Slow Computer Browsing in Network Neighborhood

microsoft.public.windowsxp.network_web

8 Sep 2006 3:42 PM

ARL

Hi y'all. Please don't interpret this persistence as pesty. I just REALLY
need an answer. Based on Chuck's posts, I'm hoping he might have something to
offer. I've done all the things his diag pages suggest and all seems fine,
but there's still

To repeat the post on 9/5...

....
I'm trying to solve an annoying problem with windows network neighborhood
browsing. The problem is VERY much like the problem described (and
eventually solved) in http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/newsgroups/reader.mspx?dg=microsoft.public.windowsxp.network_web&tid=675982d6-5608-44b4-8456-effe5cd5c8b1&cat=en-us-ms-winxp&lang=en&cr=US&sloc=en-us&m=1&p=1

under this forum. I found it by searching "slow network neighborhood
browsing" in this forum. Chuck, from Pchuck's Network blog, was very helpful
there. However, my problem still isn't solved.

The problem is the following:

Physical setup: The network has five computers (call them A,B,C,D,and E),
all of which run XP Pro, except for the new one (E), which has XP Home. For
the physical connections I have a DSL router with wireless capability. The
wireless portion of the network is only for one laptop. The rest are wired.
The DSL modem connects to a D-Link 8-port switch where all the wired
connections are concentrated.

Logical setup: All computers get addresses via DHCP from the DSL router,
and they are all part of the same workgroup. They all have windows firewall
on, with essentially the same settings. Nothing tricky here, just plug and
play basically. All the machines have password-enabled account
authentication.

Problem: Using network neighborhood from any machine, I can browse to the
workgroup and see all the machines. From machine E, I can click on ANY
machine, including E itself, and get immediate response showing all the
shares of the target. HOWEVER, from any one of A,B,C,D when I click on E, it
takes about 15-30 seconds to show the shared contents of the target.

So basically there's this delay when browsing TO computer E, but no delay to
any machine when browsing FROM computer E.

The computer E does show up in the root of My Network
Places on the other machines, AND when clicking the links provided there, I
get immediate response, both to directory contents browsing as well as file
open. This apparently has something to do with the "entire network" part of
the browsing process.

Following the advice of another post I started looking into the printer
update idea. It may be just another data
point, but when I browse (from any of A throug D) to the Printers & Faxes
folder under the computer E in Entire Network > Microsoft Windows Network >
(workgroup) > (computer E) > Printers and Faxes, I get a blank window after a
long pause. That is, it doesn't show the printers installed on E. But when
I browse (again, from any of A through D) to the P&F folders of any of the
other machines, it shows the printers and faxes installed on the remote
machine as expected.

Hmmm...

NOTES: I followed someone's advice in the above post and opened port 135,
which seemed to help a little. But there's still an annoying delay. I
wouldn't be too worried about this, but the new computer (E) is destined to
be the central "server" for our office as soon as possible. That delay will
be a real hassle over and over again.

MANY THANKS FOR ANY HELP,

8 Sep 2006 10:38 PM

ARL

Followup post for information to all forum readers:

After MUCH research in this issue (and related matters), several things are
potential culprits, all of them appearing to be related to the crippled
approach to authentication and permissions in simple file sharing and XP Home.

Things to note:
1. XP Home has NO capability to disable simple file sharing, not even
undocumented ones as far as I can tell.

2. XP Home does not have a security control interface (security tab in
folder properties), though there are hacks for adding it back using the NT4
security control engine (downloadable from MS). You can also change
permissions (be VERY careful here) by booting XP Home in safe mode with
networking and the security tab shows up for that! When you reboot in normal
mode your changes are persistent but you don't have your security interface
anymore. It's a long way 'round to be sure...

3. XP Home forces ALL incoming share connections to authenticate as Guest!
(which is strange to me that it even works since my guest account is
supposedly disabled on the XP Home machine (computer "E") in my network.)

What does all this mean to my network operation? (note four computers,
A,B,C,D are XP Pro, and the fifth one, E, is XP Home)

a. When another computer (A,B,C,or D) tries to connect to E, it has to
authenticate as guest, which takes some time, as opposed to connecting to
another XP Pro machine which has the same account credentials. That's part
of the delay I think, and perhaps even all of it.

b. Once I'm connected, I'm a Guest connection, so certain folders that
don't allow Guest access (Docs&Sets\username, Program Files, Windows, ...)
are not accessible, though they are visible. Using the hack to install the
security widget or booting in safe mode and making permission changes solves
this problem, but

it doesn't solve the problem of forced Guest authentication. If anyone
knows of a way around this I'd love to hear it.

cheers,
Alan

9 Sep 2006 1:52 AM

Chuck

On Fri, 8 Sep 2006 15:38:02 -0700, ARL <A**@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

Show quoteHide quote

>Followup post for information to all forum readers:
>
>After MUCH research in this issue (and related matters), several things are
>potential culprits, all of them appearing to be related to the crippled
>approach to authentication and permissions in simple file sharing and XP Home.
>
>Things to note:
>1. XP Home has NO capability to disable simple file sharing, not even
>undocumented ones as far as I can tell.
>
>2. XP Home does not have a security control interface (security tab in
>folder properties), though there are hacks for adding it back using the NT4
>security control engine (downloadable from MS). You can also change
>permissions (be VERY careful here) by booting XP Home in safe mode with
>networking and the security tab shows up for that! When you reboot in normal
>mode your changes are persistent but you don't have your security interface
>anymore. It's a long way 'round to be sure...
>
>3. XP Home forces ALL incoming share connections to authenticate as Guest!
>(which is strange to me that it even works since my guest account is
>supposedly disabled on the XP Home machine (computer "E") in my network.)
>
>What does all this mean to my network operation? (note four computers,
>A,B,C,D are XP Pro, and the fifth one, E, is XP Home)
>
>a. When another computer (A,B,C,or D) tries to connect to E, it has to
>authenticate as guest, which takes some time, as opposed to connecting to
>another XP Pro machine which has the same account credentials. That's part
>of the delay I think, and perhaps even all of it.
>
>b. Once I'm connected, I'm a Guest connection, so certain folders that
>don't allow Guest access (Docs&Sets\username, Program Files, Windows, ...)
>are not accessible, though they are visible. Using the hack to install the
>security widget or booting in safe mode and making permission changes solves
>this problem, but
>
>it doesn't solve the problem of forced Guest authentication. If anyone
>knows of a way around this I'd love to hear it.
>
>cheers,
>Alan

Alan,

You are basically stated known truths. XP Home has a very simple file sharing
subsystem. I'm not certain that it contributes to slow browsing though. There
is one known way to disable SFS, but I haven't tested it enough to recommend it.
<http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/05/advanced-file-sharing-tweaks-in.html#DisableSFS>
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/05/advanced-file-sharing-tweaks-in.html#DisableSFS

I'd start by a good hard look at the protocol stack.
<http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/05/fix-network-problems-but-clean-up.html>
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/05/fix-network-problems-but-clean-up.html

And NetBT on all computers.
<http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2006/04/netbios-over-tcpip.html>
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2006/04/netbios-over-tcpip.html

And run browstat on all computers.
<http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/05/browstat-utility-from-microsoft.html>
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/05/browstat-utility-from-microsoft.html

--
Cheers,
Chuck, MS-MVP [Windows - Networking]
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/
Paranoia is not a problem, when it's a normal response from experience.
My email is AT DOT
actual address pchuck mvps org.