SBS box disappears from "entire network" listing and then reappears?!

[corys1978]

I have a SBS 2K3 box that I use as my file server. I have about 20 users mapped to this box as of right now and I'm attempting to map another 20. Strangely though, sometimes when I browse our network (My Network Places\Entire Network\Microsoft Windows Network\My Domain\) my SBS 2K3 box is MISSING (nowhere to be found in the list). If I go back later and look for it, often times it is there! Now we can still access files via drive mappings as they do not disconnect while it is "missing", the only issue is that I cannot map any other drives during this time. LOL, very, very strange. This is the only machine on my network that does this.

Any suggestions?? Your help is greatly appreciated!

 

[wahnula]

This is the only machine on my network that does this.

Try removing the PC via the Manage PC Wizard in Server Management and rerunning connectcomputer on the problem machine.


Tony

Users helping Users...

 

[corys1978]

I'm not sure what/where you are directing me, I'm sorry.

I wanted to reiterate that on EVERY machine on my network the WK3 box is missing. When its missing on my workstation, its missing on ALL workstations. Its the server that is disappearing, not a workstation.

Given the above clarification, if you believe your suggestion will help, please provide more details if you wouldnt mind. Pardon my ignorance and thank you for your help!

 

[wahnula]

Sorry, I misunderstood, I thought it was just one workstation having the problem of not seeing the mapped drive.

Tony

Users helping Users...

 

[maya14]

Also check for master browser issues.

 

[ShackDaddy]

As long as you know the proper path, \\server\sharename you shouldn't really care whether you can browse to the server. So you should be able to map a drive consistently regardless of what the browse environment looks like. I think it's been more than a year since I've "browsed" to find a share I needed to map, even though I'm talking about 20+ SBS servers.

The browsing environment is maintained by a sort of peer-to-peer environment in which one workstation (typically) builds a list of resources and then the other workstations go to that workstation to get a copy of the list. If that workstation gets rebooted, the list will have to be rebuilt, and you may see things missing from it.

If you care about your browsing environment, start using WINS on your SBS box and make sure that DHCP is handing out WINS information to the clients. Using WINS effectively consolidates and stabilizes the browsing environment.

Dave Shackelford
Shackelford Consulting

 

[corys1978]

Dave,

Wow I cant believe I didnt think of that. I guess all along I've been taking the lazy route.

I dont always know the server name as some can get crazy, however I always know the IP. I wasnt sure whether I could replace \\server\ with \\serverIP\ but I tried it and it worked great.

Easy fix, thanks for the help!