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i use this command to get the name of a computer in my network (nbtstat -a [192.168.1.5]). it works fine when that device is a pc, but when i try to get a cellphone's name using the same command it says Host not found. but i'm sure the device is in my network and when i ping the device it works fine. so what is the difference between a laptop and a cellphone that i cannot get the correct result?
Thanks.

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  • Do you have something specific that you're expecting as "the cellphone's name"?
    – rakslice
    Aug 11, 2014 at 8:23

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The nbtstat command is for doing NetBIOS over TCP/IP lookups and testing.

From the docs (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc940106.aspx):

The nbtstat -a <name> command performs a NetBIOS adapter status command on the computer name specified by <name> . The adapter status command returns the local NetBIOS name table for that computer as well as the MAC address of the adapter card. The nbtstat -A <IP address> command performs the same function using a target IP address rather than a name.

If you run nbtstat -A with an IP that doesn't have NetBIOS over TCP/IP, (typically Windows File Sharing or something similar like Samba), it's not going to respond to the adapter status command.

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  • Oh, i get it now. is there another way i can get the name of the device from it's ip address? (i'm using windows 8)
    – cena
    Aug 11, 2014 at 8:30
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    If the device left a hostname with the DHCP server, and the DHCP server is configured to update a DNS server with DHCP requested hostnames, you could try a DNS reverse lookup: e.g. nslookup 8.8.8.8
    – rakslice
    Aug 11, 2014 at 8:36

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