Cannot browse computers by name over LAN, only by IP
Using XP Pro SP3 I have a Local Area Network in my home. I have systems running XP home, XP Pro, and Vista. All but one can access the Network Attached Storage device (NAS), which is a Seagate DockStar. The DockStar is using Windows NT 4.9 Server. The one system that cannot see the NAS has had problems accessing shares in the past. I have followed some advice and made some registry changes, and now it can see other computers on the network by name, but it still cannot access the NAS by name. Attempts to connect to it by name result in the following error message. "<NAS name> is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this network resource. Contact the Administrator of this server to find out if you have access permission. The network path was not found." Interestingly, I can browse the NAS from this computer by using its IP, rather than its name. None of the other computers on the network has this problem connecting to the NAS. They can all connect to it by name, including another one that has WXP-Pro SP3. What gives? Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. 4 people need an answerI do too
December 21st, 2009 6:59pm

What did you change in the registry? Make sure that NetBIOS over TCP/IP is enabled: 1. Right-click the network connection and click Properties . 2. Double-click Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) . 3. Click Advanced . 4. Click WINS . 5. Select Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP .
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December 22nd, 2009 5:39am

Using XP Home, sp2 (which I am upgrading to SP3 today) I tried what the moderator suggested with no result. The current selection under WINS on both computers was "default" which stated that it enabled NetBIOS when a static IP adress was used, or if the srever did not provide a NetBIOS setting. This is frustrating, these computers used to talk to each other. The one I cannot speak with is the main computer, and has my network storage drive on it, so I cannot access any of the things I used to access on it. All other computers in teh network depend on getting data from it to share music, pictures, etc. TCPIC settings are identical on all computers- All other computers can access each other. I do need to fix this problem.
December 24th, 2009 12:08am

I have three computers, all with Windows XP Home SP3 and are attached to a router which offers DHCP. All of them request DHCP addresses. They all have the same TCP/IP settings (default value for the NetBIOS), but setting them to 'Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP' makes no difference. Two of the computers happily talk to each other all the time and share folders. The third sometimes does talk to the others and, more often, doesn't. When it doesn't I can make it do so by using the IP address, e.g. 192.168.0.5, in Windows Explorer Search. It seems to me that the MSHOME Group, to which all the computers belong, is either not sufficiently well defined in a recognisable place or there is a local (group?) equivalent of DNS lookup which is not working. By the way, I understood that NetBIOS was unnecessary for an all-XP network and was retained for talking to computers with older operating systems.
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January 2nd, 2010 2:08pm

Lets get into troubleshooting mode.1. Disable any antivirus/firewall.2. Check your TCP/IP settings, make sure everything looks good.3. Can you ping it by name or IP?4. If your NAS is set up static, will adding it into the hosts make any difference?5. Update the NIC driver to the latest version.6. Fully update windows.Reply if you have any new information we can work on. I am curious to what you changed in reg.Do you have a DNS server in your home network? Try flushing the DNS and register it and see if that helps on that computer.
January 6th, 2010 1:37am

I got the same problem since a long time. Sometimes it works, but mostly it doesn't. I recently (about one year ago) installed a new laptop with Windows XP/SP3 and on that computer I don't have the problem. I have to mention that the central computer (on which I store my backups) has been installed with Windows 7 Ultimate, on all computer the firewall has been disabled (reason: to cut down a possible source of connection problems).I want to note that this type of problems do NOT exist on a network with a domain configuration. At my home network I use a workgroup called "HOME" on all computers.I already spend days and days on debugging this issue, but it looks to be random...When you add on top of this a couple of wireless problems, it can get very complicated.I really think of re-installing the pc's that have this problem ...Can some explain how communication between computer works in a workgroup? What protocols are required and why? I also thought that Netbios was only used in older OS'es like windows 98.
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February 7th, 2010 8:45pm

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