{"id":3728,"date":"2022-03-17T00:20:13","date_gmt":"2022-03-17T08:20:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wonghoi.humgar.com\/blog\/?p=3728"},"modified":"2022-03-17T00:52:39","modified_gmt":"2022-03-17T08:52:39","slug":"ubuntu-cannot-ping-windows-hostnames-out-of-the-box-resolving-netbios-announcements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wonghoi.humgar.com\/blog\/2022\/03\/17\/ubuntu-cannot-ping-windows-hostnames-out-of-the-box-resolving-netbios-announcements\/","title":{"rendered":"Ubuntu cannot ping Windows hostnames out of the box (resolving NETBIOS announcements)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Out of the box, Ubuntu cannot resolve hostnames announced by Windows out of the box. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The internet had many solutions from ditching NETBIOS (winbind, wins) but it involves replacing systemd-resolved<\/code> with the old NetworkManager (systemd-resolved was an extra level of indirection to break VPN ties), which I illustrated in this now deprecated blog post<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having router assign host names you specify often included a local<\/strong> domain name (must not choose one that conflicts with the internet) such as local<\/code> or lan<\/code>. So the computers are accessed in the format of myPC.local<\/code> or myPC.lan<\/code> depending on the local domain name you picked. However, it doesn’t take advantage of the hostname announced by Windows computers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I decided to give the NETBIOS service a second research today and found the missing link to the common solution of installing winbind<\/code> and adding wins<\/code> entry to host<\/code> search order in \/etc\/nsswitch.conf<\/code> (you can put it at the end or earlier if you want). I put it at the end as I wanted it to be the last resort<\/p>\n\n\n\n

hosts:          files {a bunch of things depending on your system} wins <\/pre>\n\n\n\n
Of course having a wins<\/code> entry in the hosts<\/code> search order involves installing winbind make sure the winbind service is running<\/p>\n\n\n\n
sudo apt install winbind<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
The missing piece<\/a> is editing \/etc\/samba\/smb.conf<\/code> to inject a name resolve order list after installing samba and winbind:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
name resolve order = wins lmhosts bcast<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
You will need to install samba<\/code> package first if you haven’t already installed it (for sharing folders with Windows)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
sudo apt install samba<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
The post said the name resolve order<\/code> section was commented out, but in newer version of samba, the line is simply non-existent. You’ll have to add it somewhere in \/etc\/samba\/smb.conf<\/code>, I chose to put it right at the beginning of [global]<\/code> section.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Restart the services after editing to reflect the changes and you can start pinging!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
sudo systemctl restart nmbd smbd winbind<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
So in the process above (installing samba<\/code> and winbind<\/code> and editing nsswitch.conf), you’ve also enabled linux to announce its hostname to Windows, which I’ve discussed in this blog post<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So to summarize the concepts, <\/p>\n\n\n\n
  1. You need to install winbind to add wins to host search list in nsswitch.conf, but it doesn’t do you anything yet!<\/li>
  2. Once you installed samba, your linux computer start announcing its hostname to Windows computers<\/li>
  3. To be able to use the hostnames announced by Windows, i.e. the other direction, you’ll need to add the name resolve order<\/code> line to smb.conf<\/code> (samba config file) and restart samba<\/code> and winbind<\/code>.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n
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    Out of the box, Ubuntu cannot resolve hostnames announced by Windows out of the box. The internet had many solutions from ditching NETBIOS (winbind, wins) but it involves replacing systemd-resolved with the old NetworkManager (systemd-resolved was an extra level of … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n
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