Hi all, I have a home office network, with a windows 2003 Server Domain. The domain Netbios name is, for the sake of argument: CJB Previously, I have had only windows XP, windows 2000 and Windows 2003 machines on the network. For some people here, I did not want to have full control over their individual machines, so I did not join them to the domain. On said machines, I just set them to join a workgroup with the same name as the domain's Netbios name: CJB This works fine, I maintain their credentials in the domain to match their username and password on their local machines, and as such we have shared folders on the file server, etc. My Network Places, or NET VIEW on any of these machines shows all the machines in my purview. UNTIL NOW. For some reason, when I set my new Dell Precision M4400 mobile workstation to a workgroup matching the domain name, it dissappears from the NET VIEW list. Change it back to the "WORKGROUP" workgroup, and it comes up in NET VIEW /DOMAIN:WORKGROUP or under My Network Places again. I am running a WINS server Something I see is that There is an entry with a Record Name of CJB and a Type of "Normal Group Name" for one of the two IPs associated with the windows 7 machine. (I have a wifi and a wired connection right now) I don't understand it. I have used Windows XP on a Thinkpad t43 with wired and wireless connections in the same scenario for YEARS and never had this weirdness. Doing a net view FROM THE WINDOWS 7 MACHINE ITSELF DOES NOT SHOW ITSELF!! Advanced sharing has everything enabled, windows managing homegroup stuff, (though I am not in a homegroup) I Joined a homegroup when I first got the machine because I had no idea what it was and thought it was just another example of repackaging something that was already there (like the changes to the start menu from 2000 to XP) It was happening with that, and I left the homegroup, and it is still happening. Any ideas?

You have to make sure that either your laptop's network profile is public or home/work. Every time you reconnect the network sharing settings are restored to the default, which means though you have enabled the network discovery once, it again goes disabled when you disconnect and again reconnect. So, every time you have to check these settings. Turn off password protection in both public and home/work profile and see the results. Check that you are using an Antivirus which has built-in firewall and is blocking the network connectivity. This happens in McAfee 2009 and later versions. If so then you have to allow the network address. Run command prompt and check that you can ping your network PCs. If you can't ping then it is likely to be a firewall blocking. If your Network and Sharing Center shows Homegroup enabled, then check that whether network discovery is enabled or not. *** Domain name "WORKGROUP" works well when you connect a PC running Windows 7 with a PC running Windows XP, and when your Network profile is Home/Work. Don't use this name when your network profile is Public.

Thanks for the reply ArupRatan!My profile in this case is homeNetwork discovery is enabled because I can see all hosts on the local subnet When I use Explorer on the Windows 7 machine.Password protection has been tested ON and OFF with reboots in betweenAntivirus has been enabled AND disabled in all iterations aboveCan ping all hosts, all hosts can ping my windows 7 machineHomegroup has been enabled AND disabled in all permutations (I am relatively certain)In no case has my network profile been Public in this scenario.Windows firewall has been turned off AND Avast antivirus has been disabled and the problem persisted (network profile was HOME)Thanks again.

Do you use a switch/hub to connect your laptop to the workgroup? Is the ethernet interface of the switch on which you're connecting the laptop working properly? Or, you are connecting to another PC in the workgroup which has two NIC cards and you are plugging in to one NIC and the PC is acting as a bridge?Is it possible to send the entire network topology so that I can pinpoint the problem? Just draw how each PC is connected with another using any program like MS Word/Illustrator and save it in a JPEG file and send it here if you want, arup@windowslive.com. In the topology please mention the Windows versions of each machine in details (e.g. Windows XP Professional, Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit/32-bit).

Ok, let's further qualify this. I have two different Active Directory domain deployments now that have the problem.. I have a client that has a 2003 R2 DC based domain. All windows 7 64 bit workstations and laptops refuse to show up when you use NET VIEW from the command line. All other workstations show up. I have another pristine new network, all servers and workstations going into the same dell 48 port gigabit ethernet switch. The DCs are both Server 2008 R2 all the windows 2008 R2 servers (both DCs, the application server, and the mail server) show up when you do a NET VIEW from the command line. The Windows 7 Professional 64bit Dell optiplex 790 which is joined to the domain will not show up in NET VIEW.. This is now consistent across three different sites, with different conditions, and no amount of googling will give me a straight answer. Since the description field has been removed from Windows Explorer in windows 7, and now NET VIEW is not even an option, I cannot tell which machines are on the network at present, and a hugely useful tool for identifying machines (hostnames are based on the model-servicetag ) is now glaringly missing.. What is up? how do you make sure NET VIEW will display all machines in your active directory domain, including windows 7 64 bit ones???? Thanks.