Vista DNS issues still...?

Question

I'm having trouble with my new vista machine. From what I've read online this is somewhat of a common issue.

The problem is that I have a 64 bit vista machine with a printer that is being shared as well as an external hard drive. I also have two 32 bit laptops that rely on that printer and files from the external hard drive.

I have been able to get it to work and then the next time i try to connect it doesnt work. I have done some checking and from the 64 bit vista machine I am unable to ping the laptops their hostnames, but I can ping them by their IP addresses.The laptops CAN ping each other anyway though...

Is there some DNS issue with Vista 64 bit and some way to fix it? I really need to get it fixed soon because I use all of this stuff frequently.

Answer 1

As far as I know there are no major DNS bugs. Are you actually running a DNS server somewhere on your network, or are the other two laptops resolving the names through the older NetBIOS Name Service/WINS protocol? Make sure Network Discovery is enabled in the Network and Sharing Center from the Control Panel.