DOCUMENT:Q103470  27-AUG-1993  [W_NT]
TITLE   :NetBIOS Name Conflicts When NetBEUI Used on Multiple NICs
PRODUCT :Windows NT
PROD/VER:3.10
OPER/SYS:WINDOWS
KEYWORDS:

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The information in this article applies to:

 - Microsoft Windows NT operating system version 3.1
 - Microsoft Windows NT Advanced Server version 3.1
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You can configure multiple network interface cards (NICs, also called
network adapters) in a PC for use on the same network segment, but no
two NICs in the PC can use the same protocol.

Installing NetBEUI violates this restriction because NetBEUI binds to
all available adapters in the machine regardless of whether they are
on the same physical network segment. If a PC containing two or more
NICs uses the same protocol on more than one NIC in a given network
segment, the system sees duplicate machine names due to the resulting
NetBIOS name conflict, generates an error, and fails to start system
services correctly.

This problem does not affect routable protocols (TCP/IP, AppleTalk and
NWLink) because when you install or reconfigure them you have to
choose an NIC in Control Panel's Network configuration window, and
this automatically disables the protocol's bindings to other adapters.
When installing TCP/IP, for instance, you are forced to provide unique
IP addresses to each system NIC, then choose one NIC as the "Windows
Networking Adapter" in the "Windows Networking on TCP/IP (NetBIOS)"
box of the TCP/IP Configuration window.

You can manually configure multiple NICs in a PC by disabling NetBEUI
bindings to network adapters other than the one you want to use for
the NetBEUI protocol. Disable the following bindings:

 - Server to NetBEUI protocol to <adapter driver> to <adapter>

 - Workstation to NetBEUI protocol to <adapter driver> to <adapter>

 - NetBEUI protocol to <adapter driver> to <adapter>

 - NetBIOS Interface to NetBEUI protocol to <adapter driver> to
   <adapter>

When you have disabled all of these bindings, network operations can
proceed.

Additional reference words: 3.10 network tshoot
KBCategory:
KBSubCategory: prot

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