Re: Changing My Workgroup
AJR wrote:
> "Malke" <malke@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
> news:%23pJvlKMKJHA.5060@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>
>>AJR wrote:
>>
>>
>>>"... (a cosmetic process not affecting
>>>network behavior), >>>" ???
>>
>>What didn't you understand about that? Workgroup names are just an
>>organizational device and do not affect networking in Windows XP. Nothing
>>prevents machines properly configured from successful file/printer sharing
>>even if they have disparate Workgroup names.
>
>
> May be disparate computer names.
>
> Are you saying that computers in a peer-to-peer network do not require to
> have identical workgroup names?
It's a Browser thing only, having the computers in the same workgroup
makes it easier to find other computers on your network. It also
eliminates a bit of the Browser complexity and makes it easier to find
and fix browser problems on your network, each workgroup has its own
Master Browser and Browse List, so having different workgroups just
makes that part of things that more complicated. Computers don't need
to be in the same workgroup to share resources but for the reasons
mentioned above it is usually better to have them in the same group.
At times it may make sense to have different workgroups, in a small
business without a real server it could make it easier to manage things
if you have different groups for different departments. For example,
Mary in accounting probably doesn't need to browse Nancy's computer in
engineering, so why have her in same workgroup and have more clutter in
the list of computers that she usually needs to browse? As mentioned
earlier, its a browser thing only, Mary and Nancy can still access
resources on each others computers.
John
