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Duplicate name exists on the network.

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16 replies

by gdatir

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I've a NT 4.0 PDC & BDCs. I've mixed win95,98, winnt4.0 & win2k clients. I've DHCP & WINS server configured for name resolution.
Till now all the win2k clients configured with wins to connect to the winnt 4.0 domain. Now since last few days the win2k when they start display an error message "A duplicate name exists on the network" & they cannot Authenticate with the PDC. Due to which they cannot access any network drives. Still internet works properly & outlook email works fine. I've checked for any duplicate names in the network. Can anyone help in this regard ??? Pls. help !!!

16 replies

by r. a. caluste

your computer's netbios' name already exists on the network. to resolve this, right click on My Computer, go to Properties, go to Network Identification Tab, go to Properties, and rename your computer. Make sure that the computer name is unique in the network since netbios has a flat namespace.

by gdatir

I've changed the computer name several times & there is no duplication on the network. Thanks for your help buddy.

by michaeltubs

The name specified may be the Username. If you have created a user account on the Win2k machines locally as well as on the Server this message will appear. This will also cause the typical profile problem of profilename.domain or profilename.000 also caused by recreating the profile without deleting the original.

by gdatir

Thanks for the help. More calification from my side. I've changed the computer name several times & there is no duplication on the network. The computer name & username are different & there is no user account on the local machine. Also note this ishappening on all win2k machines in the network. Can you think of anything else pls ????? suggestions are welcome !!!

by gdatir

Thanks for the help. More calification from my side. I've changed the computer name several times & there is no duplication on the network. The computer name & username are different & there is no user account on the local machine. Also note this ishappening on all win2k machines in the network. Can you think of anything else pls ????? suggestions are welcome !!!

by gperrie

Have you tried removing the PC from the domain, deleting the computer account from server manager then readding the PC to the domain?

I've only ever seen that message when trying to add a PC to a domain using a name I had before but didn't removefrom server manager.

I couldn't explain why it would happen suddenly though.

Gavin

by deltree

Try deleting these entries (duplicate names) in your WINS server. Then reregister your W2K workstations with WINS.

by mike mullins

I'd definitely go with a WINS problem. Read
MS article Q242053 on Duplicate Names on the Network. It will help you to clean up your WINS.
Good Luck
0bytes

by motleykrue

Certainly sounds like a name resolution issue.
go to a cmd prompt and run nbtstat with the -R switch. this will reload the cache on the machine.. If you use the -C switch it display the contents of the cache and -c will display the contents of the global cache.
I've seen the same before which used to ooccur internittantly on a network i used to look after and i think we found it to be a netbios resolution issue. Clear the cache on all the W2K machines.. Check you wins & dns database as well.

by motleykrue

Certainly sounds like a name resolution issue.
go to a cmd prompt and run nbtstat with the -R switch. this will reload the cache on the machine.. If you use the -C switch it display the contents of the cache and -c will display the contents of the global cache.
I've seen the same before which used to ooccur internittantly on a network i used to look after and i think we found it to be a netbios resolution issue. Clear the cache on all the W2K machines.. Check you wins & dns database as well.

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