Microsoft KB Archive/131641

= NetBT Supports One IP Address per NIC =

Article ID: 131641

Article Last Modified on 2/20/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
 * Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional Edition
 * Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 3.5
 * Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 3.51
 * Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Developer Edition
 * Microsoft Windows NT Server 3.5
 * Microsoft Windows NT Server 3.51
 * Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Windows for Workgroups 3.2
 * Microsoft TCP/IP-32 for Windows for Workgroups 1.0

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This article was previously published under Q131641



By design, NetBIOS over TCP/IP (NetBT) supports only one IP address per network card adapter (NIC).

It is possible to configure TCP/IP to have multiple IP addresses on a single NIC, but NetBT will only support the first address configured. This limitation is most apparent in an environment using Windows Internet Name Service (WINS). A computer configured with several IP Addresses on a single NIC will register its NetBIOS name with the WINS server as unique and list only one IP Address. Therefore, if a client queries that NetBIOS name it receives only one address in response to the query.

If you must have a computer that registers multiple IP Addresses, you need to use multiple NICs. Each NIC should have its own unique IP Address so the computer can register with WINS as multihomed. The NetBIOS name will then reference each of the IP Addresses, and when that NetBIOS name is queried by a client, the WINS server will return all of the registered addresses in response to the query.

Additional query words: prodnt prodtcp wfw wfwg

Keywords: kbnetbios kbnetwork KB131641

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