Networking

nbtstat

The nbtstat utility is used to view protocol statistics and information for NetBIOS over TCP/IP connections. nbtstat is commonly used to troubleshoot NetBIOS name resolution problems. Because nbtstat provides the resolution of NetBIOS names, it's available only on Windows systems.

A number of case-sensitive switches are available for the nbtstat command. Table 6 summarizes these switches.

Table 6 nbtstat Switches

Switch

Description

nbtstat -a

(Adapter status) Outputs the NetBIOS name table and MAC addresses of the card for the specified computer

nbtstat -A (IP address)

(Adapter status) Lists the remote machine's name table given its IP address

nbtstat -c (cache)

Provides a list of the contents of the NetBIOS name cache

nbtstat -n (names)

Lists local NetBIOS names

nbtstat -r (resolved)

Lists names resolved by broadcast or WINS

nbtstat -R (Reload)

Purges and reloads the remote cache name table

nbtstat -S (Sessions)

Summarizes the current NetBIOS sessions and their status

nbtstat -s (sessions)

Lists sessions table converting destination IP addresses to computer NetBIOS names

nbtstat -RR (ReleaseRefresh)

Sends Name Release packets to WINS, and then starts Refresh

nbtstat RemoteName

Remote host machine name

nbtstat IP address

Dotted decimal representation of the IP address

nbtstat interval

Redisplays selected statistics, pausing interval seconds between each display. Press Ctrl+C to stop redisplaying statistics

As an example, the following is the output from the nbtstat -n command:

C:\>nbtstat -n
Lana # 0:
Node IpAddress: [169.254.196.192] Scope Id: []
                NetBIOS Local Name Table
       Name               Type         Status
    ---------------------------------------------
    LAPTOP         <00>  UNIQUE      Registered
    KCS            <00>  GROUP       Registered
    LAPTOP         <03>  UNIQUE      Registered