Rename network

[Peter Kinross]

I don't know if it was the latest Win Anniversary update or something else, but I can now only see 2 of my 3 computers on my network. Computer Tower is visible in the router and in NetGear Genie, but in Office1 & PKsLtop not in Explorer. In fact I can't even ping it.
My network used to be called 'LAKE' but now there are 3 different network names, none of which have been set up or altered by me.

• Computer 'Office1', my main computer, Network name - Network 12 (Win 10 connected by wire). Can see Office1 and PKsLtop
  Computer 'PKsLtop' Network name - LakeEdge 2 (Win 10 connected by WiFi). Can see Office1 and PKsLtop,
  Computer 'Tower' Network name - Network 3 (Win 7 connected by wire). Can see all 3!

Once before I solved a similar situation by naming the networks on all 3 to 'LAKE', so I am guessing that the different names is the problem now.
It seems that what was once a simple exercise, ie renaming a network is now nigh on impossible.
As I only have Win 10 Home there was no group editing. I downloaded that and got it running (not easy) on one computer, but can't see how to change the network name there. There is a registry hack that seems to work for others, but carries a warning to be sure that there is not already a 'Lake'. One of the existing profiles on Office1 is 'Lake' which seems to make that option not viable.
If MicroShaft managed to get reliable networking in ANY of their Windows products, there would be no need for this, but they have NEVER had reliable networking, so why on earth do they make it impossible to fix their shortcomings? Grrrr. I guess that as Win 10 was free, I don't really have complaining rights, but I'm complaining anyway.

[StuartR]

I am somewhat confused by this. When you say "Network name" I am guessing you mean the name that the computer gives to the local area network. As far as I know this has nothing to do with visibility of your computer, it is just a local name used to help you do management on the PC.

The fact that you can't even ping the computer does suggest a really basic TCP/IP connectivity problem. Can you please check the IP address, subnet mask, and default gateway on all three PCs by typing IPCONFIG to a command prompt, and post the information here.

[Peter Kinross]

Setting the names definitely worked once before, albeit a long time ago.
IPConfig results:
[table=]Office1, Tower, PKsLtop,
Connection specific DNS suffix, blank, Telstra.com.au, Telstra.com.au,
IPv4 address, 192.168.0.45, 192.168.0.3, 192.168.0.7,
Subnet mask, 255.255.255.0, 255.255.255.0, 255.255.255.0,
Default gateway, 192.168.0.1, 192.168.0.1, 192.168.0.1,[/table]
I tried to set these in a table, looks like it didn't work. Hope you can see the results clearly enough.

[HansV]

Like this:

	Office1	Tower	PKsLtop
Connection specific DNS suffix	blank	Telstra.com.au	Telstra.com.au
IPv4 address	192.168.0.45	192.168.0.3	192.168.0.7
Subnet mask	255.255.255.0	255.255.255.0	255.255.255.0
Default gateway	192.168.0.1	192.168.0.1	192.168.0.1

[StuartR]

With those settings it looks like everything is on the same network, but it looks like there might be a problem with the DNS configuration, and that might explain why you can't ping.

Can you try to ping using the IP address, rather than the name, and see if that works.
On Office1 can you try the command
IPCONFIG /REGISTERDNS
This may get the computer to register it's name correctly.
You will need to run the command prompt as an administrator for this to work.

[StuartR]

If registering the computer with the DNS server again doesn't fix this then please check on all three computers to see if a primary DNS suffix has been defined.
This screen capture shows how to check this, starting from Control Panel > System.

[Peter Kinross]

Wow! What a depth of knowledge - absolutely wonderful. The registerdns worked. At first I was disappointed as it hadn't worked, but I re-booted all 3 computers and viola all 3 could see each other. When I think of the $s I have spent over the years getting the exact same situation fixed by so-called professionals - don't know how to finish this sentence!
Stuart, one HUGE, HUGE thankyou.

Hans, how did you get that info into a table? I copied & pasted the table from Word, - didn't work. I selected all the data and clicked on [table=], - didn't work. I put in commas after each cell text and clicked on [table=], - still didn't work. I inserted spaces to make it look like a table without lines, but after Submitting all the spaces had been deleted. So I gave up.

[Rudi]

Hans, how did you get that info into a table?

See this post in the Lounge Utilities, Tips and Tricks forum.

• Copy the macro and put it in a standard module in Word.
• Once you have the macro in Word, select your table and run the macro.
• The macro puts onto the clipboard the BB code that translates the table into a similar structure for this board.
• As is entioned in the post, to run the macro, you must have a reference to the Microsoft Forms 2.0 Object Library in the Visual Basic Editor.

Note: The table cannot be intricate with merged cells, etc. and formatting will be lost.

This is also a similar macro to convert Excel ranges into a table for the lounge. You can find it in this post.
(...and don't worry...a lamb does NOT have fur.)

TX Hans for you time and effort to set these up!

[Peter Kinross]

Thanks Rudi. Beautiful bit of kit. But by the time I would ever need it again, it would be gone from memory (mine not the computers).
Just for interest, what is the [table=] button for?

[Rudi]

Just for interest, what is the [table=] button for?

This is the tag to initialize a table; but it is not enough to just use this. You need to "build" the table by using the [tr=] tags to add rows and the [td=] tags to break those rows up into cells.

As Hans mentions in the post I linked to, it is a rather technical and tedious business to create a table manually. The code he created magically puts all these tags into BB code format for us.

so bottom line, you need to use the [table=] tags in combination with the [tr=] and the [td=] tags to build a valid table.
For more detail, have a look at the last part of this post which explains it more.

[Peter Kinross]

Thanks Rudi.
Hey for us Southern hemisphere types, it's only a fortnight to Spring, unlike those Northern folk who will be waving goodbye to the nice weather.
It is nice to be "down under". Although last time I boasted about our weather, Hans mentioned the unseasonable balmy weather they were experiencing - really rained on my parade.

[Rudi]

I always look forward to Spring. (It's my favourite season).
We have had a rather mild winter this time around, but happy to look forward to spring.

[StuartR]

...The registerdns worked. ...

That's great news. The reason I could help you is that you provided such clear and complete information. I didn't ask for the Primary DNS information, but you presumably noticed it was different so added it to the table.

[StuartR]

If anyone else tries this, then do please note that IPCONFIG /REGISTERDNS is an asynchronous command. When you issue this command it tells the computer to refresh all DHCP leases and then contact the DNS server and register its details again, but this takes time. The command prompt comes back instantly, but this does not mean that the registration is complete.

This may explain why you thought it had not succeeded at first.