Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner. I've been out sick.
If I understand everything correctly then at this point, I would go back to
your original configuration where DNS is set to append the primary and
connection-specific DNS suffixes. Then, if possible, I would set the domain
name that your DHCP server (which is probably running on your router) is
handing out to something like "myhome.internal". After doing that, you will
need to either reboot all of the computers or run "ipconfig /release" and
"ipconfig /renew" on them. This is the quickest and best resolution that I
can think of.
If you do not have access to your router's configuration or you cannot set
the domain name that it hands out, then you can do the following instead:
1. Set static IP addresses on all computers. It looks like DHCP hands out
addresses with the last octet in the 100's so use address below 100 but
don't use 1 (i.e., use 192.168.1.2 through 192.168.1.99). Look at the
output of "ipconfig /all" for the rest of the settings (i.e., subnet mask,
gateway, and DNS servers).
2. Either set the same primary DNS suffix or the same connection-specific
DNS suffix on all computers (for example, myhome.internal). (The primary
DNS suffix is set in the same place that you can change the computer name.
Just click on the More button to get to that option. The
connection-specific DNS suffix can be set in the same place that you set the
DNS servers.)
3. Add each computer to the hosts file on every other computer.
(C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts) (Leave the localhost entries in
place.) For example:
127.0.0.1 localhost
::1 localhost
192.168.1.10 ctravel.myhome.internal
192.168.1.11 xp2.myhome.internal
192.168.1.12 vista1.myhome.internal
Assumtions:
- You do not have an internal DNS server
- Your environment does not change much
Downsides:
- More management is involved since any new computers need to be configured
correctly if they will be connecting to the other computers
- Laptops that are part of a Windows domain (e.g., work laptops) cannot be
reconfigured like this
Please let me know how it works out.
chas said:
Oh yes, also the XP machines can still see the Vista machine. But now
when I select it from windows explorer I get a message about not having
rights to use it, I used to get a logon prompt.
Chas said:
When I put a period in the Append these DNS suffixes then sure enough the
ping happens correctly. But now when I go to browse to a computer in my
workgroup I get : The FRED domain/workgroup does not contain any Terminal
servers (never saw that before). Even if I remove the period this still
happens now. If I go to Network on the Vista machine the other machines
no longer show up (they did before). But if I view Workgroup computers
on the XP machines all the machines including the Vista machine still
show up. I haven't made any changes on the XP machines since I put the
Vista machine on but a long time ago I did put Terminal servers on the XP
machines.
Thanks,
Chas said:
The connection-specific suffix can come from one of two places:
1. If your IP addresses is set via DHCP, the DHCP server usually hands
it out.
2. If you are using a static IP address, it is set in the network
connection's properties (Internet Protocol Version 4 / Advanced / DNS
tab).
If you do an "ipconfig /all", it will list your DHCP server. If you
have control over your DHCP server (perhaps built into your router),
then you can remove it (or change it if you have an internal DNS
server). Otherwise, you can tell your DNS client not to append the
primary and connection specific suffixes. (It's also set on the DNS
tab. You can just put a period in the "Append these DNS suffixes"
field.) This should force Windows to try other means to resolve the
name.
Original question
My home network is composed of XP pro computers. They are all on my
workgroup "Fred". I now have a Vista Home Premium 64 bit machine. I
put in
on "Fred" too. All the computers can see each other. They can all
access
each other's shared directories. When I start Remote Desktop on my
Vista
machine I can browse to the XP computers. But when I get the message
"This
computer can't connect to the remote computer .. try again" I just had
one
success giving Remote Desktop the IP address of the computer instead of
the
name it complained it couldn't verify the computer name but then let
me. I
couldn't do that before. Vista has SP1 in it like a KB article said.
The XP
computers have LLTD on them. The Name vs ip address may be a bit of a
clue,
If I ping CTRAVEL (an XP computer) from another XP computer it pings
192.168.1.100 which is correct. But if I ping it from my Vista
computer is
pings 207.69.131.10 which is wrong.
Any ideas?
Thanks
Chas
Victor S. wrote:
This looks like it's a DNS resolution issue.
At a command prompt, do "ipconfig /all" and look at the output.
Verify that the Vista PC's IP address starts with 192.168.1. If that
is correct, verify that your DNS server is set to the same one as on
the XP PCs (probably 192.168.1.1).
If that does not help, when you try to ping the CTRAVEL computer by
name, does it say "Pinging ctravel [207.69.131.10] with 32 bytes of
data" or is there something after "ctravel"? If there is, do the same
from an XP computer and compare the two. If they are different, then
you might have a different primary DNS suffix set on the Vista
computer. (It's set in the same place that the computername is set.)
I think you are on the right track. For the Vista machine ipconfig
/all shows IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.102(Preferred)
so the address is OK. But is shows a connection specific DNS server
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : san.rr.com
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Marvell Yukon 88E8071 PCI-E
Gigabit Ether
net Controller
and pinging CTRAVEL shows
Pinging CTRAVEL.san.rr.com [207.69.131.10] with 32 bytes of data:
But pinging on an XP machine shows
Pinging ctravel [192.168.1.100] with 32 bytes of data:
But I couldn't find where to get rid of the suffix. I looked around
"where you change the computer name" several ways. And did some help
searches. How do I get rid of the suffix?
Thanks,
Chas
