I've just installed Windows 7 for evaluation. I noticed that as with Vista and Windows 2008 the comments column is no longer available in the Network browse list. I'm not sure why this feature has been dropped from newer releases of both the Windows desktop and server platforms in that it is most useful when working in a corporate IT environment where a naming convention is used to name systems. If you have a naming convention which does not include the name of a person to whom a computer may be assigned, then trying to find an individual's machine by using the browse list becomes impossible. If you use a naming convention that does include a user's name then you can potentially find that you are constantly changing computer names as people come and go. I dont normally spend much time posting in system related forums. However I dont know how else to try and make a point. A point that I hope makes its way to a concerned developer/decision maker at Microsoft. Are you listening Microsoft? Some of the concerns we have in adopting these newer Windows systems for use in our corporate environment are issue of compatibility with legacy applications and changes to the environment that makes managing a network that much more difficult. I would suggest that if you want better/faster corporate acceptance of your newer versions of Windows that you keep those of us faced with the issues created by what you decide to leave out of future releases in mind. Itis a shame, to me anyway, that I have to resort to copying code from my old Windows XP systems to my new Windows 7 systemjust to get back the useful features that were left behind.

Hi,Windows 2008 and Vista contains a bug in the computer browser service. The service "forget" to collect the srvcomment from lanmanserver. I had opened a PSS case for that. But, for 2008 and Vista, there is no plan to fix it. The problem may only happen, if the PDC-Emluator (Domain Master Browser) in your domain is a Windows 2008 DC. Microsoft had say, this will be fixed in Windows 2008 R2. But currently, I had no time to check that.Zahni

Zahni,Thanks for the information. For me having the missing comments column available on a server would be nice but it's more important the it be made available on the workstation/PC platforms. The workstation platform is our primary tool used to manage our domain. The problem exists in the version of Windows 7 I downloaded from technet. So we wait... DCC

Hi, Based on my research, I think this should be a design change since Windows Vista. For more information, please just refer to the following document: Explore the features: Networking (Please note the section Network Explorer.) Thanks.Nicholas Li - MSFT

Thanks for the information, Nicholas. The note you referanced is informative in that it tells me that Microsoft took away a feature that was very useful in managing large networks. Networks in which naming conventions and standards are used which don't contain user names and/or location information. My orginal comment still stands...

You must know about the Computer Browser works. The Domain Master Browser (the DC with the PDC emulator) collects the browsing informations from the local master browser in a network segment (IP subnet). Clients always uses the browser list from the domain master browser, if available. If this system Windows 2008, the "computer description" is removed. I had openend a PSS case about that.Microsoft has been acknowledged this as bug, but have no plan to fix it in Windows 2008. This should be fixed in 2008 R2. But, currently, I can't migrate our PDC-Eumlator to 2008 R2 to test that.BTW: The new features in Vista are not working over IPV4 router hops...

Do you know if this problem was fixed in 2008 R2? I can't seem to find any documentation that specifically addresses this issue. thanks.

I know this thread is a little old, but if the answer is still sought .......... I've been looking for an answer to this myself, and quite by accident, I have come across a solution that works for me. Tested on Win 7 32bit. Using a Win XP machine, I created a shortcut to my Domain group at Work, and at Home, I created a shortcut to 'Workgroup' (i.e., a shortcut to the network group, not an individual computer), which I placed on my desktop. When I upgraded to Win 7, I copied my previous desktop from XP onto my Win 7 desktop, and the Network group shortcuts were copied as well. When I clicked on the 'Workgroup' shortcut - surprise - I had 'Name' , 'Type' and 'Comment' columns available to me - and the 'Comments' column was sortable into name order. ........ hope that works for you if you wish to try it. (NOT tested on Vista or Win 7 64bit)

Hello, It's work fine on Win 7 64bits ;) ! Thanks !!!!