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computers on the network

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by jdrennenjr 1 view

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Does anyone know of any documentation on XP machines when joining a workgroup or domain are unable to see other computers on the network, then all of the sudden they can, then they can't again and back. Or laptops that are off of the network for a while and when connected back to the network can't see other machines, only themselves? I have encountered this problem with my home network, the one at my office and have heard from other techs with the same issue. If Microsoft has any documentation of this and anyone could point me in the right direction, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

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by joshua.stroud

This issue may related to a DNS problem. Windows XP uses DNS to negotiate shares and computers at user login, and will try this for an overly extended period before trying to use NETBIOS to establish connections.

Do your user logons fron the Windows XP systems to a domain take an excessively long time (greater than 30 seconds)? If so, that is your most likely problem. There are no Knowledgebase articles specific to this issue, but there are some that cover some of the related info to fix the problem. Try these Article IDs from the knowledgebase:

300386 - Use DNS to Find Networked Resources in Windows 2000 Domain

300202 - Configure DNS for Internet Access in Windows 2000 AD

216393 - Resetting Computer Accounts in Win2k and XP

275702 - Logon Delays under Windows 2000 XP (contains a DNS workaround that will force NETBIOS)

If you want to email me a more complete discription of the problem and network configuration, I'll see if I can help you narrow it down.

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