Overview

GFI LanGuard is failing to retrieve the computers within a workgroup when using the Enumerate Computers feature.

Environment

GFI LanGuard

Root Cause

The enumeration of computers fails because no computer wins the browser service election.

Technical Details:

• When running Windows in a peer-to-peer workgroup, one system is responsible for creating and keeping a list of all computers in the workgroup that have resources to share and display that list in My Network Places.
  • This computer is called the Master Browser (or Preferred Master Browser) and it reaches its role by winning the browser service election.
• Further information on the election process can be found on this Microsoft article: A workstation may become the master browser instead of a Windows Server 2003-based member server
   

Resolution

1. To check if the server has been promoted as Master Browser server, run the following command from the command line:
   

   NBTSTAT –A  %ServerIP% 

   Replace %ServerIP% with the IP address of the server you are checking.
   For example: 

   NBTSTAT –A  192.168.1.100

2. To determine if the server has been promoted as a Master Browser, verify if the ..__MSBROWSE__ string appears in the names list when executing the command above.
   
   NOTES: 
   • The browstat status command is a utility provided by Microsoft in the Resource Utility kit that can also be used to determine the currently selected Master Browser server and if browsing is active or not.
   • On Windows Server 2008 or newer, the Computer Browser Service is disabled by default.