Computer Browser



In pure Active Directory environments, Active Directory itself can display information about available network resources.In versions of Windows that support Computer Browser service, the operating system assigns tasks to specific computers on the network to provide browse services. Any networked computer that can collect, maintain, and distribute a browse list can be a browse server. Computers that are designated as browse servers work together to provide a centralized browse list, which contains a list of all known domains, workgroups, and the set of file servers in the domain to which the computer belongs.

Browse clients on the network access the browse list when users want to view the list of workgroups and domains or the list of servers in a workgroup or domain. When an individual server starts, it announces its presence by sending a broadcast datagram called a host announcement on the subnet. The announcement is received by a master browse server for the workgroup or domain. When the master browse server receives a host announcement from a computer, it adds that computer to the browse list.




C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs

ServiceDll: %SystemRoot%\System32\browser.dll