Computers Are Not Shown Under My Network Places

randy8080 · 11th July 2007

Hello,

In our Domain, we have a Windows 2003 Domain Controller that handles DNS, and a handful of member servers that run Windows 2003 SP2.

One of our servers, SERVER1 crashed. I rebuilt the server, and rejoined it to our Domain (I erased the old SERVER1 account in Active Directory before rejoining it. For some reason, this server is having a problem browsing the network when I click on the "My Network Places" icon. I click on the "My Network Places" icon, then I click "Entire Network" then "Microsoft Windows Network". Our domain name shows up, and when I double click on it, I get the following error message:

Domain 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 permissions. The list of servers for this workgroup is not currently available

The weird thing is that I can browse the network using explorer, example: \\server2\share. It is only when I use the My Network Places that I cannot browse to the other computers in our Domain.

I thought that it might be a DNS issue, so I checked the Forward Lookup Zone in our DNS server, and I saw the record with the servers name and correct IP address. I checked the Event Viewer of our DNS server, and did not see anything out of the ordinary. However, there was a warning message in the Event Viewer of SERVER1:
Event Type: Warning
Event Source: DnsApi
Event Category: None
Event ID: 11164
Date: 7/10/2007
Time: 10:07:23 AM
User: N/A
Computer: SERVER1
Description:
The system failed to register host (A) resource records (RRs) for network adapter
with settings:

Adapter Name : {1B9F2167-1CA9-4989-B1CD-XXXXXXXXXXXX}
Host Name : SERVER1
Primary Domain Suffix : DOMAIN.ORG
DNS server list :
10.50.1.2
Sent update to server : <?>
IP Address(es) :
10.50.1.3

The reason the system could not register these RRs was because either (a) the DNS server does not support the DNS dynamic update protocol, or (b) the authoritative zone for the specified DNS domain name does not accept dynamic updates.

To register the DNS host (A) resource records using the specific DNS domain name and IP addresses for this adapter, contact your DNS server or network systems administrator.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: b4 05 00 00

I also did some research on the internet, and found this article:
http://www.serverforumz.com/clients-...pict45052.html
This has nothing to do with DNS. The list in My Network Places comes
from the computer browser service, which is an NT legacy application and
uses Netbios names, not DNS names. First off, make sure that Netbios over TCP/IP is enabled on the server. Look under the WINS tab in the advanced TCP/IP settings of the NIC properties. Have you made any changes to the DC lately? Enabling remote access on a DC can upset the browser service.

I followed the directions above, and I am still having the same problem.

I am running out of ideas, and I am not sure what else to do. All of the other computers in our Domain are not having this problem. The Server is able to share printers, map network drives, and share folders with no problem at all. The only problem is trying to browse the Domain via the "My Network Places/Entire Network" Please help&thank you!

Randy

**Bursley** · 24th July 2007

On your domain controller(s), make sure they have DNS configured and installed properly. Meaning DNS service is started, and has a domain name registered for your AD domain. Then make sure your network properties sheet (IP Address configuration) shows DNS as your domain controllers DNS server. If you have an ISP for DNS, your DNS server should be configured to point to that DNS server as a forwarder.
Finally, make sure all other servers and clients use your DC DNS server as their DNS server.

DNS is the primary cause of networking issues in Active Directory domains. Active Directory relies on DNS for Kerberos authentication. If Kerberos doesn't have all of its services properly registered in DNS, other Kerberos dependant services won't work properly either. One of those is network browsing.

randy8080 · 24th July 2007

Thank you for your reply, but I figured out what the problem was.

I used the nbtstat -r, and I noticed that there was a 0 in the "resolved by name server". I went into the Advanced TCP/IP settings WINS tab, and put the DNS server IP address in it, and it worked.