Network browsing causes DNS lookup?

Daniel C. Sinclair uf657 at victoria.tc.ca
Mon Jun 5 18:16:47 UTC 2000


Lee Howard (faxguy at server.deanox.com) wrote:
> >Would've helped a bit if you'd told us the versions (Win95, 98, NT, 2000).
> >They behave differently in this respect.

> I've got all sorts (95, 98, 3.1, NT, and 2000), but I've only confirmed
> some (not all) 95 boxes doing the DNS queries when browsing Network
> Neighborhood.  Specifically, one that does this is Win95C.

> >That's BAD (Broken as designed).
> >
> >Windows (< W2K) does not use DNS for browsing (i.e. to find out "who's
> >there?"). But depending on the properties of the IP stack you chose the use
> >DNS to locate (i.e. find out "where is XXX?").

No version of Windows uses DNS for browsing. If you don't have a WINS server
on your network then Windows will use broadcasting only. If a user is looking
for a specific computer (i.e. they used a UNC) and there is no WINS server,
but there are DNS servers, DNS will be asked for the IP address. I don't
know of any way to turn that off. 

Basically, you want WINS servers.

> How do I find out the properties of the IP stack to check on this?

Run winipcfg.exe and press the 'More Info >>' button. That will show you the
node type (broadcast, wins, etc...) and whether NetBIOS resolution uses DNS.

Daniel



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