[vpn-help] Shrew disables NetBIOS on NIC when VPN connects

[Brandon]

Kevin VPN <kvpn at ...> writes:

> 
> On 09/30/2012 12:34 PM, Brandon Docke wrote:
> >
> > I was troubleshooting a problem where the 2 users randomly lost the ability
> > to browse the Network via GUI in Explorer, in Windows 7 64bit. So far I 
have
> > found that whenever I connect the VPN it disables NetBIOS over TCP/IP on 
the
> > network card. Without NetBIOS enabled the Windows 7 64bit PC, the user
> > cannot browse the Network through Windows Explorer.
> >
> > It does not look like any services are disabled/stopped when this happens.
> > Only the actual setting under WINS when you check the NIC settings.
> >
> > What causes ShrewSoft to disable the NetBIOS over TCP/IP on the network
> > card?
> >
> 
> Hi Brandon,
> 
> Did you by any chance disable WINS in the VPN Site Configuration?  Does 
> that maybe push a NetBIOS disable back down to the network adapter used 
> to carry the tunnel traffic?
> 


Hi Kevin,


Thank you for replying to me. I only saw your response now.

That is correct, I have found that if I do not enter a WINS address it 
disables the NETBIOS on the local NIC.

Strangely enough, during the initial setup, I was prompted for a login 
whenever WINS was enabled and I wanted to connect the VPN. So I left it out. 
Most likely a PEBKAC moment..

But now, as long as I enter an IP address(ANY) in the WINS field, in the VPN 
Site Configuration, NETBIOS stays enabled and the VPN connects with no other 
network problems.

Thanks for that information, I did not know ShrewSoft requires any address in 
its WINS configuration for NETBIOS to stay enabled.

PS. after playing around more with the WINS settings in ShrewSoft now, I found 
I need to bounce the NIC in order to get the DNS working again, even though 
all settings look standard, and /flushdns does not work.