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I execute NSLOOKUP and see

C:>NSLOOKUP

Default Server: UnKnown

Address: 192.168.1.1

I am guessing that it should be something like

C:> nslookup

Default Server: nameserver1.domain.com

Address: 192.168.1.1

How to fix it?

Could it be the reason why I cannot ping the Domain Controller by its full name?

P.S. Network settings of the workstation

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

   Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
   Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8102E/RTL8103E Family PCI-E Fa
st Ethernet NIC (NDIS 6.20)
   Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 90-E6-BA-BD-87-20
   DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
   Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
   IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.124(Preferred)
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
   Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Wednesday, December 11, 2013 2:56:39 PM
   Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Friday, December 13, 2013 5:20:41 PM
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
   DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
   DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
   NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled
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  • Yes that would be why. In a windows domain, the client should be using the domain controller's AD-integrated DNS server as it DNS (in basic AD setups). But as-is your question is much too broad to be answered properly. Please edit your question to include your current network settings on the client, more information about how your network is configured over-all, and what you've tried already in attempts to repair it. Dec 12, 2013 at 16:09
  • Your "Connection-specific DNS Suffix" is empty, I would expect it to have your AD domain name in there. Are you SURE that client is (properly) joined to an AD domain? Is there actually a Domain Controller involved, or are you using the wrong term? Again, please explain your setup. Is it an Active Directory domain or just a workgroup? If it is an AD domain, why do you appear to be using the gateway device as your DHCP and DNS instead of the DC? Dec 12, 2013 at 16:31
  • @techie007 Well.. Client is not joined to AD domain at all. And I cannot join because of the error. It says that AD domain cannot be found. Dec 12, 2013 at 17:05

1 Answer 1

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It appears you are using a basic router/gateway device as your Gateway, DHCP and most importantly DNS (192.168.1.1).

Assuming that, then that router is not a real DNS server, and is actually just forwarding your DNS requests to the DNS server setup in the WAN-side of the router.

Since the router is not a real DNS server it has no name (or at least it doesn't report a name when queried), so NSLookup doesn't know its name and instead reports "unknown" as the name.

Try using a specific DNS server with NSlookup, like say Google's (8.8.8.8):

nslookup - 8.8.8.8

(using - instead of a host name puts NSLookup into interactive mode like just a plain nslookup does, except using Google's DNS server for queries).

That command should return something more like what you expect:

Default Server: google-public-dns-a.google.com
Address: 8.8.8.8

Your question "Could it be the reason why I cannot ping the Domain Controller by its full name?" is hard to answer, as you haven't provided any real information on the setup of your network. If you are trying to setup an actual Active Directory domain, and contact an actual AD "Domain Controller", then you need to reconfigure this client to properly use the AD-integrated resources (DNS, DHCP, etc.) instead of the gateway device.

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