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Can I use a workgroup name for a Windows 2000 Professional computer?

Is it possible to use a workgroup name for the network neighborhood in a Windows 2000 Professional computer which is a part of Windows 2000 domain? All Windows 2000 or XP computers are located under the domain name. Since we use Windows 9x and Windows 2000 Professional computers in the same network, the same department's computers are located on different network names.
I highly recommend that you do not use a workgroup name that is the same as your domain name. This will cause problems with your Browse list and confusion among your users. A better solution, from a security standpoint (and general network management standpoint), is to completely disable the browser service so that resources are not accessible via a browse list. Then publish the resources in the Active Directory that you want to clients to be able to access. You will need to install the Active Directory client software on the Win9x computers to allow them to access network resources via the Active Directory published list.

This was first published in March 2002

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