Why some computers can't seem to use the proper NetBIOS data

[palswim]

Why do I post a problem I have already solved? I want to provide a solution to anyone who may experience the same thing and I would like to have a record of what I did in case I ever encounter this problem again.

My sister bought an HP/Compaq laptop (I forget which brand) with Vista (Home Premium), and I helped her set it up. As with all of my family's computing, I want to offer assistance if I can, but since I don't live in the same house, I can't always diagnose/troubleshoot something at a moment's notice. So, I've found an administrative account/Hamachi/Remote Desktop combination that suits my needs very well and conveniently allows me to remotely administer their machines.

For some reason though, I could never access her computer by its NetBIOS name (the "Computer Name", as Windows calls it). I could access it by its IP address(es), but something was obviously wrong, as I could access every other computer by their NetBIOS names. Also, on her computer, I could access other computers again, by IP addresses, but not by computer names. On her computer, I could even see the computers appear in the "Network Computers", but I would get a Not Found error whenever I would click on them.

So, this bothered me for quite a while, and I could never find any helpful information about it. Today, I ran "ipconfig /all" on her machine, like I have many times, but noticed this line:

Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Peer-Peer

I checked a few other machines, and for each of them, their node type was either "Unknown" (XP) or "Hybrid" (Vista).

Now that I had some direction, I did some searching and encountered these helpful articles:
http://networking.nitecruzr.ne...resolution-on-lan.html
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/903267/

I followed the articles' instructions, and now, I can access my sister's laptop through her computer name and her laptop can resolve NetBIOS names as well! So, my theory is that the vendor (HP or Compaq) had that setting in there for some inane reason (or perhaps, to aid some bloatware's operation), not thinking that their customers would ever want to use WINS/NetBIOS.

But, I hope that someone, somewhere, sometime can use the time it took me to find all of this information to more quickly solve a similar problem.

So, if you have read all of this, and the only thing you can think to post are "good for you" or "", then this post is not for you. But, if you have no idea why a computer isn't acting like a normal networked machine, then you have found the right place!

Cliffs:
- Sister's laptop couldn't handle NetBIOS because of "Node Type" setting in registry (see articles).

 

[spidey07]

netbios over TCP name resolution is a black art anyway. If every single machine is not configured properly you can have hair pulling adventures.

b-node is correct for home networks. The possible reason that is in there is if it's a business machine where a WINS server is expected to already be in place and the excess broadcasts are not wanted. You should also check your DHCP server as DHCP can and often does set this option. Everything works together and all nodes work together on netbios name resolution and it is not just a computer registry setting.

-edit-
Not to undermine the great finding, but this is one of about a dozen things that should be checked to troubleshoot netbios over TCP name resolution on every single computer and device.

 

[palswim]

Interesting - can DHCP servers set the "Node Type" for the machine on a per-connection basis or can they set it for all connections? If DHCP servers can set that for all connections, then that could really cause problems for computers on more than one network (e.g. Hamachi).

 

[palswim]

Originally posted by: spidey07
Not to undermine the great finding, but this is one of about a dozen things that should be checked to troubleshoot netbios over TCP name resolution on every single computer and device.

Yeah, it was a great finding/relief for me, since I checked so many of the other, easier settings that cause this trouble to most computers I've encountered. (Did I check all dozen? Probably not, but it seemed like it.)

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: palswim
Interesting - can DHCP servers set the "Node Type" for the machine on a per-connection basis or can they set it for all connections? If DHCP servers can set that for all connections, then that could really cause problems for computers on more than one network (e.g. Hamachi).

I "believe" it is a per netbios/TCP workstation and server instance. This is why more than one network interface can reak havoc with netbios name resolution. The "I believe" is because I'm not sure. "net config workstation" and "net config server" will tell you what is up regarding NBT (netbios over TCP).

This is the number one reason to not have multiple networks on a windows machines - it fubars name resolution for NBT which was never designed or intended to have such a thing.