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Q222840: Unnecessary Delay in WINS Query

Article: Q222840
Product(s): Microsoft Windows NT
Version(s): winnt:4.0
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): kbWinNT400sp5fix
Last Modified: 10-AUG-2001

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Windows NT Server version 4.0 
- Microsoft Windows NT Workstation version 4.0 
- Microsoft Windows NT Server version 4.0, Terminal Server Edition 
- Microsoft BackOffice Small Business Server version 4.0 
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SYMPTOMS
========

You are using WINS for name resolution. When a name is not present on the
network, it takes several seconds until an error message appears (for example,
when typing 'ping WRONGNAME') although your WINS servers are working correctly.
When connecting to network resources, you see the following error message:

  System error 53 has occurred.

  The network path was not found.

RESOLUTION
==========

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Microsoft Windows NT
version 4.0. For additional information, please see the following article in the
Microsoft Knowledge Base:

  Q152734 How to Obtain the Latest Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack

STATUS
======

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products that are
listed at the beginning of this article. This problem was first corrected in
Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 5.

MORE INFORMATION
================

When a WINS server gets a query for a name that is not registered in its
database, it sends back a negative response indicating the name has not been
found. In this case, the Windows NT client with Service Pack 3 or later sends
out an additional query to its secondary WINS server for the same name. This
behavior has been designed for enhanced reliability when a computer has
registered with WINS but the record is not present on the primary WINS server
for whatever reason.

However, there is a 1500ms delay for any subsequent queries for the same name.
This has been added to prevent overloading a single WINS server. In this special
case, the delay does not need to be observed as the second query is sent to a
different WINS server.

NOTE: Only when using P-Node as the name resolution method will this delay will
be obvious. Other node types use broadcast name resolution, causing additional
timeouts.

Additional query words:

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Keywords          : kbWinNT400sp5fix 
Technology        : kbWinNTsearch kbWinNTWsearch kbWinNTW400 kbWinNTW400search kbWinNT400search kbWinNTSsearch kbWinNTS400search kbWinNTS400 kbNTTermServ400 kbNTTermServSearch kbAudDeveloper kbSBServSearch kbSBServ400
Version           : winnt:4.0
Issue type        : kbbug
Solution Type     : kbfix

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