No NetBIOS Names Displayed with NBSTAT Without a Network Connection (248009)

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When you start a computer running Windows 2000 without any network connections, the LMHOSTS entries preloaded in the NetBIOS Name Cache, which are using the #PRE suffix, are not displayed when you run NBTSTAT -c. Nor does NBTSTAT -n display any local names. Only the Domain 1C entry is displayed. After you connect the computer to a network, the remaining entries from the LMHOSTS file are viewable in the cache along with the local names.

Remote Names

The reason there is a difference in the cache entries is because the way NetBT preloads Domain names and unique names is different.

When NetBT preloads a Domain name, it marks it as available on all adapters (since the domain name is typically a list), whereas when NetBT preloads a Unique name, it tries to associate the name with the adapter where that name is reachable.

All the names are actually loaded in both cases. In the case of the Group name, itis displayed when you run NBTSTAT -c because it is loaded for all adapters. The unique names are not displayed when there is no network connection because there is no interface with which it can associate the name.

Local Names

Since NetBT uses Plug and Play, it notifies its clients of Device and Address arrivals only when it has a valid IP address associated with the devices.

If you see any names registered on NetBT, those names have been registered statically.