 | The “Network Neighborhood” on an NT-system works very similar as on a Windows95 system, except that is handled the higher security of NT (usernames). It is based on the Browse-Master concept (because for Microsoft, NT is superior to Windows95/98, so on a network with both NT and Windows9x systems, the NT-systems will always “win” the Browse-master election) |
| If a system is NOT displayed , you need to do some troubleshooting, but it could also be that an NT-system has been hidden (to NOT be displayed in the Network Neighborhood) |
The dialog for mapping a network drive has is similar to Windows95,
but allows in addition to define a different username.
If the Share is not protected by a password or if your Username (and password)
matches the permissions for the share, you have access, otherwise you will
be prompted for a valid username and password:
| If you are connecting to a Windows95/98 share, which is protected with an access-password:  then define in the NT-mapping dialogbox as username “guest” (it really does not matter, any name should work) and as password the proper access-password |
This message indicated, that the requested system is not accessible, in most
case it simply means: it has been switched off !
Once a network drive is mapped with the option to “Reconnect at logon”, it could
cause an error message to be displayed on restart/relogon if the system sharing is not
available.
| If a share is not accessible with the error message: “The device is not ready“, then it could be a removable drive ( like a Floppy disk, CD-ROM , ZIP-drive, Jazz-drive or any other removable media ) , where the media is missing (it could also be a Ghost-share) |
That is now on the negative points of the Microsoft Network Neighborhood:
It can take up to 12 minutes, before a new system is displayed after switching
it on, and it can take even 3 times longer, before a switch-off system disappears
from the Network-Neighborhood.
A solution: a modification in the NT-registry using the key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer
under “Parameters“, create a new key “Announce” as DWORD-value:
The value is in seconds, and to avoid a high network-load due to too many
broadcast-announcing messages, 60 seconds seems to be a good choice
(original source of the information on this registry-key: PC Professional 10/98)
