Some newly-installed computers are INVISIBLE on Win2000Pro Network! Huh???

[chelsea88008]

Okay - I have an extant Win2000 Pro network with about 20 computers on it. I recently purchased and went through the motions of installing 5 new computers to the network. They are all connected up and are running the programs properly from the server, but they are invisible on My Network Places - they can't even see themselves! I've checked the different IP settings (Internet isn't a part of this) and I can't find what I've done wrong... Any suggestions? Need to fix ASAP. Thanks!!!!!!

[bAdWaYz]

Make sure all the new comp's are part of the same workgroup as the computers that are already on the network. If they are running a firewall you may need to adjust it for local network traffic. Make sure file and printer sharing is installed and enabled. Try to ping the ip of the server from one of the comp's that doesn't show up in network places and see what output you get.

[chelsea88008]

Thanks - they're all connected to a domain from the server, and when pinging I get full replies. I can go into the different computers when manually typing in their addresses either in "Start > Run" or the address bar at the top of the window. They can read the programs off of the server, but don't show up in My Network Places. Also, the My Network Places is different from computer to computer and I can't find a constant in this problem. All of the settings are identical and are as they should be. There are no firewalls on this system. Any ideas?

[z1p]

So this is a domain, not a workgroup. If thats the case I believe you should only be seeing 'Entire Network' and any 'network places' that have been created such as mapped drives. You should be able to drill done in 'entire network' and see the other machines.

Do you get anything under 'entire network'?

[chelsea88008]

Yes, this is a network with a domain, being run by a Windows 2000 server. Here is where I go: My Network Places > Entire Network > [Entire Contents >] Microsoft Windows Network > [Domain Name] > then it shows most or some of the computers on the network, but never all of them. Can't figure out why. And what the different computers show are none of them constant in which ones they want to look at. I.e., on one computer it may show 5 workstations, on another there's 15. But I have 25 computers on the network.... ?

[z1p]

Are the machines all on the same subnet?

[AzureIce]

Check active directory, are all of the computers in the same group?

[chelsea88008]

Thanks - the subnet is the same on all computers, and they're all in the same group in Active Directory Users & Computers on the server. What else can I check?

[star36]

How many "cals" did you buy for the server? Are you running Small business server or standard server. Did you buy user or seat cals. You may be running with user cals and not have enough cals for all users to run..

[chelsea88008]

I have no idea. I'm fuzzy on what a "cal" is, but didn't do anything purposefully in that direction. I'm running standard server (Windows2000). If you can clarify how I can find out if I am running user or seat cals, I will gladly check it out. How do I do that?

[star36]

CALS (Client access license) is explaned in this Microsoft document better than I could. http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000...ricing/faq.asp
Here is the part that tells you how to manage them:
Q. How can I keep track of my Windows Server Licenses?

A.

Windows Server provides a tool called License Manager to assist administrators in managing licensing for computers running Windows Server. The License Manager tracks licensing for Windows Server and all of the Microsoft BackOffice family of server products. It consists of two component tools:
The Licensing Option in the Control Panel.
The License Manager program in the Network Administration program group.

[z1p]

This is way beyond my expertise, but I found this article on debugging computer browser issues from M$. There is also a link on that page for a white paper. It may provide some interesting reading for you also.