Question : Windows XP Pro unable to browse lan

3/20/06
12:10pm

LAN with mostly Win98 SE pc's
four servers - all stand alone servers, no PDC/BDC's
servers are three W2K, one W2K3
all pc's are members of the same workgroup "xyzgroup"

we have started adding XP Pro SP2 pc's to the LAN. Everything seems to work fine except - none of the XP's can browse network neighborhood/places
"xyzgroup 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 specified server cannot perform the requested operation"

the w2k servers browser OK, the win98 se pc's browse OK, only the xp's have this problem.
same problem is there even logged on as local xp admin.
network resources can be accessed directly such as \\computer\share or by mapping a drive.

Only problem occurs when clicking My Network Places, so we are unable to browse the lan.

Windows firewall is off/disabled, no other firewall-type apps are installed, Norton AV scan is clean (these are all new fresh installs, five new pc's with xp pro sp2).

Something is wrong with network browsing, maybe xp can not get a browse list from the master or backup browser? but all other pc's are able to browse fine!

Ideas?

George

Answer : Windows XP Pro unable to browse lan

This is a SP2 bug...90% of the time its 1 of these 2 tweaks.

On the XP PRO box:

1. Click Start, click Run, type gpedit.msc

2. Navigate to:
Computer Configuration\Windows Settings\Security Settings\Local Policies\User Rights Assignment

3. In the right pane, double click "Deny access to this computer from the network" option. Remove all users or group from the list.

4. In the right pane, double click "Access this computer from the network" option. Add the user account or group to the access list and test the issue.

If this doesn't help, try the following step.

Step 2. Check the related registry key on the problematic machine

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit

2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa

3. Make sure the value data of RestrictAnonymous is 0
If this is not the case, please set it to 0 and reboot to check the effect.