Router and Master Browser ?

Hi,

I have successfully migrated my wired ICS LAN to a wireless LAN using a 3Com
OfficeConnect router. There are 3 PCs in the network : a desktop running XP
Pro SP2 (which used to be the "server" with the master browser), a laptop
also running XP Pro SP2 and another laptop running XP Home SP2. The browser
service on the laptops is disabled. The only (minor) problem I appear to
have is that because the browser service on the laptops is disabled, they
both fail to "see" the network when the desktop is not running. I can
manually create network shortcuts but its a bit of a pain. Should the router
not enable all the different PCs to see each in network neighbourhood ?

Thanks for any advice.

Cheers

Pete

No - the router has nothing to do with enabling browsing. In order to 'see'
the computers on a network the computers must have NetBIOS enabled and at
least one of them must have the computer browser service running. If all of
the computers have the browser service disabled, there will be no master
browser and no server list to 'see'. If there are no browsers on the
network, you should still be able to connect to a remote computer by
Start/Run \\<computername>.

Doug Sherman
MCSE, MCSA, MCP+I, MVP

"Pete" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi,
>
> I have successfully migrated my wired ICS LAN to a wireless LAN using a
3Com
> OfficeConnect router. There are 3 PCs in the network : a desktop running
XP
> Pro SP2 (which used to be the "server" with the master browser), a laptop
> also running XP Pro SP2 and another laptop running XP Home SP2. The
browser
> service on the laptops is disabled. The only (minor) problem I appear to
> have is that because the browser service on the laptops is disabled, they
> both fail to "see" the network when the desktop is not running. I can
> manually create network shortcuts but its a bit of a pain. Should the
router
> not enable all the different PCs to see each in network neighbourhood ?
>
> Thanks for any advice.
>
> Cheers
>
> Pete
>
>

Thanks,

I suppose I shouldn't expect miracles from XP networking.

Cheers

Peter

"Doug Sherman [MVP]" <(E-Mail Removed)> a écrit dans le
message de news:%(E-Mail Removed)...
> No - the router has nothing to do with enabling browsing. In order to
'see'
> the computers on a network the computers must have NetBIOS enabled and at
> least one of them must have the computer browser service running. If all
of
> the computers have the browser service disabled, there will be no master
> browser and no server list to 'see'. If there are no browsers on the
> network, you should still be able to connect to a remote computer by
> Start/Run \\<computername>.
>
> Doug Sherman
> MCSE, MCSA, MCP+I, MVP
>
> "Pete" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> > Hi,
> >
> > I have successfully migrated my wired ICS LAN to a wireless LAN using a
> 3Com
> > OfficeConnect router. There are 3 PCs in the network : a desktop running
> XP
> > Pro SP2 (which used to be the "server" with the master browser), a
laptop
> > also running XP Pro SP2 and another laptop running XP Home SP2. The
> browser
> > service on the laptops is disabled. The only (minor) problem I appear to
> > have is that because the browser service on the laptops is disabled,
they
> > both fail to "see" the network when the desktop is not running. I can
> > manually create network shortcuts but its a bit of a pain. Should the
> router
> > not enable all the different PCs to see each in network neighbourhood ?
> >
> > Thanks for any advice.
> >
> > Cheers
> >
> > Pete
> >
> >
>
>