We have a workgroup of 16 PCs, 12 have XP Pro, the other four have Win 2000, one of which acts as a file share/server. I'm getting a lot of system log errors ID:8032 Source: Browser "The browser service has failed to retrieve the backup list too many times." From what I've found on the internet this seems to be to do with Netbios names. I'm just wondering if all PCs are xp and 2000 do we need NetBios, will they still see each other via DNS without any DNS server installed? If I disable netbios over tcp/ip or something like that will the PCs still see each other?

Disable netbios and nothing will show up in Network Places. MS relies on netbios. It's with us forever.

I would suspect you have a software firewall engaged and its blocking traffic.

You need to determine which machine is the master browser and why other pcs can't communicate with it.

Rules of who becomes master browser is as follows;
OS type
Machine name [A wins over B]
length of time up [as a tie breaker]

One of the 12 XP pro boxes is the browse master.

You need the browstat utility to determine who the master browser is so you can troubleshoot. It could be on your xp cd under support tools or can be downloaded here

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...

Imagine the power if you knew how to internet search