Master Browser - MRxSmb event ID 8003 problem

[marcin_w]

Hello,

I have a problem which you’ve probably heard a lot of – master browser – I keep getting error – MRxSmb event ID 8003. Before deciding to ask for any ideas I spent day googling and trying to solve it. What I did:
1. I switched the computer browser service on PC which “belived that it was the master browser” but few minutes after I get the same error but from another PC (random).
2. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\Browser\Parameters\IsDomainMaster to TRUE – no joy – still getting the same error.
3. Restarted DC.
4. Additional info: there are 3 subnets in our network, WINS server (running on DC), there are many laptops machines (so wireless and Ethernet cards..).

No joy – I keep getting the same errors in DC log. I used browstat:
1. browstat.exe status:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Status for domain UTT on transport \Device\NetBT_Tcpip_{ED0EF83B-C300-450C-9DE1-
83F51F365392}
Browsing is active on domain.
Master browser name is: UTT-DC1
Master browser is running build 3790
3 backup servers retrieved from master UTT-DC1
\\UTT-FS0
\\UTT-DC1
\\UTT-FS04
There are 148 servers in domain UTT on transport \Device\NetBT_Tcpip_{ED0EF8
3B-C300-450C-9DE1-83F51F365392}
There are 1 domains in domain UTT on transport \Device\NetBT_Tcpip_{ED0EF83B
-C300-450C-9DE1-83F51F365392}
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The backup servers seems to be changing quite often – I don’t know if it should be like that.

2. What worries me if I use command “browstat status \\UTT-DC1” I do not get a response:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
C:\>Browstat.exe status \\UTT-DC1


Status for domain \\utt-dc1 on transport \Device\NetBT_Tcpip_{ED0EF83B-C300-450C-
9DE1-83F51F365392}
Browsing is NOT active on domain.
Master name cannot be determined from GetAdapterStatus.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Any ideas what shall I do? I’ve read that I can use GP to switch off Computer Browser service on all PC. Shall I go for this option? What happens if there is no computer on different subnetwork with Computer Browser running – will I still be able to use all PCs in My Network Places?

Sorry for such a long post but I wanted to put as many details as possible.

Thank you for your help.

Marcin.

[WFHC-WI]

Hi Marcin.

Backup browsers will change regularly. There is no reason to be alarmed here.

"browstat status \\utt-dc1" returns the message "Browsing is NOT active on domain.." because the syntax of that command is not correct. You should use:

browstat status {domain name}

In your case I believe UTT-DC1 is a server, maybe a domain controller, but not the name of the domain. Therefore that command will search and search for the domain UTT-DC1 and return this message when it cannot find it.

Could you please explain error 8003? I have found in our environment that problems with the browser service are often caused by a server with multiple NICs each having its own IP. Is this the case in your environment? You can also select a new master browser (can be any machine in the domain) by running:

browstat elect {NIC number} {domain}

or ask all guests in the domain to announce themselves to the master browser with:

browstat forceannounce {NIC number} {domain}

hope that helps

[marcin_w]

Hi there,

thanks for your reply. I cannot remembere where but I found that you can use "browstat status \\server" and that is why was worried that I did not get any answer.

If you are interested in 8003 please check the link:

http://www.eventid.net/display.asp?eventid=8003&eventno=680&source=mrxsmb&phase=1

I solved my problem yesterday by blocking UDP broadcast on ports 137 and 138.
This is helpful link (just in case):
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/190930

There is a lot of peaople which strugling with this problem and it seems that there is few solutions and one of them usually works ;-)

Thanks.

Marcin.

[marcin_w]

Sollution explaind in my previous comment. Cheers.