Vista/Windows 7 Browsing
Can anybody point me to documentation on how Vista/Windows 7 browses the network? It doesn't seem to conform to the old standard methodology of using a Domain Controller as the Domain Master Browser, and a backup browser on each subnet forwarding lists for the DMB to merge and send back. In fact, I've seen in the Windows7 group its fellow computers into a different clique from XP and W2K machines on the same local network. Is there a different mechanism at work?
September 9th, 2010 5:58pm

Hi, Please check if the following articles can give you any hints: Windows Vista Networking Troubleshooting the Microsoft Computer Browser Service Description of the Microsoft Computer Browser Service What Is Computer Browser Service? Regards, Sabrina Please remember to click “Mark as Answer” on the post that helps you, and to click “Unmark as Answer” if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.
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September 14th, 2010 1:01pm

Sabrina, JM: I will follow the links. Does Win7 actually have a distinct service for browsing? Yes, under services, "Computer Browser". I believe the default on Windows 7 is set to Manual.Visit: anITKB.com, an IT Knowledge Base.
September 14th, 2010 3:38pm

If you have a predominately dominated pre-Vista/2008 systems, you'll need to start the computer browser service on these systems, which are now set to manual/disabled by default. Windows is moving away from the traditional Browse Lists, which really have been very unreliable, especially on large, complex networks. I have tried to get this service/concept running within a reasonable operational range for years. I have given up. Visit: anITKB.com, an IT Knowledge Base.
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September 14th, 2010 4:58pm

Sabrina, JM: I will follow the links. Does Win7 actually have a distinct service for browsing?
September 14th, 2010 8:53pm

I have not fully tested the possible solutions. Here is some background information. Microsoft deployed ADS (Active Directory Service) capability with their Windows 2000 Server operating system. Microsoft released their NT Domain services with Windows NT. ADS uses dynamic DNS to register and resolve hostname-addresses. NT Domain uses NetBIOS and WINS to resolve hostname-addresses. Herein lies the perplexing issues on how to get these two network addressing families to gracefully coexist. Microsoft has deprecated some of the NetBIOS support with their Longhorn development. NetBIOS support may not be fully operational in the Vista, 2008, and Windows 7 operating systems. There may be some unfortunate tweaks that need to be made for Vista, 2008, and Windows 7 to coexist on a network with XP and Win2K machines. Microsoft seems to expect that all of their computers have full-time access to a working DNS server. Active Directory Service requires a functional Dynamic-DNS Service. Workstations make their name.domain and ip-address known to the Dynamic-DNS. This is the new paradigm for finding workstations. The "domain" part of ADS (IS NOT THE NT DOMAIN) but is an internet domain. For machines not members of an internet domain, you may try using "local" for your domain. Windows NT Domains used NetBIOS browse lists and WINS servers to locate machines and shared resources. NetBIOS names are limited to 15 characters; the sixteenth character is a binary NetBIOS type code. What some of the Microsoft techs are saying is that you should provide a WINS service to which your Vista, Win7, and 2008 machines subscribe in order to have good integrated access with your XP and Win2K machines. DNS and/or WINS is used to locate the machines, and NetBIOS is still required to share directories and resources on computers. On your Vista, Win7 and 2008 machines, you should enable NetBIOS over TCP -- but this still does not adequately resolve browsing issues. NetBIOS browsing may often take 15-30 minutes to synchronize after a local master browser negotiation has started. I have seen a reluctance of Vista, Win7 and 2008 machines to participate in the construction of local network browse lists. You will probably need to make sure that your WINS server is also registered in your DDNS. Note also that Active Directory domains follow the Internet (dotted) domain naming convention. The Microsoft NT Domains are limited to a 15-character NetBIOS name. DNS name components are allowed to be 63 characters in length, but computer names longer than 15 characters are incompatible with the NetBIOS naming conventions and the NetBIOS sharing of resources. Good systems are supportable
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September 14th, 2010 9:26pm

Hmm. I will have to check my DDNS. My domain, the internal domain, is .local. I will have to examine the situation.
September 21st, 2010 4:30pm

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