Frequent Browser Elections When Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0 Configured in Workgroup

When you have Microsoft Windows 95-based computers configured in a workgroup with Microsoft Windows NT 4.0-based computers, Event Viewer may record frequent browser-election events on that network segment.

This behavior can occur because each of the Windows 95-based computers is maintaining a browse list for the network segment, causing frequent browser elections.

WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.


To resolve this issue, designate one of the Windows 95-based computers as the master browser for the network segment. On all the others, eliminate maintenance of a browse list. The Windows 95 computer maintaining the browse list for the network segment should remain turned on at all times.

1. Edit the MaintainServerList value in two registry locations:
   1. Start Registry Editor (Regedit).
   2. Locate the following registry key:

      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\VxD\Vnetsup
      						

   3. Locate the MaintainServerList value, type 0 in the Value Data box, and then click OK.
   4. Locate the following registry key:

      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\VxD\VNETSUP\Ndi\Params\MaintainServerList
      						

   5. Locate the 'default' value, type 0 in the Value Data box, and then click OK.
   6. Quit Registry Editor, and then restart the computer.
2. Modify the Lmhosts file on the master browser of the network segment by adding mappings for the domain master browser. (On a Windows 95-based computer, the Lmhosts file is located in the C:\Windows folder.)
   
   For example, the master browser of the domain named Gotham has the network basic input/output system (NetBIOS) name of Batman. Batman uses the Internet Protocol (IP) address of 193.177.60.22. Add the following lines to the Lmhosts file, substituting your correct information for the names Batman and Gotham and for the sample IP address:

   193.177.60.22     Batman     #PRE     #DOM:Gotham 
   193.177.60.22     ''Gotham         \0x1b''     #PRE    
   						

   IMPORTANT: Correct spacing of these entries is imperative. There must be a total of 20 characters between the quotation marks. These 20 characters are the domain name, plus the appropriate number of spaces to pad up to 15 characters, plus the backslash (\) as the sixteenth character, plus the NetBIOS hex representation of the service type (here, 0x1b).
3. Add the IP address of a Windows Internet Name Service (WINS) server to the TCP/IP configuration of all computers on the network segment. The following procedure describes how to do this on a Windows 95-based computer.
   1. In Control Panel, double-click Network, and then click Configuration.
   2. Click TCP/IP-> <adapter name>, where <adapter name> is the name of the network adapter, and then click Properties.
   3. Click WINS Configuration.
   4. To configure the WINS server address, do one of the following:
      1. If your Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server is configured to assign the WINS server IP address to DHCP clients, click Use DHCP for WINS Resolution.
         
         The DHCP server on your network must have the following scope options configured:
         044 WINS/NBNS Servers
         046 WINS/NBT Node Type
      2. If the computer is using a static IP address, or if it is a DHCP client but the DHCP scope is not configured to provide the WINS server configuration, manually specify the IP addresses of the WINS servers:
         1. Click Enable WINS Resolution.
         2. Type the IP addresses of the primary and secondary WINS servers in the appropriate boxes.
   5. Restart the computer.

For additional information about using an Lmhosts file, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: