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        Why do we still need WINS?

Section(s): Active Directory , Network
Published on Jul 11, 2006.
Last Modified on Jul 11, 2006.
Last Modified by Mitch Tulloch.
Rated 4.2 out of 5 based on 12 votes.

Why do we still need WINS servers on AD networks?

Why, in this age of Windows Server 2003 R2, is it *still* a good idea to run WINS servers on your Active Directory network? Doesn't AD use DNS for name resolution? Yes. Isn't NetBIOS obsolete? Yes. Do any applications still use NetBIOS? Unfortunately, yes! Some of the common apps that need WINS servers in order to run effectively are:

- My Network Places (or Network Neighborhood) to quickly repopulate this browse list as the Browser service is still based on NetBIOS.

- Any third-party network applications that leverage the browse list to find network resources users can attach to. You can probably track these puppies down by monitoring activity on your WINS servers by logging perfmon counters on them.

When will NetBIOS ever go away? Sigh.

Cheers, Mitch Tulloch, MVP

About Mitch Tulloch

Mitch Tulloch was lead author for the Windows Vista Resource Kit from Microsoft Press, which is the book for IT pros who want to deploy, maintain and support Windows Vista in mid- and large-sized network environments. Mitch was also the author of Introducing Windows Server 2008 and technical project lead for the Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Resource Kit, both books also from Microsoft Press. For more information on these and other books by Mitch, see www.mtit.com .