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Slow network browsing fix for WinXP...

Posted: Sun May 25, 2003 2:13 pm
by FlyingPenguin
This one's been posted before, but I just ran across the problem while setting up my new workstation, and someone else might find it useful.

Both XP and 2K have a bug that causes them to pause (sometimes for a VERY long time) when first browsing a network resource.

It's particularly annoying since I use my file server for my Documents folder and I have several shortcuts to office documents in my Start menu (client contact sheet in Excel, database files, etc). So when I click on my Start button I'll get a VERY long pause before it responds without this fix.

The other bonus of this fix is that it dramatically improves network performance for file sharing on XP and 2K systems. So if you're sharing files, you'll appreciate this.

Damned if I know why it isn't offered as a Windows Critical update.

It's a very simple registry hack (quoting verbatim here from TweakXP.com:

There was a bug in windows 2000 (and XP) that would cause the scheduled tasks folder to be searched when ever the user would browse network drives. Microsoft developed a fix for this bug. The fix fixed the problem and it also had nice side affect of speeding up browsing of Microsoft networks. Below are instructions how to apply the fix.

1. Open up regedit.
2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Current Version/Explorer/RemoteComputer/NameSpace.
3. Find a key named {D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}.
4. Right click on it and delete it.
5. Reboot the computer

Posted: Sun May 25, 2003 2:57 pm
by Syn
Good post FP.Just tried it and it worked.This had been getting on my nerves.

Posted: Mon May 26, 2003 11:42 am
by MegaVectra
Yep thats always the first thing I do after a fresh install.

Posted: Tue May 27, 2003 8:11 am
by matt719
When i go to that path, the only key there is one called "default" and it doesn't have a value set. Do you think it was in a windows update and it is already fixed?

Posted: Tue May 27, 2003 11:37 am
by Sean
Sweet. I'll be trying that when I get home. :)

Posted: Tue May 27, 2003 12:37 pm
by MegaVectra
Originally posted by matt719
When i go to that path, the only key there is one called "default" and it doesn't have a value set. Do you think it was in a windows update and it is already fixed?
You using XP pro or home edition?

Posted: Tue May 27, 2003 1:17 pm
by matt719
home

Posted: Tue May 27, 2003 8:32 pm
by Pugsley
yea, mines gone too. but i think i did that like a year and a half ago.

Posted: Thu May 29, 2003 9:41 am
by wvjohn
tried it on computers at work - mine went fine, the other guy who tried it got a "you're not allowed to run regedit" disabled by admin -

xp pro - current version

he is the admin ???

looked around a little, but can't find where to enable regedit through admin accounts


where is it?

TIA

Posted: Thu May 29, 2003 2:09 pm
by FlyingPenguin
Not sure if it works with Home. XP Home handles networking very differently than Pro.

WVJOHN: You'd only get that message if he wasn't logged on with an account with admin privileges. You guys using Small Business Server? If so, he might not have admin privileges on his workstation.

Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2003 10:22 am
by wvjohn
FP - finally found it - buried deep in xp there is an option to prevent registry edits

choices are yes,no,not configured

on his machine it was set to "not configured"

who knows why or how since it was a clean install of xp pro with only minimal other stuff - he does run a lot of 3rd party progs though, maybe one of them tripped the switch

now regedit works fine