NetBIOS Resolution Over DNS Is Not the Same as in Windows NT

ID: Q227120

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition
Microsoft Windows 98

SYMPTOMS

When you use static Domain Name Service (DNS) to resolve a NetBIOS name, TCP/IP in Windows 98 does not complete the query against the DNS server in the same way that Microsoft Windows NT does.

On a Windows 98-based computer, if you click Start, click Run, and then type \\SOMEWHERE, two DNS queries are made:

SOMEWHERE.dns.microsoft.com
SOMEWHERE.microsoft.com

If you repeat the same steps in Windows NT with the "Enable DNS for WINS Resolution" option selected, the following queries are made:

SOMEWHERE.dns.microsoft.com
SOMEWHERE.microsoft.com
SOMEWHERE.

In a complete DNS environment, Windows 98 is not able to make DNS queries for NetBIOS name resolution in the same way as Windows NT, and may cause the following error message:

Error 53: The computer name specified in the network path cannot be located. Make sure you are specifying the computer name correctly, or try again later when the remote computer is available.

RESOLUTION

For Windows 98 with Windows Sockets (Winsock) 2 installed, the only workaround is to perform the browsing by appending the NetBIOS name with a period (.).

For example, using the steps listed above, query on "\\SOMEWHERE.". The following queries are then made:

SOMEWHERE.dns.microsoft.com
SOMEWHERE.microsoft.com
SOMEWHERE.

Additional query words:


Keywords          : kberrmsg kbnetwork win98 win98se 
Version           : WINDOWS:
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        : kbprb

Last Reviewed: June 8, 1999