XP Pro and Terminal Services?

[CircuitBreaker54]

Maybe this is obvious to some people but I am perplexed. The other day I decided to uncheck some of the services running on my system (Windows XP Pro). I wrote down the three I disabled and rebooted. No obvious problems seemed to result. The three services were: Diskeeper (30 day trial expired), Telephony, and Terminal Services.

Days later the whole network went down (10 computers running 98SE, mine is the only XP Pro system). However, they were still able to use the internet just not able to share files or printers - nothing showed up in Network Neighborhood.

At first we checked the cables, moved on to the eight port switch which uplinks to a router which has an additional uplink from another switch, but nothing was obvious. I purchased a 16 port switch, reset everything (cable modem, router, switches, and computers). Still - hardly a blinking light on the new switch!

I sat down at my desk to ponder the problem and the piece of paper with the services stared me in the face. Changed the settings and rebooted. Alas, the network was back up and running. The XP Pro system is NOT a server for the network. Why did Telephony and/or Terminal Services cause this problem. My research for XP Pro Terminal Services has not resulted in a clear picture of its duties except for remote desktop administration.

Any input would be appreciated to further my knowledge. Thank you in advance.

Sorry this is so lengthy but I wanted to explain it all.

[Ya_know]

The XP pro PC will be the master browser, so I can see how changes there might effect browsing, but you should still be able to access computers by the UNC name, even if they don't apear in the browser list. That might explain some of your problem, or perhaps point you into a direction...

[CircuitBreaker54]

Is there a way to prevent XP Pro from being the master browser?

[Matridom]

you WANT a master browser on the network. it makes things neater and faster, a bunch of 98 systems will squabble over it, where XP just steals it. I think however that there is something else going on. If your conserned about remote desktop, disable it through the gui and not the services.

[silencio]

With 10 machines a domain controller would actually come in handy but, to make life simpler with what you have, consider adding lmhosts files to all of your machines.

Look for the file called "lmhosts" no extention and add the IP address and computer names to the file in the same format as the example (in the lmhosts file).

Save these files where they were, in XP it will be in c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc and on 98 I think it'll be in the c:\windows\system directory but it could be in the c:\windows directory. Make sure after you save it that it still has NO extention as notepad will add a .txt extention to the file making it unusable. If notepad adds an extention just rename it.

Note that this will do little to help you in browsing the network (network neighborhood). But, it will allow you to connect using netbio names (as in a drive mapped to a machine name/share) without waiting through an ARP that may or may not fail.

as far as terminal services, telephony, or deskeeper effecting the network, they shouldn't.

[Rô©kHøµñÐ]

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

;To control which computer is the Domain Master Browser, create a new
;string value, or modify the existing value, named "IsDomainMaster"
;and set the value to equal either "Yes", "No" or "Auto".

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\Browser\Parameters]
"IsDomainMaster"="no"
"MaintainServerList"no"

That would keep a computer from bieing a master browser, but i wouldnt do it unless you have at least one computer per sebnet that you are going to specify as the master browser.

I tried specifying just one for my entire domain a few months ago and it was disasterous as far as browsing goes. WINS and dDNS kept us functioning though.

Went digging through google on master browsers and found an article that stated you should at least have a master and a backup on each subnet, which is usually done automatically unless specified in the registry like the above key.

[confus-ed]

Originally posted by Rô©kHøµñÐ
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

;To control which computer is the Domain Master Browser, create a new
;string value, or modify the existing value, named "IsDomainMaster"
;and set the value to equal either "Yes", "No" or "Auto".

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\Browser\Parameters]
"IsDomainMaster"="no"
"MaintainServerList"no"

That would keep a computer from bieing a master browser, but i wouldnt do it unless you have at least one computer per sebnet that you are going to specify as the master browser.

I tried specifying just one for my entire domain a few months ago and it was disasterous as far as browsing goes. WINS and dDNS kept us functioning though.

Went digging through google on master browsers and found an article that stated you should at least have a master and a backup on each subnet, which is usually done automatically unless specified in the registry like the above key.

The main thing is to make sure that at least one of these candidates is on !!!

If you use those keys & don't have a machine ON that is capable of 'election' then you are in for an indefinate wait !! You permanently disable the master browser capability for each machine you apply this to ...

Sadly there isn't a key to let you 'order' the machines ... so have every machine capable but in order of preference ... that way if machine 1 & 2 are off 3 becomes master browser ... if that is off 4 & so on.

as far as terminal services, telephony, or deskeeper effecting the network, they shouldn't

Is that bit right ? .... I thought telephony was the bit 'to blame' ???? Doesn't that do master browser settings ?

[Rô©kHøµñÐ]

I have a few servers in each site i set one as master and the other as backup.

Except for the high school there 14 subnets there not enough servers lol

Just like confus-ed said though dont turn it off on everyone unless you want to maintain host files manually. Best thing to do is manually set it on some servers.

The only service that i know that I know of that it depends on is the computer browser and it depends on the server and workstation services.

[CircuitBreaker54]

All the input has been greatly appreciated. All in all my biggest question was to why restarting three services brought our network back up. Specifically Terminal Services and Telephony -I know that Diskeeper is a non-Microsoft application that I need to uninstall or purchase.

I understand it correctly - even though my Win XP Pro system is not a server it is the Master Browser.

Later on today I am going to disable Telephony and Terminal Services again, reboot, and see what happens. Perhaps the whole thing was just a fluke - but I just have to know.

I will let you all know the results. Thanks

[The Computer Valet]

Although we've probably moved past this point...

There is a specific hierarchy to which O/S will win a browser election. Check it out here.

[CircuitBreaker54]

Sorry this has taken over a month to reply. All of you were correct - Terminal Services and Telephony did not stop our network from working. It was just a coincidence.

Thanks for all the input.

[silencio]

Originally posted by CircuitBreaker54
Sorry this has taken over a month to reply. All of you were correct - Terminal Services and Telephony did not stop our network from working. It was just a coincidence.

Thanks for all the input.

What was it you bastard?!? Don't leave us hangin?