We have just moved the PDC emulator role to our 2k8 machine, we have the "computer browser" service turned on. Also, we have a 2k8 machine running WINS (newly setup yesterday). But for some reason when we browse the network through "My Network Places" on XP, we can't see any of the "comments" we've made on our computers. the "Comments Column" is completely empty now.Anyone experience this? Anyone know what steps to take to get the comments to show back up in the "Comments Column"?

Hi, This issue was caused by Computer Browser service on Windows Server 2008. Currently, the only way to get back Comments column is to disable Computer Browser on Windows Server 2008. I suggest you to do so since all clients or server can hold the Browser Mater role. Moreover, disabling Computer Browser service seems have no side effect. If there is error after you disable it, please let us know the detailed error message. Thanks.

So what would be the answer if we wanted to keep the "Comments Column" and also have a 2k8 server only environment?Also, does anyone know what the "Computer Browser" service in 2k8 is doing differently than the same service in 2k3?

Hi,What do you mean by "have a 2k8 server only environment"? Are all your server and member systems Windows Server 2008? If it is a Windows 2008 Server with other Windows system clients, you can disable Computer Browser on Windows Server 2008. Create a shortcut of your network which can be found in XPs My Network Places. Copy this shortcut to all other systems. They should have Comments when open this shortcut.If all your systems are Windows Server 2008, we may cannot keep "Comments" column. Thanks.

I apologize. I meant to say: an environment with both servers and clients. The clients would all be XP, and the servers would all be 2k8 servers.How would I create the shortcut you mentioned and how exactly would the comments be there? Do I need WINS? Would WINS then be maintaining the comments? If so, does the 2k8 WINS server need the "Computer Browser" service turned off?If all my servers in a client/server xp/2k8 environment, will I be able to keep the comments column?

Hi,You can keep the comments column in a client/server XP/2k8 environment. You dont need WINS server to maintain Comments. Computer Browser on Windows 2008 server must be turned off to have Comments.You can follow the steps below to create shortcut:=========================From an XP computer on your domain, create a shortcut to your network:1. Open My Network Places2. Click "Entire Network" on the left.3. Open "Microsoft Windows Network"4. Right-click your network and click "Create Shortcut"5. Copy this shortcut to others systems. Thanks.

I don't understand how this works if my PDC emulator is a 2k8 machine. The PDC emulator is by default a uber master browser. If the computer browsing service is turned off, how does any netbios data get replicated anywhere?

Hi,Yes, youre right. If youre using multiple subnets network topology, we cannot use this workaround to disable WINS and Computer Browser on Windows 2008 Servers. Currently, we cannot keep Comments in an environment that needs Windows Server 2008 Domain Master Browser. I am sorry for the inconvenience. I will report this issue to our product team. Thanks.

I have 2 2k8 WINS servers now on both subnets, and the names are populating, but the comments fields are still vacent. Is this still a problem with 2k8 even though I have 2 wins servers up?

Has there been a true resolution to this issue yet? I am still having the same issue either with the Computer Browser service running or not running, the remarks simply do not appear.

HelloI've the same issue on the same environnement can someone help us ? We have a lot of computers and we use Dameware for accessing them and it's so difficult to see which computer is it without comments...I try to stop Computer Browsing but it's the same way too...Thank you

Any update on this issue?

I had now a response from PSS:This is a bug. It it will be fixed in Windows 2008 R2 only.There is currently no plan to fix it in 2008 (without R2).Have anyone a high "business impact" ? They should be open a case.

Hi again,down anyone knows how to move the "domain matser browser" from the PDC-Emulator to a Windows 2003 member Server. I found now way to do that.The Domain Master Browser must run on the PDC-Emulator. An other server never register the 1B record on WINS. If an domain only runs 2008 DC's, i found no workaround.

We still have a 2003 Domain and have just started introducing Windows 7 clients into the domain and have noticed that with the current release of Windows 7 it still does not have the Computer dexcription/comment field displayed when browsingnetwork using the detail view. There does not even seem to be an option for this in this release. Is this a bug? as you noted on a previous post related to the OS and or is this something Microsoft is patching? It certainly is a well know feature for all those IT admins out there when it comes to organization and locating machines on the network. Just curioous if anyone has any updated info on this issue.Thanks-

All though you can not see any description/comment field on the Windows 7 computer, you can added the comment field in the registry on the Windows 7 computer so you can see the description on the domain list on a XP computer. The comment field "SVRCOMMENT" should be added to the HKLM\systems\crrentcontrolset\services\lanmanserver\parameters, this is a REG_SZ type field.

Again, any update on this issue? We have windows XP Clients on a Windows 2008 domain on 2 subnets. Most of the machines are on the same subnet as the domain controllers. What would happen if Computer Browser were disabled on the DCs? We used to name the machines with their asset tag number and comment them according to their location in the office. It is much easier to change the comment than to rename the machines when moving them. I can tolerate being able to see the comments on the scores of machines on the local subnet even if the 2 or 3 machines on the other subnet have no comments visible.

Export this command to a text file from a command promt: net view

Is there any workaround or fix avaliable for 2008 (not R2)?