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I have two Windows 10 PC's connected to home Wi-Fi router (Technicolor MediaAccess TG589vn). PC's are not connected to any domain. These PC's can't resolve each other's hostname. Ping by IP works fine while ping by hostname fails. How to enable name resolution?

Giacomo1968
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vico
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  • The [manual](http://www.vectorsolutions.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/170216-tehnicolor-ds-mediaaccess-tg389ac-kk.pdf) says on page 4 "DNS server & relay", so it acts as DNS server. Now you only have to find out how to register your own names... if the firmware doesn't provide for that, you probably need root access. – dirkt Jul 01 '18 at 18:57
  • @dirkt You don’t need a DNS server to connect to local machines on a network like this. Typically, they would have a `.local` extension and that’s it. The "DNS server & relay" aspect is connected to the fact that the router is acting as a DNS gateway to the ISP’s selected DNS servers or any other DNS servers set in the router. It has nothing to do the router somehow being it’s own DNS server. – Giacomo1968 Jul 02 '18 at 03:01
  • [Please check this other question](https://superuser.com/q/1335068/167207) and the suggested questions the original poster reviewed. If you ask me, this is a Windows 10 specific issue and *not* a DNS issue. – Giacomo1968 Jul 02 '18 at 03:04
  • @JakeGould: It has very much to do with the router being a DNS server: Typically, the home router is an embedded Linux machine, and running something like [dnsmasq](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dnsmasq) to do exactly what you say (it caches answers from the ISPs DNS servers). But it's still a complete DNS server, it's announced to the local net as a DNS server via DHCP, and you can configure it to serve your own names in addition to proxying - **if** you can get access to it (my Fritzbox does this). The `.local` domain is reserved for [mDNS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multicast_DNS). – dirkt Jul 02 '18 at 04:39
  • Of course you can also use mDNS to announce your local names; if that's easier to do because one can't get at the router, by all means do it. mDNS is a broadcast protocol in a single segment, so it doesn't need support by a single server somewhere. – dirkt Jul 02 '18 at 04:41
  • @drik Should I somehow configure Windows machines mDNS to announce their names? – vico Jul 02 '18 at 07:01

1 Answers1

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For name resolving, you need to:

  1. read about what DNS is?
  2. setup a dns server on one of your LAN Computers. It needs to be almost always ON, so other computers in your network can talk to it.
  3. Configure your router to publish your dns server address to other computers in your network (this happens when they try to connect to your network and your router tells them their IP and other stuff via DHCP protocol)

If you are one of those lucky dudes that has an OpenWRT supported router, then, no.2 can be your router itself.

Euphoria
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    With my consumer grade non-OpenWRT VDSL-modem/router, I don't have to set up any server to use computer names in my home network either. Also, no configuration needed whatsoever. With another consumer grade cable modem/router, just adding `.local` suffices. – Arjan Jul 01 '18 at 14:13
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    True, and That highly depends on your router model. – Euphoria Jul 01 '18 at 14:31
  • I'm owner of MediaAccess TG389ac router. I was expecting that router might be DNS server, but could't find such feature. – vico Jul 01 '18 at 15:09
  • This question and the answers are fairly overblown. To access local machines on a local network it is typically a scheme of `[machine name].local`. – Giacomo1968 Jul 02 '18 at 03:02
  • What do you me by `[machine name].local`. Where to use such syntax? – vico Jul 02 '18 at 07:07
  • What @JakeGould says is that, if your router supports it, you can access your local machines by their name _(shown in System Properties -> Computer Name)_. How? Just type `ping [machine name].local` in CMD or if you want to access their files type `\\[machine name].local` in your Explorer address bar. For example: `ping room-pc.local` – Euphoria Jul 07 '18 at 08:10