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nbtstat returen host not found for local PC

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Friday, November 25, 2016 4:28 AM

I'm running Windows 10 Home 64-bit on a Dell Inspiron 2-1. I turned on all the network settings to enable file sharing between the Win10 PC and my Windows 7 Pro laptop. I got everything working as it should without any problems. However, while using nbtstat -a HOSTNAME to test the network's name resolution on the Win10 PC, the command returned "host not found" when I executed it. The command does find the Windows 7 PC.  I stopped the Firewall Services on the Win10 PC and now the nbtstat finds the PC. I tried adding nbtstat.exe (listed as TCP/IP NetBIOS Information) into the exceptions list but that did not solve the problem. The command stills fails the same way.

All replies (9)

Saturday, November 26, 2016 12:15 AM âś…Answered

If I understand correctly, everything appears to be working normally but you're just curious about the nbtstat results.  If this is correct then you should be OK with the mix of WSD and NetBIOS since you are able to see all PC's and file sharing is working.

Ah, I do see WSD when I changed the view in the Network Explorer. Yes, everything is working. Yes, I'm curious as to why nbtstat doesn't behave as it does in a Win7 environment. :-) MS is always doing things like this and never telling its users why or that a change has even taken place. Then when someone discovers issues like this, its like pulling teeth to get an explanation from MS about it. Moving on. thx

Friday, November 25, 2016 5:59 AM | 1 vote

Hello

For nbtstat -a return host not found,it could be these reasons:

1.The NetBIOS Interface device on the target computer is not started.

REF:https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/175935

2. The nbtstat -a command with a remote computer and the name of the computer is resolved by Domain Name System (DNS)REF:https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/249874

3.And you also could try to change to 'Enable NetBIOS over tcp/ip' in NIC properties>ipv4>advance>wins.

Regards, Regin Ravi

Friday, November 25, 2016 11:01 AM

while using nbtstat -a HOSTNAME to test the network's name resolution on the Win10 PC, the command returned "host not found" when I executed it. The command does find the Windows 7 PC. 

Do you see all PC's from File Explorer > Network?

Friday, November 25, 2016 12:44 PM

I suppose that you haven't a DNS on your network or if you have one your NIC is misconfigured. If you haven't a DNS i suggest you to solve problem Unix like. Edit your hosts file in C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc, point IP to name.

I think that "net view" is a better command instead "nbtstat"

Friday, November 25, 2016 10:51 PM

Maybe I wasn't totally clear. The target machine when I ran nbtstat is the same PC I executed the command from. ie Win10 PC is the source and target. I also said that everything for the simple file sharing was working correctly. ie Each PC is visible in the Network and the shares are accessible. I don't need to add IPs and hostnames in the hosts file because each NIC is configured with NetBIOS over TCP/IP enabled. I can ping the IPs and hostnames from Win10 and Win7 PCs and visa-versa.

Running nbtstat scenarios:

Win7 -> Win7 returns hostname

Win7 -> Win10 returns hostname

Win10 -> Win7 returns hostname

Win10 -> Win10 returns host not found

Win10 -> Win10 (with firewall service disabled) returns hostname

Friday, November 25, 2016 11:29 PM

Each PC is visible in the Network and the shares are accessible.

Running nbtstat scenarios:

Win10 -> Win10 returns host not found

Win10 -> Win10 (with firewall service disabled) returns hostname

This is because Win10 discovery method is WSD not NetBIOS.  Sort your Network view by Discovery Method and you will see the W7 are NetBIOS and the W10 are WSD.

Friday, November 25, 2016 11:39 PM

Thanks for the response john. However, though I'm not a complete network novice. I do not understand what you suggested to me. Can you provide some specific commands. Also, are you saying that since Win10 is doing something different in its network protocol, that nbtstat is basically broken?

Saturday, November 26, 2016 12:07 AM

Thanks for the response john. However, though I'm not a complete network novice. I do not understand what you suggested to me. Can you provide some specific commands. Also, are you saying that since Win10 is doing something different in its network protocol, that nbtstat is basically broken?

You said your PC's are visible in Network so I assume you meant the Network view of File Explorer.  This view of the network is configurable (icons, tiles, details, etc.) and also sortable (type, address, discovery method, etc.).  I would recommend configuring the view as "details" and then you can either right-click on the column header or use View on the Menu Bar to add the column for Discovery Method.  You will see that some network devices are discovered using NetBIOS and some via WSD.

You were using the nbtstat command which will only return those discovered with NetBIOS.  Not sure why you've observed the difference when firewall is disabled but there have been some issues with WSD/NetBIOS on Windows 10 that MSFT seems to still be working through.

I've found configuring the Network view and some experimentation with NetBIOS configuration usually helps to sort through the confusion.

If I understand correctly, everything appears to be working normally but you're just curious about the nbtstat results.  If this is correct then you should be OK with the mix of WSD and NetBIOS since you are able to see all PC's and file sharing is working.

Saturday, November 26, 2016 4:36 PM

Follow up. I turned off the Computer Browser service on both the Win10 and Win7 PCs, added the IP and hostname into the hosts file, and disabled TCP/IP over NetBios on each NIC properties. No need to used nbtstat anymore. I can use ping and nslookup to test the network. One thing as a result of the changes is that the name resolution responds much quicker when navigating through the Network File Manager.