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August 2, 2005

Windows Hell - Configuring a Laptop for Both Paranoid and Manic-Depressive Networks

by Ferdinand T Cat

Many of you have a local area network at home, with one or more computers hooked up to a thing called a router or a hub. (The difference is that the router also connects to the Internet.) One of the most important functions of a network is that you can go to My Network Places and see all the printers and shared document folders currently connected to you via the magic of Ethernet. Occasionally, you'll go to your network places and it will be empty except for the suspicious-looking MSN butterfly icon. If you try clicking on the little View workgroup computers button to see the computers near you on the network, you'll get a nasty message telling you that Windows is unable to browse the network and you may not have permission to use this resource. If you're an old-timer like Bruce, you may try going to a DOS prompt to execute a net view command. This will give you a system error 6118.

None of these messages tell you the real reason for the problem. The real reason is that your computer is configured for a paranoid network and you're trying to connect it to a manic-depressive one.

Windows XP has two mechanisms for finding out what's on the network. The most common is the manic-depressive or browser broadcast protocol. The idea is that one computer on the network is designated as the master browser and keeps the list of everybody connected. When a new computer tries to look at the network, it searches for a master browser. If it can't find one, it may decide to be the master browser itself. If you look at the event log for the network, you'll see a flurry of messages involving computers gleefully grabbing master status or trying to get it and being rejected.

The other mechanism is the paranoid or WINS Server protocol. In this case, one computer ruthlessly controls the assignment of names and addresses, and each computer that logs on must present itself to the controlling computer or be forever branded an outcast.

If your laptop works at the office and not at home, chances are it's been configured for WINS only and won't participate in the manic-depressive broadcasting that characterizes the home network.

There's an easy way to find out if this is the problem. Use cmd from the Start, Run prompt and type in ipconfig /all. If your Node type is peer-peer you're configured for WINS.

To fix this, you need to edit the Windows registry. As always, before editing the registry, you must take proper precautions, including fasting and prayer.

The registry key in question is

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\NetBT\Parameters

You want to change the NodeType value. If the value does not exist, you will need to create it as a DWORD value. Set the value to 4 to try broadcast first and then WINS; set it to 8 to try WINS first and broadcast second. Either way, your laptop should be able to work in both environments.

If you're a Windows user, hopefully you'll never need this information. If you're a Mac user, I'm sure you feel a lot happier about the choices you've made.

Respectfully submitted,

Ferdinand T. Cat


# At Tue 12:04 PM | Permalink | Trackback URI | Comments (2) | More Windows Hell

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Tracked on August 8, 2005 11:03 PM

Comments

I think my iBook snickered as I read this. OTOH, I spent about two hours on my Dell trying to get the CD-ROM to work in DOS. No luck. In Windows 98, the CD driver doesn't load when you boot to a command line. I added a line to my CONFIG.SYS, but still no luck.


Posted by: Bill Ramey at August 2, 2005 3:12 PM

well, i thought maybe you'd answered my question, but no.


Posted by: maggie katzen at August 2, 2005 6:03 PM

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