Lmhosts?

[Aaron]

What is the LMHOSTS lookup feature on Windows 2000? Should I disable it? It was checked by default I guess.

[gmcd33]

LM HOSTS stands for Local Machine Host.

It is a table with manual entries that resolve IP addresses to Netbios or computer names. Some networks use WINS (Windows Internet Naming Service) to resolve IP address to netbios names.

You do not need to be using a LMHOST file unless you are running a network, and even then I believe the Netbios name cache would take care of that resolution.

Look at it this way.

DNS or Domain Name Service is the service that resolves IP addresses such as 161.58.189.81 to fully qualified domain name. www.speedguide.net is a fully qualified domain name.

Using DNS, you are able to type in www.speedguide.net and your browser will know that www.speedguide.net is 161.58.189.81. DNS resolves IP to name or more correctly put, fully qualified domain name. Before DNS was around they used a host table. The host table can be opened up in MS notepad. The host table file is static meaning that it has physical entries that dont change. In this case if you didnt have DNS, you would have to make an entry into the host table mapping 161.58.189.81 to www.speedguide.net

WINS does the same thing as DNS but resolves computer names, or more correctly, netbios names to IP addresses. On a local network if my dad had a computer called "dad" and mine was called "me" if WINS was running it would store the mappings of our IP addresses to that name. WINS is dynamic. When there is no WINS, like back in the old days, you could use a LMHOST file. Like the HOST file described before it contains manual or static entries. The only difference is the it resolves IP to netbios names.

So in answer to your question, you dont need to be using a LMHOST file.

Hope that cleared things up, but I am not the best teacher!

PS: The LMHOST file is located in c:\WINNT\system32\drivers\etc
assuming your boot partition is on drive C

[Aaron]

Thanks! That helped a lot.

[YeOldeStonecat]

Yeah LM Hosts is needed for for large networks where name resolution needs help. It's especially helpful for dial up and VPN clients to an NT server, so you can browse shares better. For internet usage and the average home user, you don't need it. It's often used for clients on small networks where a server isn't running WINS. And often to help in Wide Area Networks.