What Does NetBIOS Do?

by | Last updated on January 24, 2024

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NetBIOS is an abbreviation of Network Basic Input/Output System. The primary purpose of NetBIOS is

to allow applications on separate computers to communicate and establish sessions to access shared resources

, such as files and printers, and to find each other over a local area network (LAN).

Is NetBIOS needed?


NetBIOS is needed to join a domain

and there are quite a few legacy apps that were designed around it and therefor need NetBIOS to function properly.

What is NetBIOS and how does it work?

NetBIOS

provides communication services on local networks

. It uses a software protocol called NetBIOS Frames that allows applications and computers on a local area network to communicate with network hardware and to transmit data across the network.

Why is NetBIOS bad?

There are quite a few reasons why NetBIOS is bad for your network.

NetBIOS is an inneficient protocol

. It is very chatty with lots of broadcasts. When used with its defaults settings, it can be used by the bad guys to gather information about your network and users.

What is purpose of NetBIOS over TCP IP?

NetBIOS over TCP/IP provides the NetBIOS programming interface over the TCP/IP protocol. It

extends the reach of NetBIOS client and server programs to the wide area network (WAN)

. It also provides interoperability with various other operating systems.

Is NetBIOS a security risk?

Vulnerabilities in Windows Host NetBIOS to Information Retrieval is

a Low risk vulnerability

that is also high frequency and high visibility. This is the most severe combination of security factors that exists and it is extremely important to find it on your network and fix it as soon as possible.

Should I turn off NetBIOS?

There are many security concerns with NetBIOS; and

disabling its support on your network and devices

is strongly recommended. Disabling the use and support of NetBIOS can help to mitigate an attacker’s ability to: poison and spoof responses, obtain a user’s hashed credentials, inspect web traffic, etc.

Does Windows 10 use NetBIOS?

NetBIOS is a somewhat obsolete broadband protocol. Yet, despite its vulnerabilities,

NetBIOS is still enabled by default for network adapters in Windows

. Some users might prefer to disable the NetBIOS protocol. This is how users can disable NetBIOS in Windows 10.

Is NetBIOS needed for SMB?


SMB does rely

on NetBIOS for communication with devices that do not support direct hosting of SMB over TCP/IP. NetBIOS is completely independent from SMB. It is an API that SMB, and other technologies can use, so NetBIOS has no dependency to SMB.

What is the difference between NetBIOS and DNS?

As has been shown above the main difference between DNS and NetBIOS is

the availability of DNS being only available when there is a connection to the internet and the name is registered in the computer

. NetBIOS on the other hand is always available to the machines connecting directly to it.

What will happen if I disable NetBIOS?

One of the unexpected consequences of disabling NetBIOS completely on your network is how this

affects trusts between forests

. … So if you disable NETBIOS on your domain controllers, you won’t be able to establish a forest trust between two Windows Server 2003 forests.

Should I disable wins?

Now, all WINS does is generate useless traffic on the network. Turn it off. And disable NetBIOS over TCP/IP on all your NICs. For any commercial enterprise, it’s likely WINS is no longer necessary.

Why is NetBIOS important?

NetBIOS stands for Network Basic Input Output System. It

Allows computer communication over a LAN and allows them to share files and printers

. NetBIOS names are used to identify network devices over TCP/IP (Windows).

Where is NetBIOS used?

NetBIOS is an abbreviation of Network Basic Input/Output System. The primary purpose of NetBIOS is to

allow applications on separate computers to communicate and establish sessions to access shared resources, such as files and printers

, and to find each other over a local area network (LAN).

How do I know if NetBIOS is disabled?

Determine if NetBIOS is Enabled

Log into your dedicated server using Remote Desktop. Click on Start > Run > cmd. this means NetBIOS is enabled. Confirm that it’s been disabled by going to

Start > Run > cmd > nbstat -n.

What is the difference between netstat and Nbtstat?

NetBIOS over TCP/IP status (nbtstat) is a command-line tool used primarily for diagnosing or troubleshooting NetBIOS name issues. … Network Status (netstat) displays information on the IP configuration of a host, but goes further to show its connections, including ports, protocols, and metrics on the communications.

Charlene Dyck
Author
Charlene Dyck
Charlene is a software developer and technology expert with a degree in computer science. She has worked for major tech companies and has a keen understanding of how computers and electronics work. Sarah is also an advocate for digital privacy and security.