Can't map networked drives or printers? ....
RADA
Apple Valley, CA Member
Check this fix on for size...
I work in a building where the network was installed before “everything” needed a network connection. You know, back when printers only had serial ports, and you needed a separate box (IE: JetDirect), to attach a printer to a network.
Well, the company has grown, and since my VP won’t let me spend the $$ to install more LAN drops, I’ve had to be creative as I have run out of available ports. I had a heck of a time finding a four-port switch that had almost-full management capabilities. Even the ones I’ve found aren’t perfect, as you’ll see as you read further. I needed a four-port switch that allowed me to set the DNS server, the sub-net mask, and the default gateway, like I said almost-full management capabilities.
Well, I came across SMC Networks SMCBR14VPN. This is a nice little four-port VPN router, with an amazing amount of user-defined flexibility (management). I went in and configured all my settings and BAM; it connected all the PCs in that office to the rest of my network. No problems right, well, not quite.
I didn’t have any problems with the connected computers until I tried to map a drive or add a printer. With either task, the computer in question would search, and search, but never find my local network. After a lot of brainstorming and frustration here’s what I found out:
If your having this problem, pull up a command window and run an ipconfig /all. Look closely under “Node Type” you’ll see where is says “Peer to Peer”. Unfortunately, this needs to say “Hybrid” to allow the adding of printers or access to other networked computers. Even plugging the PC directly into the LAN port and rebooting will not change the Node Type back to “Hybrid”; you need to manually change a registry setting to correct this.
Solution:
Plug the affected PC directly into one of your LAN connections; this fix will not work if the computer is connected to the network through the router. Now enter regedit through your run command (Start > run> regedit).
In regedit go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\NetBT\Parameters
In Parameters, look for DhcpNodeType, for a Peer to Peer Node type it should have a hex key of 2 ( 0x00000002(2) ).
Double click on DhcpNodeType and change the 2 hex value to 8 (Hybrid). Close out of regedit and reboot your machine. After the machine comes back up, while its still connected directly to LAN, add your printers and map any drives you need. Once your done configuring the attached printers and drives, connect the PC back up to the router. All mapped drives and printers will behave normally.
Note: this fix is not permanent. After you reboot any router-connected machine, it will convert back to Peer to Peer. If you need to add more printers or map different drives, you will have to repeat the above steps. Also, I’ve found other solutions online that say you should delete the DhcpNodeType for the registry, so that the Node Type comes up as “Unknown” when you reboot and run another ipconfig /all This works also, but still does not fix the problem 100%, for the router-connected computer will revert back to a Node Type of Peer to Peer after the first reboot. Plus I hate deleting registry keys unless absolutely necessary.
If anyone knows of a more permanent way to fix this issue, please post it here.
R
I work in a building where the network was installed before “everything” needed a network connection. You know, back when printers only had serial ports, and you needed a separate box (IE: JetDirect), to attach a printer to a network.
Well, the company has grown, and since my VP won’t let me spend the $$ to install more LAN drops, I’ve had to be creative as I have run out of available ports. I had a heck of a time finding a four-port switch that had almost-full management capabilities. Even the ones I’ve found aren’t perfect, as you’ll see as you read further. I needed a four-port switch that allowed me to set the DNS server, the sub-net mask, and the default gateway, like I said almost-full management capabilities.
Well, I came across SMC Networks SMCBR14VPN. This is a nice little four-port VPN router, with an amazing amount of user-defined flexibility (management). I went in and configured all my settings and BAM; it connected all the PCs in that office to the rest of my network. No problems right, well, not quite.
I didn’t have any problems with the connected computers until I tried to map a drive or add a printer. With either task, the computer in question would search, and search, but never find my local network. After a lot of brainstorming and frustration here’s what I found out:
If your having this problem, pull up a command window and run an ipconfig /all. Look closely under “Node Type” you’ll see where is says “Peer to Peer”. Unfortunately, this needs to say “Hybrid” to allow the adding of printers or access to other networked computers. Even plugging the PC directly into the LAN port and rebooting will not change the Node Type back to “Hybrid”; you need to manually change a registry setting to correct this.
Solution:
Plug the affected PC directly into one of your LAN connections; this fix will not work if the computer is connected to the network through the router. Now enter regedit through your run command (Start > run> regedit).
In regedit go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\NetBT\Parameters
In Parameters, look for DhcpNodeType, for a Peer to Peer Node type it should have a hex key of 2 ( 0x00000002(2) ).
Double click on DhcpNodeType and change the 2 hex value to 8 (Hybrid). Close out of regedit and reboot your machine. After the machine comes back up, while its still connected directly to LAN, add your printers and map any drives you need. Once your done configuring the attached printers and drives, connect the PC back up to the router. All mapped drives and printers will behave normally.
Note: this fix is not permanent. After you reboot any router-connected machine, it will convert back to Peer to Peer. If you need to add more printers or map different drives, you will have to repeat the above steps. Also, I’ve found other solutions online that say you should delete the DhcpNodeType for the registry, so that the Node Type comes up as “Unknown” when you reboot and run another ipconfig /all This works also, but still does not fix the problem 100%, for the router-connected computer will revert back to a Node Type of Peer to Peer after the first reboot. Plus I hate deleting registry keys unless absolutely necessary.
If anyone knows of a more permanent way to fix this issue, please post it here.
R
0
Comments
Finding a four-port manageable swtich is nearly impossible. Most of the 4 port switches I found have a limited number of subnet masks precoded in, and can't be changed. And going to an 8 or more port can triple the price, and is a waste of resources. Most of my extra offices only need 2 or 3 extra ports, 8 would be overkill. The four-port VPN router was the closest I could find, and keep the costs down. ( Were $35.00 each!!)
If you know of a manageble four-port switch, by all means, let me know!