We cannot see our W2k3 Print server via browsing.

We are running into an issue that is kicking our butt. One of my co-workers
recently stood up a 2003 member server to act as a Print Server. When we
click on My Network Places, we can't see it at all. We can ping it and we
can go to Start Run \\servername and see it, but it simply will not show up
in My Network Places. There are other machines on the subnet that can be
seen so it's not a router/Vlan/switch issue.

We want users to be able to browse to it and connect to the Printer.

What we've tried...

It is setup for Netbios over TCPIP.
It is in the WINS server database
It is in DNS
We even went to its registry and made it the Master Browser, but when we
check, it doesn't win the election.

We're at a total loss and we're sure there's just something we're not
thinking of. We've never run into this before and would sure appreciate any
input.

I should add that the 2003 machine is in an NT domain that is in a trust
relationship with the 2000 AD. All of which is going to be upgraded soon to
2003 AD.

Hmmm. Possibly an election conflict with down level servers. Try taking
the Win2003 machine out of the election process altogether - set Master
Browser to False and set the Computer Browser service to manual. If there
is a Master Browser entry for this machine in WINS, delete it. Reboot and
wait.

Doug Sherman
MCSE Win2k/NT4.0, MCSA, MCP+I, MVP

"Eshprof" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:31D69AB4-CAB6-44D3-B256-(E-Mail Removed)...
> We are running into an issue that is kicking our butt. One of my
co-workers
> recently stood up a 2003 member server to act as a Print Server. When we
> click on My Network Places, we can't see it at all. We can ping it and we
> can go to Start Run \\servername and see it, but it simply will not show
up
> in My Network Places. There are other machines on the subnet that can be
> seen so it's not a router/Vlan/switch issue.
>
> We want users to be able to browse to it and connect to the Printer.
>
> What we've tried...
>
> It is setup for Netbios over TCPIP.
> It is in the WINS server database
> It is in DNS
> We even went to its registry and made it the Master Browser, but when we
> check, it doesn't win the election.
>
> We're at a total loss and we're sure there's just something we're not
> thinking of. We've never run into this before and would sure appreciate
any
> input.
>
> I should add that the 2003 machine is in an NT domain that is in a trust
> relationship with the 2000 AD. All of which is going to be upgraded soon
to
> 2003 AD.
>
>

We discovered the problem and solution.

The problem is that the description cannot be more than 48 characters. Our
description was exactly 49 characters. I would have thought the maximum
number of characters would have been 254, but MS says it's a know issue. 48
characters tops!

"Doug Sherman [MVP]" wrote:

> Hmmm. Possibly an election conflict with down level servers. Try taking
> the Win2003 machine out of the election process altogether - set Master
> Browser to False and set the Computer Browser service to manual. If there
> is a Master Browser entry for this machine in WINS, delete it. Reboot and
> wait.
>
> Doug Sherman
> MCSE Win2k/NT4.0, MCSA, MCP+I, MVP
>
> "Eshprof" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:31D69AB4-CAB6-44D3-B256-(E-Mail Removed)...
> > We are running into an issue that is kicking our butt. One of my
> co-workers
> > recently stood up a 2003 member server to act as a Print Server. When we
> > click on My Network Places, we can't see it at all. We can ping it and we
> > can go to Start Run \\servername and see it, but it simply will not show
> up
> > in My Network Places. There are other machines on the subnet that can be
> > seen so it's not a router/Vlan/switch issue.
> >
> > We want users to be able to browse to it and connect to the Printer.
> >
> > What we've tried...
> >
> > It is setup for Netbios over TCPIP.
> > It is in the WINS server database
> > It is in DNS
> > We even went to its registry and made it the Master Browser, but when we
> > check, it doesn't win the election.
> >
> > We're at a total loss and we're sure there's just something we're not
> > thinking of. We've never run into this before and would sure appreciate
> any
> > input.
> >
> > I should add that the 2003 machine is in an NT domain that is in a trust
> > relationship with the 2000 AD. All of which is going to be upgraded soon
> to
> > 2003 AD.
> >
> >
>
>
>

Very interesting! Do you know whether this limitation is caused by the NT
domain, or does it also apply in W2k/2003?

"Eshprof" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:887BBD5D-AE07-48C9-A4A5-(E-Mail Removed)...
> We discovered the problem and solution.
>
> The problem is that the description cannot be more than 48 characters.
> Our
> description was exactly 49 characters. I would have thought the maximum
> number of characters would have been 254, but MS says it's a know issue.
> 48
> characters tops!
>
> "Doug Sherman [MVP]" wrote:
>
>> Hmmm. Possibly an election conflict with down level servers. Try taking
>> the Win2003 machine out of the election process altogether - set Master
>> Browser to False and set the Computer Browser service to manual. If
>> there
>> is a Master Browser entry for this machine in WINS, delete it. Reboot
>> and
>> wait.
>>
>> Doug Sherman
>> MCSE Win2k/NT4.0, MCSA, MCP+I, MVP
>>
>> "Eshprof" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> news:31D69AB4-CAB6-44D3-B256-(E-Mail Removed)...
>> > We are running into an issue that is kicking our butt. One of my
>> co-workers
>> > recently stood up a 2003 member server to act as a Print Server. When
>> > we
>> > click on My Network Places, we can't see it at all. We can ping it and
>> > we
>> > can go to Start Run \\servername and see it, but it simply will not
>> > show
>> up
>> > in My Network Places. There are other machines on the subnet that can
>> > be
>> > seen so it's not a router/Vlan/switch issue.
>> >
>> > We want users to be able to browse to it and connect to the Printer.
>> >
>> > What we've tried...
>> >
>> > It is setup for Netbios over TCPIP.
>> > It is in the WINS server database
>> > It is in DNS
>> > We even went to its registry and made it the Master Browser, but when
>> > we
>> > check, it doesn't win the election.
>> >
>> > We're at a total loss and we're sure there's just something we're not
>> > thinking of. We've never run into this before and would sure
>> > appreciate
>> any
>> > input.
>> >
>> > I should add that the 2003 machine is in an NT domain that is in a
>> > trust
>> > relationship with the 2000 AD. All of which is going to be upgraded
>> > soon
>> to
>> > 2003 AD.
>> >
>> >
>>
>>
>>

It's a new one on me. Maybe if I knew there were long descriptions being
used I would have figured it out - but probably not. There's a KB article
that applies to NT Server and Win2k Server/Pro - doesn't say anything about
domains:

http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;231312

Doug Sherman
MCSE Win2k/NT4.0, MCSA, MCP+I, MVP

"Bill Grant" <not.available@online> wrote in message
news:%(E-Mail Removed)...
> Very interesting! Do you know whether this limitation is caused by the
NT
> domain, or does it also apply in W2k/2003?
>
> "Eshprof" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:887BBD5D-AE07-48C9-A4A5-(E-Mail Removed)...
> > We discovered the problem and solution.
> >
> > The problem is that the description cannot be more than 48 characters.
> > Our
> > description was exactly 49 characters. I would have thought the maximum
> > number of characters would have been 254, but MS says it's a know issue.
> > 48
> > characters tops!
> >
> > "Doug Sherman [MVP]" wrote:
> >
> >> Hmmm. Possibly an election conflict with down level servers. Try
taking
> >> the Win2003 machine out of the election process altogether - set Master
> >> Browser to False and set the Computer Browser service to manual. If
> >> there
> >> is a Master Browser entry for this machine in WINS, delete it. Reboot
> >> and
> >> wait.
> >>
> >> Doug Sherman
> >> MCSE Win2k/NT4.0, MCSA, MCP+I, MVP
> >>
> >> "Eshprof" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> >> news:31D69AB4-CAB6-44D3-B256-(E-Mail Removed)...
> >> > We are running into an issue that is kicking our butt. One of my
> >> co-workers
> >> > recently stood up a 2003 member server to act as a Print Server.
When
> >> > we
> >> > click on My Network Places, we can't see it at all. We can ping it
and
> >> > we
> >> > can go to Start Run \\servername and see it, but it simply will not
> >> > show
> >> up
> >> > in My Network Places. There are other machines on the subnet that
can
> >> > be
> >> > seen so it's not a router/Vlan/switch issue.
> >> >
> >> > We want users to be able to browse to it and connect to the Printer.
> >> >
> >> > What we've tried...
> >> >
> >> > It is setup for Netbios over TCPIP.
> >> > It is in the WINS server database
> >> > It is in DNS
> >> > We even went to its registry and made it the Master Browser, but when
> >> > we
> >> > check, it doesn't win the election.
> >> >
> >> > We're at a total loss and we're sure there's just something we're not
> >> > thinking of. We've never run into this before and would sure
> >> > appreciate
> >> any
> >> > input.
> >> >
> >> > I should add that the 2003 machine is in an NT domain that is in a
> >> > trust
> >> > relationship with the 2000 AD. All of which is going to be upgraded
> >> > soon
> >> to
> >> > 2003 AD.
> >> >
> >> >
> >>
> >>
> >>
>
>

Thanks, Doug. That certainly indicates that it applies across the board.

"Doug Sherman [MVP]" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> It's a new one on me. Maybe if I knew there were long descriptions being
> used I would have figured it out - but probably not. There's a KB article
> that applies to NT Server and Win2k Server/Pro - doesn't say anything
> about
> domains:
>
> http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;231312
>
> Doug Sherman
> MCSE Win2k/NT4.0, MCSA, MCP+I, MVP
>
> "Bill Grant" <not.available@online> wrote in message
> news:%(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Very interesting! Do you know whether this limitation is caused by the
> NT
>> domain, or does it also apply in W2k/2003?
>>
>> "Eshprof" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> news:887BBD5D-AE07-48C9-A4A5-(E-Mail Removed)...
>> > We discovered the problem and solution.
>> >
>> > The problem is that the description cannot be more than 48 characters.
>> > Our
>> > description was exactly 49 characters. I would have thought the
>> > maximum
>> > number of characters would have been 254, but MS says it's a know
>> > issue.
>> > 48
>> > characters tops!
>> >
>> > "Doug Sherman [MVP]" wrote:
>> >
>> >> Hmmm. Possibly an election conflict with down level servers. Try
> taking
>> >> the Win2003 machine out of the election process altogether - set
>> >> Master
>> >> Browser to False and set the Computer Browser service to manual. If
>> >> there
>> >> is a Master Browser entry for this machine in WINS, delete it. Reboot
>> >> and
>> >> wait.
>> >>
>> >> Doug Sherman
>> >> MCSE Win2k/NT4.0, MCSA, MCP+I, MVP
>> >>
>> >> "Eshprof" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> >> news:31D69AB4-CAB6-44D3-B256-(E-Mail Removed)...
>> >> > We are running into an issue that is kicking our butt. One of my
>> >> co-workers
>> >> > recently stood up a 2003 member server to act as a Print Server.
> When
>> >> > we
>> >> > click on My Network Places, we can't see it at all. We can ping it
> and
>> >> > we
>> >> > can go to Start Run \\servername and see it, but it simply will not
>> >> > show
>> >> up
>> >> > in My Network Places. There are other machines on the subnet that
> can
>> >> > be
>> >> > seen so it's not a router/Vlan/switch issue.
>> >> >
>> >> > We want users to be able to browse to it and connect to the Printer.
>> >> >
>> >> > What we've tried...
>> >> >
>> >> > It is setup for Netbios over TCPIP.
>> >> > It is in the WINS server database
>> >> > It is in DNS
>> >> > We even went to its registry and made it the Master Browser, but
>> >> > when
>> >> > we
>> >> > check, it doesn't win the election.
>> >> >
>> >> > We're at a total loss and we're sure there's just something we're
>> >> > not
>> >> > thinking of. We've never run into this before and would sure
>> >> > appreciate
>> >> any
>> >> > input.
>> >> >
>> >> > I should add that the 2003 machine is in an NT domain that is in a
>> >> > trust
>> >> > relationship with the 2000 AD. All of which is going to be upgraded
>> >> > soon
>> >> to
>> >> > 2003 AD.
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>>
>>
>
>