Windows Server Windows Server

I am running Windows Server 2003 (SE) on my server (#H), and I constantly screw up my systems because of that. Some time yesterday, I turned on routing. It seemed harmless enough, and I could presumably use it for VPN, instead of this system (#D). But shortly thereafter, I couldn't get to the server (H) from this system (D), though it could go the other way. Ping didn't work, nor did DNS.

I assummed that it was because I had been screwing around trying to get it to print to a print service. Or maybe, because when I tried to get the print servers stuff running, I installed NetBEUI drivers (from XP). I know, NetBEUI is obsolete - it was not supported in XP, and isn't even provided in Server 2003. But it does make running a small network easier - remote computers, etc. appear much more quickly using it.

In any case, after disabling NetBEUI, all the print drivers for print servers, and a bunch of other stuff, the problem still persisted. I tracked down most of the errors and warnings at boot time in my event logs, and fixed them. One or two of them required going into the MSFT knowledgebase.

And that was how I solved the problem - when I set the product to Server 2003 and typed in ping, the first of 19 or so responses was right on - the routing software was throwing away anything on local adaptors. Apparently, you can set filtering to allow pinging, and, presumably DNS, WINS, etc. But it was simpler to just turn the service off. And, voila, everything now works.