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Vista WHS Client stopped resolving local names

Question
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I’m running WHS PP2 in my home, with 3 client computers: two XP and one Vista. I have a router that provides my local DHCP and the server has a static IP address.
The other day the Vista machine hung, and on reboot stopped resolving local names. It will show the green home server client icon in the system tray, but if I attempt to log in to the console, I get a “This computer cannot connect to your home server” message. If I ping the server name from the command line, it does not resolve, and gives a “could not find host” message. Oddly enough, if I browse the network, I can see the server, but double clicking on it fails.
The other machines on the local network have no problems seeing the server, and the Vista machine has no problems resolving names from the internet, it just can’t see any local machines.
I’m aware that I can work around this by adding entries to my HOSTS file (it does work), but I’d like this to work the way it’s “supposed” to. I’m an experienced computer user and developer, but not a networking whiz. Can anyone tell me how local name resolution is supposed to work in my environment and/or suggest ways to troubleshoot this?
Thanks,
AndySaturday, October 3, 2009 4:57 PM
All replies
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I’m running WHS PP2 in my home, with 3 client computers: two XP and one Vista. I have a router that provides my local DHCP and the server has a static IP address.
The other day the Vista machine hung, and on reboot stopped resolving local names. It will show the green home server client icon in the system tray, but if I attempt to log in to the console, I get a “This computer cannot connect to your home server” message. If I ping the server name from the command line, it does not resolve, and gives a “could not find host” message. Oddly enough, if I browse the network, I can see the server, but double clicking on it fails.
The other machines on the local network have no problems seeing the server, and the Vista machine has no problems resolving names from the internet, it just can’t see any local machines.
I’m aware that I can work around this by adding entries to my HOSTS file (it does work), but I’d like this to work the way it’s “supposed” to. I’m an experienced computer user and developer, but not a networking whiz. Can anyone tell me how local name resolution is supposed to work in my environment and/or suggest ways to troubleshoot this?
Thanks,
Andy
Can you try pinging your server from that client, both by name and by IP address? Also, can you open a command prompt and type ipconfig /all (from both client and server), then post the results here?Saturday, October 3, 2009 5:17 PMModerator -
The results on the client:
C:\>ping kubrick Ping request could not find host kubrick. Please check the name and try again. C:\>ping 192.168.1.201 Pinging 192.168.1.201 with 32 bytes of data: Reply from 192.168.1.201: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=128 Reply from 192.168.1.201: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=128 Reply from 192.168.1.201: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=128 Reply from 192.168.1.201: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=128 Ping statistics for 192.168.1.201: Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss), Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds: Minimum = 1ms, Maximum = 1ms, Average = 1ms C:\>ipconfig /all Windows IP Configuration Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : Kennedy Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . : Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : crazeco.local Ethernet adapter Bluetooth Network Connection 2: Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Bluetooth Device (Personal Area Network) #2 Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-1F-E2-DB-F9-92 DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection: Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : crazeco.local Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-1D-E0-87-FB-89 DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::a8bd:d9dc:41ca:87b6%10(Preferred) IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.153(Preferred) Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0 Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Saturday, October 03, 2009 3:02:13 PM Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Saturday, October 10, 2009 3:02:13 PM Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1 DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1 DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 64.233.214.34 192.168.1.1 NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection: Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Marvell Yukon 88E8040 PCI-E Fast Ethernet Controller Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-1D-09-43-5C-D8 DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 6: Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 02-00-54-55-4E-01 DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 7: Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Description . . . . . . . . . . . : isatap.{314553BB-AFDC-43B4-A641-2EC1B97E2 AC8} Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0 DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 9: Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Description . . . . . . . . . . . : isatap.{C92150D7-5CF5-4145-B96A-B9EC7A066 EDE} Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0 DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 24: Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Description . . . . . . . . . . . : isatap.{C92150D7-5CF5-4145-B96A-B9EC7A066 EDE} Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0 DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 25: Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : crazeco.local Description . . . . . . . . . . . : isatap.crazeco.local Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0 DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 26: Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Description . . . . . . . . . . . : isatap.{A4E5DA77-111A-4096-AEBA-8935A4BD6 D4F} Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0 DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes C:\>
And on the server:
C:\>ipconfig /all Windows IP Configuration Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : kubrick Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . : Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection: Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Description . . . . . . . . . . . : NVIDIA nForce Networking Controller Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-1B-FC-25-06-0F DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.201 Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0 Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1 DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.200 192.168.1.1 C:\>
Also, I've discovered that even with adding the server to the hosts file, I can't browse files on the server, nor print to the server's printer. (My workaround doesn't work around.)
Thanks,
Andy- Edited by AndrewCr Saturday, October 3, 2009 7:34 PM Forgot server results
Saturday, October 3, 2009 7:25 PM -
First - did you already try to reboot the server? (This solves sometimes such strange issues.)
In your IP configuration I see an external DNS server, which you should remove (64.233.214.34).
The DNS suffix on client side is also a potential culprit (if you cannot get rid of it, try at least a single label name).
Best greetings from Germany
OlafSaturday, October 3, 2009 10:21 PMModerator -
Your Vista computer with the problem has different DNS servers, and is therefore considered to be on a different subnet. Most ports open on your server are only open for the same subnet, and thus your Vista computer can't communicate with your server.
I'm not on the WHS team, I just post a lot. :)- Proposed as answer by kariya21Moderator Wednesday, October 7, 2009 4:18 AM
Sunday, October 4, 2009 2:05 AMModerator -
Your Vista computer with the problem has different DNS servers, and is therefore considered to be on a different subnet. Most ports open on your server are only open for the same subnet, and thus your Vista computer can't communicate with your server.
I'm not on the WHS team, I just post a lot. :)
But both have the DHCP server (router) listed as secondary DNS server? And both have the same default gateway. Have the DNS servers changed from before to after the issue developed?
Client:
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 64.233.214.34
192.168.1.1
Server:
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.200
192.168.1.1Sunday, October 4, 2009 3:13 AM -
...
But both have the DHCP server (router) listed as secondary DNS server? And both have the same default gateway.
...
Makes no difference; Windows networking treats them as separate subnets due to the DNS server difference.
I'm not on the WHS team, I just post a lot. :)Sunday, October 4, 2009 4:39 AMModerator -
Windows uses only one DNS server. Only if that one is not available, the secondary entry is used. To make the things more difficult, in this case the last used DNS server may remain the used DNS server, until a reconfiguration is done or that server is unrachable. (At least this was so for Windows XP.)
Best greetings from Germany
OlafSunday, October 4, 2009 8:50 AMModerator