> What firewall are you running? there is a strange anomaly in the Windows
> firewall that stops the master Nrowser seeing its own broadcast messages.
> The effect is you don't appear to have permission to view the workgroup.
> This applies even if you are the administrator.
>
snip
>
>Hi John

I have the windows firewall switched off on all machines and connect to the
internet via a D Link ADSL router with built in firewall enabled

The problem is odd in that if machines are rebooted they find more of the
other machines though usually not all to start with and then lose them from
the display later. The only machine that is always visible on all machines
workgroup views is the one still on SP1 (this has no firewall at all)

Everything on the network still works in terms of accessing shared files

Looking next at firmware for the router