Error Message:

  • Article

The NetBIOS name is invalid. It may be too long or it may contain one or more invalid characters. Valid names are 1 to number characters in length.

Explanation:

A NetBIOS name must contain 16 bytes. The first 15 bytes of each name are user-specified indicating either:

  • A unique name identifying a resource associated with a single user or computer on the network.

  • A group name identifying a resource associated with a group or collection of users or computers on the network.

The 16th character in each NetBIOS name is used by Microsoft NetBIOS clients as a name suffix to identify the name and indicate information about the resource that the name is being used to register on the network. Each NetBIOS name is configured as either a unique (exclusive) or group (non-exclusive) name. Unique names are typically used to send network communications to a specific process on a computer. Group names are used to simultaneously send information to multiple computers. If the NetBIOS name is the correct length, then the problem is due to the use of characters that are not valid. NetBIOS names cannot contain the following characters: \ / : * ? " < > |

User Action:

Check the NetBIOS name to see if it is more than 16 bytes or contains one of the characters that cannot be used.