Windows Server 2008 Troubleshooting:

Problem: Unable to turn on the Network Discovery. You try to turn on the Network Discovery , but it goes back to off state.

Possible Solutions:

1. Check the network connections and see that the computer is connected.
2. Configure the Firewall exceptions to allow this type of network acess. Click the Windows Firewall link in the Network and Sharing Center, click Change settings, click the Exceptions tab, and check exceptions such as Network Discovery and Netlogon Services.
3. The Windows Firewall also needs to be configured to enable incoming and outgoing access. To do this go to Start-> Administrave tools-> Windows Firewall with Advanced Security. Check the Inbound Rules , Outbound Rules to make sure that the Network Discovery service is allowed.
4. If any of the above solutions does not work, turn the Windows Firewall off and then try to turn on the Network Discovery.

Please let me know if you find any other solution/work around . Thank you

Here is a simple Windows Server 2008 problem and its solution

Problem: Unable to connect to the network/ Unable to ping local systems.
Solution: Make sure the Netlogon service is started. If the service does not start, Make sure its dependencies DCOM Server Process Launcher and Remote Procedure Call are started.

A little intro on Windows services:

Services: Services are applications that run in the system background. Some of these services need to be started in order to complete the activities. For Services go to Start->All Programs->Administrative tools->Services. To start a service, double click the service that you wish to start, and in the Properties window make sure the Startup type is Automatic and then click on Start. Then click OK.

Some services have Dependencies that need to be started before starting the service. To view a service’s Dependencies double click the service to open the Properties window, and click on the Dependencies tab.  Expand all of the dependencies. This window shows the services that this service is dependent on. If you are unable to start a particular service, make sure all of its dependencies are started and then retry.

Please let me know if you find any other solution/work around . Thank you