WINS reports different Master Browser

We are in a mixed mode AD environment with 2 2003 DC's and 3 2000 DC's.
Cleints range from 95 to XP. One of the 2000 DC's hold the PDC Emulator role
and browstat status shows it to be the domain master browser which is what I
want for the down level clients. But WINS is reporting one of the 2003 DC's
as the master browser. The server it reports also is our primary WINS
server. Does it matter what WINS reports? Can this entry in WINS be deleted
and a new entry added for the domain master browser by importing a host file
entry?

Which paticular reference are you referring to in WINS?
Domain name 1b?

"Jeff M" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:
> We are in a mixed mode AD environment with 2 2003 DC's and 3 2000 DC's.
> Cleints range from 95 to XP. One of the 2000 DC's hold the PDC Emulator
> role
> and browstat status shows it to be the domain master browser which is what
> I
> want for the down level clients. But WINS is reporting one of the 2003
> DC's
> as the master browser. The server it reports also is our primary WINS
> server. Does it matter what WINS reports? Can this entry in WINS be
> deleted
> and a new entry added for the domain master browser by importing a host
> file
> entry?

Yes, the 1b entry. It is really odd. I ran the browstat command line
utility and it is reporting the correct server, but WINS says it is one of
the 2003 DC's. So do I believe the browstat utility or what WINS is
reporting?

"Michael Giorgio - MVP" wrote:

> Which paticular reference are you referring to in WINS?
> Domain name 1b?
>
> "Jeff M" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:
> > We are in a mixed mode AD environment with 2 2003 DC's and 3 2000 DC's.
> > Cleints range from 95 to XP. One of the 2000 DC's hold the PDC Emulator
> > role
> > and browstat status shows it to be the domain master browser which is what
> > I
> > want for the down level clients. But WINS is reporting one of the 2003
> > DC's
> > as the master browser. The server it reports also is our primary WINS
> > server. Does it matter what WINS reports? Can this entry in WINS be
> > deleted
> > and a new entry added for the domain master browser by importing a host
> > file
> > entry?
>
>
>

Open a dos prompt on each machine listed and run nbtstat -n.
Look at the output. The PDC will register the domain name 1b
unique name. Are they both registering the name?

"Jeff M" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:
> Yes, the 1b entry. It is really odd. I ran the browstat command line
> utility and it is reporting the correct server, but WINS says it is one of
> the 2003 DC's. So do I believe the browstat utility or what WINS is
> reporting?
>

Ok, did that and found something interesting. On the server that browstat
shows is the master browser it shows the 1b record but its status is CONFLICT
not REGISTERED. I knew this was where the problem lies, now I am just not
sure as how to fix it?

"Michael Giorgio - MS MVP" wrote:

> Open a dos prompt on each machine listed and run nbtstat -n.
> Look at the output. The PDC will register the domain name 1b
> unique name. Are they both registering the name?
>
> "Jeff M" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:
> > Yes, the 1b entry. It is really odd. I ran the browstat command line
> > utility and it is reporting the correct server, but WINS says it is one of
> > the 2003 DC's. So do I believe the browstat utility or what WINS is
> > reporting?
> >
>
>
>

Hi Jeff,

I need more information: What OS is running on each of these two
machines? The domain environment e.g., NT 4.0, W2k, or W2k3?

"Jeff M" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news

> Ok, did that and found something interesting. On the server that browstat
> shows is the master browser it shows the 1b record but its status is
> CONFLICT
> not REGISTERED. I knew this was where the problem lies, now I am just not
> sure as how to fix it?

I think we were able to resolve the issue by disabling the browser service on
both 2003 DC's and editing the registry so they would not hold the master
browser list. Also we removed the 1B entry in WINS, let it replicate,
rebooted the 2000 DC and did an nbtstat -RR, and after it replicated it now
is the proper master browser. I am waiting to see if this now resolves the
issues we were seeing with down level clients be able to access resources
correctly, get properly authenticated etc. Will update this later on. We
are a running an AD with 2 2003 DC's and 3 2000 DC's. One of the 2003 DC's
holds all of the FSMO roles except for the PDC emulator role as the down
level clients need it for backwards compatibility. Thanks for your help and
I will update this later as to whether or not this fixed the issue.

"Michael Giorgio - MS MVP" wrote:

> Hi Jeff,
>
> I need more information: What OS is running on each of these two
> machines? The domain environment e.g., NT 4.0, W2k, or W2k3?
>
> "Jeff M" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news
>
> > Ok, did that and found something interesting. On the server that browstat
> > shows is the master browser it shows the 1b record but its status is
> > CONFLICT
> > not REGISTERED. I knew this was where the problem lies, now I am just not
> > sure as how to fix it?
>
>
>

Good luck!. Thanks for the update.

"Jeff M" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:.
>I think we were able to resolve the issue by disabling the browser service
>on
> both 2003 DC's and editing the registry so they would not hold the master
> browser list. Also we removed the 1B entry in WINS, let it replicate,
> rebooted the 2000 DC and did an nbtstat -RR, and after it replicated it
> now
> is the proper master browser. I am waiting to see if this now resolves
> the
> issues we were seeing with down level clients be able to access resources
> correctly, get properly authenticated etc. Will update this later on. We
> are a running an AD with 2 2003 DC's and 3 2000 DC's. One of the 2003
> DC's
> holds all of the FSMO roles except for the PDC emulator role as the down
> level clients need it for backwards compatibility. Thanks for your help
> and
> I will update this later as to whether or not this fixed the issue.