6 Appendix A: Product Behavior

  • Article

The information in this specification is applicable to the following Microsoft products or supplemental software. References to product versions include updates to those products.

The terms "earlier" and "later", when used with a product version, refer to either all preceding versions or all subsequent versions, respectively. The term "through" refers to the inclusive range of versions. Applicable Microsoft products are listed chronologically in this section.

  • Windows NT 4.0 operating system

  • Windows 2000 Server operating system

  • Windows Server 2003 operating system

  • Windows Server 2008 operating system

  • Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system

  • Windows Server 2012 operating system

  • Windows Server 2012 R2 operating system

  • Windows Server 2016 operating system

  • Windows Server operating system

  • Windows Server 2019 operating system

  • Windows Server 2022 operating system

  • Windows Server 2025 operating system

Exceptions, if any, are noted in this section. If an update version, service pack or Knowledge Base (KB) number appears with a product name, the behavior changed in that update. The new behavior also applies to subsequent updates unless otherwise specified. If a product edition appears with the product version, behavior is different in that product edition.

Unless otherwise specified, any statement of optional behavior in this specification that is prescribed using the terms "SHOULD" or "SHOULD NOT" implies product behavior in accordance with the SHOULD or SHOULD NOT prescription. Unless otherwise specified, the term "MAY" implies that the product does not follow the prescription.

<1> Section 1.7: WINS server on Windows NT Server 4.0 operating system sets the minor version number to 1 in the Association Start Request and Association Start Response messages. It does not support persistent association.

Windows 2000 Server and later set the minor version number to 5 in Association Start Request and Association Start Response messages. They support persistent association, as specified in section 3.3.5.1.

<2> Section 2.1: A Microsoft NBNS server can only use the same port number for all the following ports:

  •  TCP port number the NBNS server listens on.

  •  TCP port number on the remote NBNS replication partner to connect to.

  •  UDP port number the NBNS server listens on for AutoDiscovery packets.

  •  UDP port number on remote server to send AutoDiscovery packets to.

<3> Section 2.2.1: If the last IPv4 address is not complete (that is, its length is smaller than 32-bit) in the received packet, Microsoft NBNS server ignores this last IPv4 address. Microsoft NBNS server Windows NT Server 4.0 and later add an IPv4 address 0.0.0.0 to the end of the list of IPv4 addresses.

<4> Section 2.2.3: The minor number depends on the Windows version:

  • 1 for Windows NT 4.0

  • 5 for Windows 2000 Server and later.

<5> Section 2.2.5:  Microsoft WINS server does not initialize the Reserved field to 0.

<6> Section 2.2.7.1:  On Windows NT 4.0, the NBNS sends the old IPv4 address in Owner-Version Map Response and Update Notification messages.

<7> Section 2.2.9:  If the Name Records Request message comes from a machine that is not a replication partner, a WINS server on Windows Server 2003 and later only sends dynamic name records in the Name Records Response message. WINS server on Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000 Server sends both dynamic and static name records.

<8> Section 2.2.10.1: If the Name Length field in a name record in a Name Records Response message is larger than 255, which is invalid for NetBIOS name, then

  • On Windows NT 4.0, the name will be accepted.

  • On Windows 2000 Server and later, the Name Records Response message will be considered invalid, and all the records in it will be ignored.

<9> Section 3.1.2: These counters are configurable on all Windows platforms and their values are determined as described below:

 Refresh or Renewal Interval:

  1. If the value is not configured, it is set to six days (6*24*60*60).

  2. It is recommended that the configured value be greater than 40 minutes (2400); otherwise, it is set to 2400.

 Tombstone or Extinction Interval:

  • It is recommended that the configured value of this parameter be greater than the minimum of Refresh Interval and four days. Otherwise, it is set to the minimum of Refresh Interval and four days.

 TombStone or Extinction Timeout:

  • It is recommended that the configured value of this parameter be greater than the Refresh Interval. Otherwise, it is set to the Refresh Interval value.

<10> Section 3.2.5.3: The maximum number of records to be verified is configurable on all Windows platforms and is set to 30000 by default.

<11> Section 3.3.5.1: Microsoft NBNS server throttles failed push notification operations. If communication with a pull partner fails more than twice in the last 5 minutes, then the push partner will not attempt a push notification with this pull partner.

<12> Section 3.4.6: The multicast interval can never be smaller than 40 minutes.