FW: Newbie browsing question

[Cameron, Steve]

I sent this once before, but never saw it.  I got several samba digests,
so I guess it must have gotten lost, so I'll try posting again.  If you
get this twice, sorry.
-- Steve Cameron
>
>
>Hello Samba users:
>(I have Samba 1.9.18 on Unixware 2.1.2)
>
>I'm new to samba, so pardon me if this question has an obvious answer.  I've
>read the FAQs, and been through the trouble shooting guide though, and I've
>read BROWSING.txt, but I still can't solve my problem.
>
>I've got sharing working from my Samba server to Win 95 and Win NT clients if
>the share name is specified explicitly (i.e. by using "Map network drive" and
>typing in "\\samba_server\directory"), but browsing doesn't seem to work.  If
>I go into "Network neighborhood" I can see my workgroup, but when I double
>click on it, I get: 
>
>"The computer or sharename could not be found.  Make sure you typed it
>correctly and try again." 
>
>But of course, I didn't type anything, I only selected an item that Win95
>found on its own...
>
>Also, in the log.nmb file, I get messages like this:
>
>"register_name_timeout_response:  WINS server at address xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx is
>not responding"
>
>I can ping the supposed WINS server from my Samba server.  (I say supposed,
>because I'm a UNIX guy, knowing very little about Windows and I can't seem to
>find anybody around here to tell me how the network is really set up.)  Is
>there a way.to verify that the machine is in fact a WINS server or a way to
>find a WINS server on a given network if you don't know where it is?  I got
>the address for the WINS server I'm using by running "winipcfg" on my Win95
>machine and looking to see what it was using for a WINS server.  Another
>datapoint I should mention is that my Win95 machine couldn't resolve my samba
>server's name until I added it into LMHOSTS file, suggesting that whole
>netbios thing isn't working quite right.
>
>Is there a reason a WINS server might purposely not respond?  Does the WINS
>server have to be on the same network?  Since you have to tell Samba the
>address of the WINS server, I assume this means it can be on a different net,
>otherwise they (MS) would have written the (already broadcast-happy) protocol
>to broadcast to find the WINS server(s). Also, the WINS server my Win95
>machine is (supposedly) using is on a different net, so I think this is OK.
>
>Also, I noticed sometimes in Win95, my network neighborhood will display some
>goofy behavior, showing only machines whose names begin with A-M or A-P or
>some such.  (Average >100 machines per letter, and I happen to know there are
>machines all the way out to Z as sometimes it actually works.)  What's the
>story there?  
>
>Thanks,
>
>Steve Cameron