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You cannot view other workgroup computers on the network on a Windows XP-based computer

Article ID: 903267 - View products that this article applies to.

Problem description

Consider the following scenario. You are working on a Microsoft Windows XP-based computer for which the following conditions are true:

The computer resides on a network.
The computer is a member of a workgroup.
Either no firewall is enabled or no firewall is installed on the computer.
The computer can ping other computers in the same workgroup. Also, other computers in the same workgroup can ping this computer.
NetBIOS over TCP/IP functionality is enabled.

In this scenario, you cannot view other workgroup computers on the network.

To have us fix this problem for you, go to the "Fix it for me" section. To fix this problem yourself, go to the "Let me fix it myself" section.

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Fix it for me

To fix this problem automatically, click the Fix it button or link. Click Run in the File Download dialog box, and then follow the steps in the Fix it wizard.

Fix this problem
Microsoft Fix it 50135

Note this wizard may be in English only; however, the automatic fix also works for other language versions of Windows.

Note If you are not on the computer that has the problem, you can save the automatic fix to a flash drive or to a CD, and then you can run it on the computer that has the problem.

Next, go to the "Did this fix the problem?" section.

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Let me fix it myself

Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

322756

(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322756/ )

How to back up and restore the registry in Windows

To resolve this issue, follow these steps:

Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\NetBt\Parameters
In the right pane of Registry Editor, delete the following values if they are present:
- NodeType
- DhcpNodeType
Note If the NodeType value is present, this value will override the DhcpNodeType value. If neither subkey is present and if no WINS servers are configured for the client, the computer uses b-node mode. If at least one WINS server is configured, the computer uses h-node mode.
Quit Registry Editor.
Restart the computer.
Try to view workgroup computers on the network again.

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Did this fix the problem?

Check whether the problem is fixed by trying to view other workgroup computers in the network. If you view other workgroup computers in the network, you are finished with this article. If the problem is not fixed, you can contact support

(http://support.microsoft.com/contactus)

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