The Services Running On Your Computer

The various applications, and the many system processes that you see (and some that you don't) all depend upon a third group of programs, called services. Services run independently of who is logged in to a computer; most services start when the computer is started, not after login.

Windows Networking depends heavily upon half a dozen key services, and these services depend upon the presence of key networking components. Depending upon the role played by any computer, it may require some, or all, of these components and services, to work properly.

Most computers in a workgroup will be running as both a client and as a server. All computers using Windows Networking, and not using an alternate transport, should have:

• "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)", in the network items list in Local Area Connection - Properties.
  
• "TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper" service running - Started and Automatic.
  
• "Windows Firewall / Internet Connection Sharing (ICS)" service (for SP2 systems), or "Internet Connection Firewall / Internet Connection Sharing (ICS)" service (for pre-SP2 systems) running - Started and Automatic.

Any computer accessing shared data runs as a client. All clients using Windows Networking should have:

• "Client for Microsoft Networks", in the network items list in Local Area Connection - Properties.
  
• "Workstation" service running - Started and Automatic.

Any computer providing shared data runs as a server. All servers using Windows Networking should have:

• "File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks", in the network items list in Local Area Connection - Properties.
  
• "Server" service running - Started and Automatic.

Any computer accessing or providing shared data (and running as a client, or as a server) will require a computer running the "Computer Browser" service somewhere on the network, to browse for other computers and services, and to be visible to other computers browsing for its services. The "Computer Browser" service will only run on a computer that runs both the "Server" and "Workstation" services (and runs both as a client, and as a server).

If your LAN has a DHCP server (NAT router or dedicated server), and you want this computer to have automatic address assignments, make sure that the DHCP Client service is running - Started and Automatic. To provide networked access to the registry on any computer, and to allow browstat to access the registry, the Remote Registry service must be running. That service isn't available on computers running XP Home, making an "Error 53" normal, when running "browstat status".

When you have a problem with Windows Networking, and you've verified that all computers are physically and logically connected, run CPSServ on each computer, and compare the results from each. CPSServ will identify each key service, and tell you which ones aren't running. In some cases, this will provide clues to your problems.

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File Sharing On A LAN With Two Routers

File sharing on a LAN with a single segment (all computers connected to the same router) is fairly simple. Windows Networking uses Server Message Blocks (SMBs) broadcast between all computers. In most networks, SMBs are transported over IP.

• Browser broadcasts help to advertise the existence of a computer to the others. This enables each computer to be displayed in My Network Places / Network Neighborhood.
  
• Name resolution broadcasts help a computer find out the IP address of another computer. With Windows Networking transporting SMBs over IP, accurate and complete IP information is essential.
  

If you use Windows Networking in its native form, by opening My Network Places, and clicking on a server name, to see a list of its shares, you're using broadcasts. If you try to access a server by name, you're probably using broadcasts.

Now, you can't have every computer in the world broadcasting to every other computer. So, SMB broadcasts, by design, don't pass thru routers. One router = one subnet = one broadcast domain.

What if you need to have two or more routers on your LAN, but you need to have just one broadcast domain, so you can share files everywhere?

• The primary router is to be next to the broadband modem, and you have to run a long cable to another room, with a secondary router, to connect wireless computers in there.
  
• The primary router ran out of ports, so you used the secondary router to add capacity to your LAN.
  
• It's simpler to run 1 cable elsewhere, and share that one cable using a router, than to run 2 (or more) separate cables from the primary router.
  
• Your Internet service includes a modem that can only connect to the primary router. The primary router may be a computer running ICS.
  
• The primary router is a wired router, and the secondary router is wireless.
  

In this example, you've got a pair of routers, and 4 computers. Router 1 is connected to your Internet service. Computers A and B, and Router 2, are all connected to Router1. Computers C and D are connected to Router 2. You have Computers A and B on their subnet (LAN 1), in one broadcast domain, and Computers C and D their subnet (LAN 2), in another broadcast domain.

That's a perfectly reasonable setup for Internet service, but it's not-so-great for file sharing. Computers A and B can see, and access each other. Likewise, Computers C and D can see and access each other. But neither Computer A nor B can see nor access C or D, and vice versa. It would be simpler if you would just get rid of Router 2, connect all computers to Router 1, and everything would be fine.

Maybe using 2 routers is something you just can't avoid, but nobody said that they have to both work as routers. What you do is only use Router 2 as a switch (or a WAP, if it's wireless) - you can still connect the computers to it, but Router 1 will be the only functioning router. It's a simple solution.

If you're lucky, and have a high end NAT router, your router may have a switch - maybe physical, maybe set in the router setup - that will put it into "Access Point Mode" or similar. Check your owners manual.

If not, you simply change the way the router is connected, and used.

In this exercise, the Router 1 LAN is 192.168.0.1, and the Router 2 LAN is 192.168.1.1.

• Don't connect the WAN on Router 2 to anything. Connect a LAN port on Router 1, and Computers C and D, as peers, to a LAN port on Router 2.
  
• Disable the DHCP server on Router 2.
  
• Change the LAN on Router 2 from 192.168.1.1, to 192.168.0.254 (or any other address not in use, and not part of any DHCP scope).
  
• Are you using DHCP on your LAN? If so, make sure that the DHCP server, on router 1, has a scope defined large enough to service all of the computers.
  
• Restart each computer, so it gets a new IP address. This may always not be necessary with Windows XP / Vista, but be prepared to do this.
  

In a variant of this setup, Router 2 is distant from Router 1, and you won't be running Ethernet cables between the two. You'll configure Router 2 the same as in the above scenario, then put it into client mode connected to Router 1 by WiFi. Router 2 then becomes a WiFi bridge client, and provides service to Computers C and D, which connect to it by Ethernet.

And that's all you have to do. Router 1 is the only router (remember, the router has to sit between your LAN and the Internet, so that has to be Router 1). Router 2 still provides connectivity for Computers C and D, but it's working now as a switch (or WiFi AP). And all 4 computers - A, B, C, D - are now on the same broadcast domain, and the same subnet.

For another description of this solution, see DSLR Forums Using a Wireless Router as an Access Point (#11233)

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The Mysterious "Error = 5" aka "Access Denied"

Next to an "error = 53" ("name not found"), I don't know of too many diagnostic messages that can cause so much confusion or uncertainty in the heart of your desktop / network support tech.

An error = 5 ("0x80070005" in Windows Vista) message comes in a number of circumstances.

• In a "browstat status" log.
  
• In a Network Neighborhood display.
  
• In Windows Explorer.
  

Unlike the "error = 53", however, the "error = 5" message can come from predictable situations. If you see "access denied" in these scenarios, your system is working as it's supposed to (or at least, as it's configured).

• Look at the complete error message. Some well known, yet obscure, problems can be easily diagnosed, and resolved.
  
• If your server is using Guest authentication, you'll get "access denied" for any activity that requires administrative access. This might be a registry retrieval in "browstat status", or any attempt to access a protected folder or share, such as (but not limited to) "C$", "C:\", "C:\Program Files", or "C:\Windows".
  
• If your firewall is setup to block file sharing, you'll get "access denied".
  
• If you just haven't configured file sharing to allow access to the account in question, you'll get "access denied".
  

The "error = 5" message can, alternatively, come from unpredictable situations.

• One of the symptoms of a browser conflict, as seen when trying to access a share from Network Neighborhood, is "access denied".
  
• A misconfigured or overlooked firewall can cause "access denied".
  
• The restrictanonymous setting can cause "access denied".
  

Looking at the complete and exact text of the message may provide a clue. There are several variations on "...access denied".

• If the name of a resource can't be translated to an address, for any reason, you'll see "...name not found...".
  
• If the resource in question is setup to block you from accessing it, whether you agree with that or not, you'll see "...insufficient authority..." or the like.
  

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The Mysterious "Error = 53" aka "Name Not Found"

Next to an "error = 5" ("access denied"), I don't know of too many diagnostic messages that can cause so much confusion or uncertainty in the heart of your desktop / network support tech.

An error = 53 ("0x80070035" in Windows Vista) message comes in a number of circumstances.

• In a "browstat status" log.
  
• In a ping output.
  
• In a Network Neighborhood display.
  

The literal meaning of "name not found" is "I can't resolve the name of this host to an address". There are a number of possible reasons for this.

One of the most obvious is lack of physical connectivity between you (this host), and the target. Maybe that host doesn't even exist. How many times have you mistyped the name of a host that you're pinging? I've done that a few times.

I've been working with Windows Networking, and browser issues, for several years. I've come to associate "error = 53" ("name resolution") problems with several possible causes that don't come from either CKI or hardware faults.

• Corrupted LSP / Winsock.
  
• Firewall problem.
  
• Registry settings.
  
• Invalid node type.
  
• Network components and services not started, or missing.
  
• Excessive protocols.
  

The first three are identified only from experimentation. A corrupted LSP / Winsock is only diagnosed after its been fixed. Many times, you try everything, and I mean everything, to fix a problem. Sometimes you spend days, then somebody says "Try LSP-Fix". You run it, and that's the solution. But there are 5 possible solutions for the corrupted LSP / Winsock - LSP-Fix is just one of the 5, and not all 5 work every time.

A firewall problem you only identify after you disable a personal firewall (assuming it disables successfully, which does happen about 1/2 the time). The other half, you go thru the bit with everything else, and even try LSP-Fix and its siblings, to no avail. Then someone discovers a misconfigured or overlooked firewall, and the light goes on in your head. You un install a personal firewall, and your problems are gone.

Registry settings, which are designed for security, can cause many problems, including interfering with name resolution. Here the oddly ubiquitous restrictanonymous setting has been observed to cause problems.

Run "ipconfig /all". The value of Node Type will tell you if you have a problem. If the Node Type is "Peer-Peer", and you're on a small LAN (ie no DNS or WINS server), Peer-Peer won't work, though any other setting will, though with varying success.

Also in the log from "ipconfig /all", if you saw the line

NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled

you would hopefully know to correct that. But even if that line does not show, NetBT might not be enabled, and that will cause this symptom, "error = 53". Please, explicitly Enable NetBT, except for specific network conditions.

An "Error = 53", when referring to the master browser in a browstat log, can be caused by the Remote Registry Service not running on the master browser. Running a server with XP Home, as the master browser, is a bad idea - XP Home does not have the Remote Registry Service, as it does not provide for any administrative access thru the network.

Finally, if you spot IPX/SPX or NetBEUI protocols in a "browstat status" log, or IPV6 aka Advanced or Teredo Tunneling in an "ipconfig /all" log, you'll need to un install that - at least to diagnose the problem. Having unnecessary protocols will hamper name resolution. Name resolution is generally by broadcast - the computer sends out a message to all computers, thru all transports bound to that computer, asking what address the target computer is using. The computer has to wait for each transport to timeout, when no response is received, before trying the next transport, on each query.

Microsoft Unable to Reach a Host or NetBIOS Name discusses other possibilities.

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Problems With A Network Adapter Driver

A corrupt network adapter driver can cause a wide array of problems. Sometimes, it's just simpler to un install and re install the drivers for the network device.

• Start Device Manager. From System Properties, on the Hardware tab, hit the Device Manager button.
  
• Find the driver for the network adapter, right click on it, and choose Uninstall.
  
• From the Device Manager menu, choose Action - Scan for hardware changes.
  
• Restart system if suggested.
  

Unfortunately, you may not be able to do this until after you un install all protocols and transports bound to the network adapter.

• From Local Area Connection (or whatever name you have assigned to the network adapter), right click and select Properties.
  
• In the connection items list, select all protocols and transports, and hit Uninstall.
  
• Restart the computer, and continue with the process above.
  

Depending upon the number of protocols and transports, and the network adapter, the un install may take several passes, with repeated re starting the computer. Be patient and persistent. And consider that you may have to deal with LSP / Winsock corruption, if that's not why you're doing this, already.