WINS Client Sends Refresh Requests to Secondary WINS Server (174869)

SYMPTOMS

You may notice that your Windows Internet Name Service (WINS) clients send name refresh requests to the secondary WINS Server even though primary WINS server is active. This may even cause a switch of primary and secondary WINS server addresses on the client as seen when you carry out an ipconfig /all command.

For additional information, please see the following article(s) in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

ARTICLE-ID: 164309
TITLE : Windows NT Client: Primary/Secondary WINS Servers Switch

ARTICLE-ID: 173525
TITLE : WINS Client May Switch Primary and Secondary WINS Servers

CAUSE

The above symptom may occur when the WINS client is also a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) client and the following two operations are Carried out simultaneously:

The WINS/DHCP client refreshes its NetBIOS name with its primary WINS server.
The WINS/DHCP client renews its IP lease information and the new information reverses the primary and secondary WINS server addresses.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Windows NT 4.0 or Windows NT Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

152734 How to Obtain the Latest Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in Windows NT 4.0 and Windows NT Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition. This problem was first corrected in Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 4.0 and Windows NT Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition Service Pack 4.

MORE INFORMATION

When this switching of the primary and secondary WINS server addresses occurs, the client will still send name query requests to the correct primary WINS server. This switch only affects name refresh requests.