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.

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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.

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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.

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