browselist visibility problem with Win2k (but not 9x/ME/NT) dialup clients

[Laine Stump]

This isn't a Samba problem, but is a problem that would be seen by
people attempting to do SMB file sharing while avoiding the use of MS
servers, so I'm hoping someone on htis list has seen/solved the
problem before me.

When I connect a WIN9x/ME/NT machine to my network via a dialup
connection, as long as they have a WINS server setting, they are able
to browse the network neighborhood, and the names of the clients
themselves show up on the domain/workgroup browselist.

However, when I connect a Win2k machine via dialup, unless the dialup
server itself is a Windows (NT or 2k) machine that is a member of the
same domain/workgroup, the client's name never shows up on the
domain/workgroup browselist. In spite of this, the dialup client can
browse the neighborhood, and other machines on the network can connect
to this client machine by name as long as they know the name (eg "Find
Computer" works).

I have witnessed this problem (and the associated success when the
dialup server is a Windows box that is a member of the domain) both on
a domain controlled by a Win2k server, as well as on a workgroup that
has a Samba server as its master.

When I installed the Win2k networking utilities option on the client
and ran the browstat program, I found that it gives an error when I
attempt to request netbios info for the dialup interface. This leads
me to believe that there is "something special" happening when the
dialup client and server are Windows; I just don't know what that
"something special" may be :-/

Is anyone aware of some simple method of getting these Win2k dialup
clients to show up in the browselist? Maybe a small utility program to
run on the client that sends the proper advertisement packets (since
Windows seems unwilling to do so). I said code doesn't exist, anybody
want to write it?