How to Help Windows Server 2012 Resolve DNS for Shared PC Hostnames in a Domain

Raised from ticket #2975

If you are experiencing issues accessing shared computers on your domain, follow these steps to troubleshoot and resolve the problem:

  1. Check Network Discovery: Ensure that network discovery is turned on for the affected computers.
  2. Reboot the Computers: Restart the computers that are having connectivity issues.
  3. Access by IP Address: If you can access the computers by their IP address but not by hostname, this indicates a DNS issue.
  4. Verify DNS Resolution: If you cannot access the computers by hostname and Server 2012 is handling DNS for your domain, check if their IP addresses have changed . You can do this by:
    • Log into the Server
    • Press Win + R to open the Run dialog.
    • Type dnsmgmt.msc and press Enter to open the DNS management console.
    • Navigate to Forward Lookup Zones and select your domain (e.g., AVP.local).
    • Check that the hostname (A Record) matches the correct IP address.
    • NOTE: If you need to add a Hostname, Right Click your Domain Forward Lookup Zone (e.g. AVP.local) and click “Add a New A Record” and enter NetBIOS Hostname and current IP Address
    • On the device handling DHCP, set these hostnames to Static IPs to minimize how often you have to update IP addresses in Server 2012.
  5. Update Hostnames: Consider updating the hostnames in the DNS server to ensure they remain consistent and accessible.

Created by Andrae