PCs dont show up in network neighborhood

[NetWareHead]

This baffles me completely... Say we have a win2k domain. The user workstations are either win2k or xp. All the machines were disjoined from the domain...the domain controllers were replaced with entirely new servers. This wasn't a migration at all.

The new servers all have win2k adv server, a new domain was created but with the same domain name as the previous domain. Then the workstations were rejoined to the new domain. Now when browsing through network neighborhood, all the servers are there and only some of the workstations. Some workstations are not represented in net neighborhood but it is possible to browse to them using a UNC path (\\workstation). Others are not browseable at all.

The workstations are more or less identically built...MS client, DHCP and default settings. Most of them have file and print sharing disabled but enabling does not show them in net neighborhood.

Someone suggested to me that this was a problem with the SID of the machine, since we are joining a new domain with the same name as the old one. I've tried changing the SID on a machine and it worked but on another machine it didn't. Can anyone steer me down the correct track? Thanks in advance

 

[loup garou]

So when you changed the SIDs, the machines it "worked on" showed up in Network Neighborhood? What did you use to change the SID? If it was NewSID from sysinternals, I've never had success with XP machines with that. If so, try using sysprep (reseal) with minisetup. Don't join them to the domain until after minisetup. Sometimes that's the only thing that will work for me when I have domain SID problems.

 

[gunrunnerjohn]

GhostWalker that comes with Norton GHOST might solve the problem too.

 

[NetWareHead]

Originally posted by: werk
So when you changed the SIDs, the machines it "worked on" showed up in Network Neighborhood? What did you use to change the SID? If it was NewSID from sysinternals, I've never had success with XP machines with that. If so, try using sysprep (reseal) with minisetup. Don't join them to the domain until after minisetup. Sometimes that's the only thing that will work for me when I have domain SID problems.

Changing the SID only worked on some of the machines...some showed back up in net neighborhood and others didnt. I did use sysinternals NewSID. Actually the machines that I got to re-join net neighborhood were XP machines. I left the domain, changed the SID, deleted the computer account from active directory, then I rejoined the domain. Do you have a link for sysprep? We need these machines to be showing in net neighborhood so veritas remote agent can back them up along with some antivirus stuff. Thanks for the help

 

[NetWareHead]

Originally posted by: gunrunnerjohn
GhostWalker that comes with Norton GHOST might solve the problem too.

Will look into...thanks

 

[loup garou]

Originally posted by: NetWareHead

Originally posted by: werk
So when you changed the SIDs, the machines it "worked on" showed up in Network Neighborhood? What did you use to change the SID? If it was NewSID from sysinternals, I've never had success with XP machines with that. If so, try using sysprep (reseal) with minisetup. Don't join them to the domain until after minisetup. Sometimes that's the only thing that will work for me when I have domain SID problems.

Changing the SID only worked on some of the machines...some showed back up in net neighborhood and others didnt. I did use sysinternals NewSID. Actually the machines that I got to re-join net neighborhood were XP machines. I left the domain, changed the SID, deleted the computer account from active directory, then I rejoined the domain. Do you have a link for sysprep? We need these machines to be showing in net neighborhood so veritas remote agent can back them up along with some antivirus stuff. Thanks for the help

Sysprep is on the xp cd under support/tools/deploy.cab. You can also download it from MS, just search the site. It's really a tool for preparing an install for imaging, but I've used it after the fact to fix images that I or colleagues forgot to sysprep before imaging (whoops ). When you run it, it'll shut down the system, then you'll go through a short setup (like an oem setup), and a new sid will be generated (as long as you don't use the nosidgen switch). Just search the MS KB for sysprep and read up on it, you can do tons with it, it's a great little tool.

The steps you took were exactly the same as when I tried to use NewSID, but it never worked for me, weird! Another way to track down if it's a SID problem is to try to remotely manage the systems from the domain controller.