Node Type Changes

when we connect to a client's LAN for I-net access, our Node type changes automatically to "peer-to-peer" (w/ no notice of impending change). When we get back to our office, the changed computer doesn't see the ntwk. and we must use regedit to delete this setting. What's up and is there an easier way to deal w/ this? Note - we have a 10 computer peer-to-peer, mixed ntwk. (98SE, XP Prof.) running TCP/IP, NetBios and IPX/SPX (and a few w/ NetBUEI). Usually everyone can see each other/share files (but access can be slow at times).

 

If you want the best performance from your network, you'd be best using one protocol suite. Nowadays that's most likely to be TCP/IP, with NetBIOS running over that. I'd recommend that you uninstall IPX/SPX (unless you have very old legacy systems - even Novell has run fine over TCP/IP for some time), and definitely get rid of NetBUEI.

If you are running DHCP from a windows server you can set it to change the Node type on connection. You add a scope option "046 "“ WINS/NBNS Node Type" if you are not using WINS, use broadcast mode (0x1).

However, in your mixed environment with old Win98 systems, I'd recommend you use WINS on the server. In this case set the scope option to 0x8 Hybrid and add the scope option "044 "“ WINS/NBNS Servers" set to the IP address of the server.