Linux Mint 19 does not resolve local hostsnames (nothing to do with SMB, which does not rely exclusively on DNS) out of the box! Damn. MX Linux does.

systemd-resolve, which act as a local DNS server on 127.0.0.53, despite it points to the DNS server assigned by the router’s DHCP (aka, the router’s IP address itself), managed not to resolve the local hostnames out of the box!

Time to disable this mofo (no need to mess with /etc/nsswitch.conf and install Winbind to use WINS):

Disable and stop the systemd-resolved service:

sudo systemctl disable systemd-resolved.service
sudo systemctl stop systemd-resolved

Then put the following line in the [main] section of your /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf:

dns=default

Delete the symlink /etc/resolv.conf

sudo rm /etc/resolv.conf

Restart NetworkManager

sudo systemctl restart NetworkManager

I know it has good reasons to exist (like breaking VPN ties), but if Linux Mint decide to have it on as out-of-the-box defaults, at least tell the users that local network DNS resolution won’t work by default!

This is a choice that caters the 5% elite at the expense of frustrating 95% of the target audience!

There’s a new way to do it. See this blog post.