Microsoft KB Archive/163409

= NetBIOS Suffixes (16th Character of the NetBIOS Name) =

Article ID: 163409

Article Last Modified on 2/26/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional Edition
 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server
 * Microsoft Windows NT Server 3.5
 * Microsoft Windows NT Server 3.51
 * Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 3.5
 * Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 3.51
 * Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Developer Edition

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This article was previously published under Q163409



SUMMARY
The NetBIOS naming convention allows for 16 characters in a NetBIOS name. Microsoft, however, limits NetBIOS names to 15 characters and uses the 16th character as a NetBIOS suffix.



MORE INFORMATION
All NetBIOS names are 16 characters in length. A NetBIOS suffix is the 16th character of the 16-character NetBIOS name. The NetBIOS suffix is used by Microsoft Networking software to identify functionality installed on the registered device.

The following table lists the NetBIOS suffixes that are used by Microsoft Windows NT. The suffixes are listed in hexadecimal format because many of them are unprintable otherwise.

Name               Number(h)  Type  Usage --        00       U    Workstation Service 01      U    Messenger Service <\\--__MSBROWSE__>    01       G    Master Browser 03      U    Messenger Service 06      U    RAS Server Service 1F      U    NetDDE Service 20      U    File Server Service 21      U    RAS Client Service 22      U    Microsoft Exchange Interchange(MSMail                                     Connector) 23      U    Microsoft Exchange Store 24      U    Microsoft Exchange Directory 30      U    Modem Sharing Server Service 31      U    Modem Sharing Client Service 43      U    SMS Clients Remote Control 44      U    SMS Administrators Remote Control Tool 45      U    SMS Clients Remote Chat 46      U    SMS Clients Remote Transfer 4C      U    DEC Pathworks TCPIP service on                                     Windows NT         42       U    mccaffee anti-virus 52      U    DEC Pathworks TCPIP service on                                     Windows NT         87       U    Microsoft Exchange MTA 6A      U    Microsoft Exchange IMC BE      U    Network Monitor Agent BF      U    Network Monitor Application 03      U    Messenger Service 00      G    Domain Name 1B      U    Domain Master Browser 1C      G    Domain Controllers 1D      U    Master Browser 1E      G    Browser Service Elections        1C       G    IIS     00       U    IIS [2B]    U    Lotus Notes Server Service IRISMULTICAST         [2F]     G    Lotus Notes IRISNAMESERVER        [33]     G    Lotus Notes Forte_$ND800ZA        [20]     U    DCA IrmaLan Gateway Server Service

NetBIOS name types describe the functionality of the registration.

Unique (U): The name may have only one IP address assigned to it. On a network device multiple occurrences of a single name may appear to be registered. The suffix may be the only unique character in the name.

Group (G): A normal group; the single name may exist with many IP addresses. WINS responds to a name query on a group name with the limited broadcast address (255.255.255.255). Because routers block the transmission of these addresses, the Internet Group was designed to service communications between subnets.

Multihomed (M): The name is unique, but due to multiple network interfaces on the same computer this configuration is necessary to permit the registration. The maximum number of addresses is 25.

Internet Group (I): This is a special configuration of the group name used to manage Windows NT Domain names.

Domain Name (D): New in Windows NT 4.0.

For additional information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

ARTICLE-ID: 119495

TITLE : List of Names Registered with WINS Service

ARTICLE-ID: 154608

TITLE : NETBIOS Node Status Query Returns First Instance of Unique Name

Additional query words: nbtstat netbeui browse browsing limitation length

Keywords: kbnetwork KB163409

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