Finding the Master Browser

Larger workgroups can be a chore. For example, finding the Master Browser…

Here is a batch/script for finding the Master Browser on your workgroup.

TITLE Browse Master Finder
Color 18
cls
@ECHO OFF
ECHO This script is property of Mike. This script is to discover Browse Master. 
ECHO. 
ECHO.  
for /f "delims=\= " %%C in ('net view ^| find "\\"') do @echo -Checking %%C && @nbtstat -a %%C | find "MSBROWSE"
pause

Disable the Master Browser
Windows 7, 8, 8.1, 10 / Server 2008, 2008 R2, 2012, 2016:

1. Open the registry editor.
2. Browse to HKey_Local_Machine\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Browser\Parameters.
3. Edit the key MaintainServerList to read FALSE

Windows XP / Server 2003:

1. Open the registry editor.
2. Browse to HKey_Local_Machine\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Browser\Parameters.
3. Edit the key IsDomainMaster to read FALSE and the key MaintainServerList to read NO
4. On the server computer, the value for IsDomainMaster should be TRUE and for MaintainServerList should be YES.
   Reboot all machines, bringing up the server computer (now the Master Browser) first.
   Microsoft states that it could take as long as 48 minutes for the Master Browser to recognize new computers. However, on a network where broadcasts and network traffic are within normal parameters, the time should be about half of that, or 24 minutes.

NIRSoft has a nice utility that can be useful as well. NetBScanner