Windows 7 HOSTS file not resolving

[Jim]

I've changed the HOSTS file on a WIN 7 Pro-64 machine to include servers on
two different subnets behind our Forest firewall. I completed HOSTS file
changes as admin and my network account is in the local admin group on the PC.

I can ping by IP, but not by name. A tracert to those servers DOES resolve
the name. However, when I try to map a new connection to the drive by name,
windows cannot resolve it.

On a different WIN7 PC, another domain admin has no problem pinging by name
or mapping by name. The HOSTS files on the two PCs are otherwise identical.

What could be the issue - I'm stumped.

Thanks!

 

[Bill Sanderson]

I've not needed this functionality, although I do have systems I could test
this on.

If I were doing this (i.e. modifying the hosts file on Windows 7, I would
right click command prompt and choose run as administrator. I would then
navigate to the folder the hosts file is in and run notepad to edit it from
that command prompt window.

I'm not sure my answer helps--surely you would have noticed if the changes
you've made to the hosts file are not reflected in the actual file
(c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts) on the drive?

So--if the hosts content is correct (i.e. identical to the other system you
mention)--there must be something different about name resolution between
the two systems... Both are joined to (a) domain?

FWIW - this question is off topic for this group, which is related to
Microsoft's antispyware application, Windows Defender. However, the traffic
is very light these days, and if I can come up with a helpful answer, I'm
glad to attempt to do so.




"Jim" wrote in message

I've changed the HOSTS file on a WIN 7 Pro-64 machine to include servers on
two different subnets behind our Forest firewall. I completed HOSTS file
changes as admin and my network account is in the local admin group on the
PC.

I can ping by IP, but not by name. A tracert to those servers DOES resolve
the name. However, when I try to map a new connection to the drive by name,
windows cannot resolve it.

On a different WIN7 PC, another domain admin has no problem pinging by name
or mapping by name. The HOSTS files on the two PCs are otherwise identical.

What could be the issue - I'm stumped.

Thanks!