NetBIOS name resolution

Vista Home Edition 32 bit SP1 Laptop, Windows XP SP2 or 3, Home Media Server,

I have had home media server running for several months, with three XP
clients, and this has been working fine. These systems are all in the same
workgroup, and on the same hub, and in the same subnet.

I tried to add the Home Server Console application to a new Vista Laptop and
found the following problem.

The software install fails saying the server didn't respond. Basic ping
fails as did http://<myServerName>

The server name was resolving to that of an external web site (that sold
server products). I could see the server in the networks map window on Vista,
I could share the disks on it, so this was a surprise. The UNC name was not
returned in an NBTSTAT command.

To work around this I added an entry to the lmhost file. I also noted that
the network interface did not show the DNS suffix of my ISP, yet my XP
clients did. So I added this manually.

After this, name resolution worked OK and the software install worked fine.

Is there something different about the way Vista Home Edition resolves
names? I was very surprised to see it resolve the name MyServer to a FQDN
that was only similar not even the same.

I disabled Norton Internet Security Centre to eliminate any odd behaviour
there, but made no difference.

If this problem is a new one, my work around may save someone hours of
troubleshooting.
--
Cheers

Tim Banks

Have you enabled NetBIOS over TCP/IP? Or post the result of ipconfig /all
here may help.

--
Bob Lin, MS-MVP, MCSE & CNE
Networking, Internet, Routing, VPN Troubleshooting on
http://www.ChicagoTech.net
How to Setup Windows, Network, VPN & Remote Access on
http://www.HowToNetworking.com
"TimBo" <TimBo@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:C5A31BF0-66AA-4627-BCEE-7CE30A489187@microsoft.com...
> Vista Home Edition 32 bit SP1 Laptop, Windows XP SP2 or 3, Home Media
> Server,
>
> I have had home media server running for several months, with three XP
> clients, and this has been working fine. These systems are all in the same
> workgroup, and on the same hub, and in the same subnet.
>
> I tried to add the Home Server Console application to a new Vista Laptop
> and
> found the following problem.
>
> The software install fails saying the server didn't respond. Basic ping
> fails as did http://<myServerName>
>
> The server name was resolving to that of an external web site (that sold
> server products). I could see the server in the networks map window on
> Vista,
> I could share the disks on it, so this was a surprise. The UNC name was
> not
> returned in an NBTSTAT command.
>
> To work around this I added an entry to the lmhost file. I also noted that
> the network interface did not show the DNS suffix of my ISP, yet my XP
> clients did. So I added this manually.
>
> After this, name resolution worked OK and the software install worked
> fine.
>
> Is there something different about the way Vista Home Edition resolves
> names? I was very surprised to see it resolve the name MyServer to a FQDN
> that was only similar not even the same.
>
> I disabled Norton Internet Security Centre to eliminate any odd behaviour
> there, but made no difference.
>
> If this problem is a new one, my work around may save someone hours of
> troubleshooting.
> --
> Cheers
>
> Tim Banks

yes, 1st thing I checked (should have said) but without that the file share
wouldn't work would it?
--
Cheers

Tim Banks


"Robert L. (MS-MVP)" wrote:

> Have you enabled NetBIOS over TCP/IP? Or post the result of ipconfig /all
> here may help.
>
> --
> Bob Lin, MS-MVP, MCSE & CNE
> Networking, Internet, Routing, VPN Troubleshooting on
> http://www.ChicagoTech.net
> How to Setup Windows, Network, VPN & Remote Access on
> http://www.HowToNetworking.com
> "TimBo" <TimBo@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:C5A31BF0-66AA-4627-BCEE-7CE30A489187@microsoft.com...
> > Vista Home Edition 32 bit SP1 Laptop, Windows XP SP2 or 3, Home Media
> > Server,
> >
> > I have had home media server running for several months, with three XP
> > clients, and this has been working fine. These systems are all in the same
> > workgroup, and on the same hub, and in the same subnet.
> >
> > I tried to add the Home Server Console application to a new Vista Laptop
> > and
> > found the following problem.
> >
> > The software install fails saying the server didn't respond. Basic ping
> > fails as did http://<myServerName>
> >
> > The server name was resolving to that of an external web site (that sold
> > server products). I could see the server in the networks map window on
> > Vista,
> > I could share the disks on it, so this was a surprise. The UNC name was
> > not
> > returned in an NBTSTAT command.
> >
> > To work around this I added an entry to the lmhost file. I also noted that
> > the network interface did not show the DNS suffix of my ISP, yet my XP
> > clients did. So I added this manually.
> >
> > After this, name resolution worked OK and the software install worked
> > fine.
> >
> > Is there something different about the way Vista Home Edition resolves
> > names? I was very surprised to see it resolve the name MyServer to a FQDN
> > that was only similar not even the same.
> >
> > I disabled Norton Internet Security Centre to eliminate any odd behaviour
> > there, but made no difference.
> >
> > If this problem is a new one, my work around may save someone hours of
> > troubleshooting.
> > --
> > Cheers
> >
> > Tim Banks
>
>

Do you receive any errors if using net view command?

--
Bob Lin, MS-MVP, MCSE & CNE
Networking, Internet, Routing, VPN Troubleshooting on
http://www.ChicagoTech.net
How to Setup Windows, Network, VPN & Remote Access on
http://www.HowToNetworking.com
"TimBo" <TimBo@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:FC61448E-3A69-40A1-AED5-356F0DFE5807@microsoft.com...
> yes, 1st thing I checked (should have said) but without that the file
> share
> wouldn't work would it?
> --
> Cheers
>
> Tim Banks
>
>
> "Robert L. (MS-MVP)" wrote:
>
>> Have you enabled NetBIOS over TCP/IP? Or post the result of ipconfig /all
>> here may help.
>>
>> --
>> Bob Lin, MS-MVP, MCSE & CNE
>> Networking, Internet, Routing, VPN Troubleshooting on
>> http://www.ChicagoTech.net
>> How to Setup Windows, Network, VPN & Remote Access on
>> http://www.HowToNetworking.com
>> "TimBo" <TimBo@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:C5A31BF0-66AA-4627-BCEE-7CE30A489187@microsoft.com...
>> > Vista Home Edition 32 bit SP1 Laptop, Windows XP SP2 or 3, Home Media
>> > Server,
>> >
>> > I have had home media server running for several months, with three XP
>> > clients, and this has been working fine. These systems are all in the
>> > same
>> > workgroup, and on the same hub, and in the same subnet.
>> >
>> > I tried to add the Home Server Console application to a new Vista
>> > Laptop
>> > and
>> > found the following problem.
>> >
>> > The software install fails saying the server didn't respond. Basic ping
>> > fails as did http://<myServerName>
>> >
>> > The server name was resolving to that of an external web site (that
>> > sold
>> > server products). I could see the server in the networks map window on
>> > Vista,
>> > I could share the disks on it, so this was a surprise. The UNC name was
>> > not
>> > returned in an NBTSTAT command.
>> >
>> > To work around this I added an entry to the lmhost file. I also noted
>> > that
>> > the network interface did not show the DNS suffix of my ISP, yet my XP
>> > clients did. So I added this manually.
>> >
>> > After this, name resolution worked OK and the software install worked
>> > fine.
>> >
>> > Is there something different about the way Vista Home Edition resolves
>> > names? I was very surprised to see it resolve the name MyServer to a
>> > FQDN
>> > that was only similar not even the same.
>> >
>> > I disabled Norton Internet Security Centre to eliminate any odd
>> > behaviour
>> > there, but made no difference.
>> >
>> > If this problem is a new one, my work around may save someone hours of
>> > troubleshooting.
>> > --
>> > Cheers
>> >
>> > Tim Banks
>>
>>