I’m running Windows Home Server PP2 in my home, with 3 client computers: two XP and one Vista. I have a router that provides my local DHCP and the server has a static IP address.

The other day the Vista machine hung, and on reboot stopped resolving local names. It will show the green home server client icon in the system tray, but if I attempt to log in to the console, I get a “This computer cannot connect to your home server” message. If I ping the server name from the command line, it does not resolve, and gives a “could not find host” message. Oddly enough, if I browse the network, I can see the server, but double clicking on it fails.

The other machines on the local network have no problems seeing the server, and the Vista machine has no problems resolving names from the internet, it just can’t see any local machines.

I’m aware that I can work around this by adding entries to my HOSTS file (it does work), but I’d like this to work the way it’s “supposed” to. I’m an experienced computer user and developer, but not a networking whiz. Can anyone tell me how local name resolution is supposed to work in my environment and/or suggest ways to troubleshoot this?

Thanks, Andy