Client for Microsoft Networks Functions When Unbound from Network Adapter

When the Client for Microsoft Networks is unbound in a given network adapter's properties, the computer may still be able to connect to shared resources on other Windows 2000-based computers. However, the client will be unable to gain access to resources on other operating systems such as Microsoft Windows 95, Microsoft 98, or Microsoft NT.

Unbinding the Client for Microsoft Networks does not disable direct hosting of Server Message Blocks (SMB) over TCP/IP in Windows 2000. When the Client for Microsoft Networks is unbound in the network adapter's properties, only NetBIOS over TCP/IP (NetBT) is disabled. Although earlier Microsoft operating systems are dependent on NetBT, Windows 2000 is not. The NetBT_Tcpip interface, used for the NetBIOS over TCP/IP transport, is bound on a per-adapter basis and can be unbound from a particular adapter. The NetbiosSmb device, used for direct-hosted SMB traffic, is global and cannot be unbound from a particular network adapter.

For additional information about direct hosting of SMB traffic, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Note The behavior described in the "Cause" section of this article does not apply to Microsoft Windows XP or to Microsoft Windows Server 2003.