How does the “Network Neighborhood“/”My Computer Places” work ?
Please, spend the time to learn about this, it explains the sometimes strange behavior.
On a network based on Microsoft networking, there MUST be for each workgroup one system
acting as the book-keeper, this system is called the “Browse-Master“.
When you have a network of Windows95/98/ME/2000/XP systems and you switch on these systems,
one of first things done by the network-software is to check on the network for the presence of
a Browse-Master:
– | If no Browse-Master is found, then a Browse-Master is elected. |
– | Only a system with “File-and-Printer Sharing” installed can be elected to become a Browse-Master |
– | On a network with a mixture of Windows95/98.ME and Windows NT/2000/XP systems, the “strongest system” wins the election and becomes the Browse-Master. strength of Windows Versions : – Windows 3.x ————- > “weakess system” – Windows 95 – Windows 98 – Windows ME – Windows NT4 Workstation – Windows 2000 Workstation (internal name : NT 5.0) – Windows XP (internal name : NT 5.1 ) —–> “Strongest system” |
– | On a network with a Windows NT or 2000 server, the server becomes the Browse-Master, ( a server is always “stronger” than a workstation ) |
– | each system sends the list of available shared resources to the Browse-Master: |
if you use the “Network Neighborhood” / “My Network Places” to view the list of available
resources on the network, then your system sends a request to the Browse-Master, which sends
back the list of the available resources back for display:
Important : to be able to use the network, it is required on Windows95/98/ME to have as part of the Network configuration the “Client for Microsoft Networks“ and you must define as “Primary Network Logon” to use the “Client for Microsoft Networks“ |
and when powering on / starting up your system , you must “Logon” to the system using the
Network login (“Enter Network Password” ) :
If you press the ESC-key or click on “Cancel” then you did NOT validate your
network Username and will not have access to the network , i.e. you can not use the
“Network Neighborhood“/”My Computer Places” !
This “Master Browser” configuration and its election process explains now some of the “strange”
behavior of the Network-Neighborhood:
Your own system does NOT have “File-and-Printer Sharing” installed: Your system could not find a “Browse-Master” on the network. | |
Your own system has “File-and-Printer Sharing” installed: Only your own system is displayed, not any other system on the network. |
First: after switching on Windows, it can take a few minutes to elect the Browse-Master,
it may help to close the “Network Neighborhood” and open it again after a few minutes.
Second: when a system is switched on or off later, it can take up to 15 minutes before the
display-list of the Browse-Master is updated (for deatils, see the Resource-kit )
If you are still not getting a proper display, then check the following:
– verify, that all systems are defined to use the SAME workgroup.
– only systems with “File-and-Printer Sahring” installed and SOMETHING shared are displayed.
– test the network connection
There are some network configurations, where you can not use the Network Neighborhood,
like on some Dialup-Network connections (via modem) or when using a Direct-Cable connection.
In such cases, use “Find Computer” to access other systems.
Select in the Windows menu “Find“, then “Computer“, | |
and enter the computername of the system to access , then use “Find Now”. It will search the network, ( not asking the Master Browser) | |
When using “My Network Places”, use the “Search” button and then enter the system, which you like to access (with or without the help of Fido/Rover, the animated dog) | |
( all WIndows versions) You can also search for a system by entering in the RUN- windows (on the windows menu) the computer-name preceeded by double-backslash, like: \\nt4wsp120 |
On networks using TCP/IP-protocol, you can find out which system is acting as Browse-Master.
If you like to control yourself, which system is acting as the Browse-Master :
view the “Properties” of the “File and Printer Sharing“:
by default, the setting for “Browse Master” is “Automatic“, which is causing the systems to
elect a Browse-Master.
You can name a system to be the Browse-Master by changing the “Browse Master” value to
“Enabled“, but then you MUST on ALL other systems in this workgroup change the value
to “Disabled“.