Dual NIC Windows 7 on LAN with seperate DNS

Question

I have a Windows 7 machine with two NICs and that sits on two LANs (neither is connected to the internet).

On one LAN the DNS seems to work just fine, I am able to reach other computers on that LAN via computer name. However, I can't reach machines on the second LAN via name, but IP address does work.

Is there a way to set it up so Windows 7 is able to reach computers on both networks via name?

After some investigation it seems that the DNS server on the second network doesn't respond. I do a nslookup computername DNS-IP (replacing the two options with a computer on the network and the ip of the DNS) and I get a timeout. I can ping the DNS computer, so I can talk to it but it won't respond to the DNS request. The same command on a computer just on the second network works as expected (returning the DNS info).

Both LANs have their own domain controller. I login to Windows using the first network's domain controller, could the second network (the one I can't get DNS from) be causing problems becuase I am not logged in to there domain controller?

Answer 1

It sounds like DNS is not properly configures on one of the two NICs.

• Open the Control Panel
• Type Network and Sharing in the upper right hand corner search box and hit Enter
• Click Change Adapter Settings
• Right click on the network adapter you are having issues with and click Properties. If you don't know which one is the problem, you might have to look at the properties for both and deduce which is the NIC with the DNS issue
• Select Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) and click the Properties button
• The bottom box of the Properties shows DNS information. If you receive your IP automatically from a DHCP server (top box of dialog), then more than likely, you should use Obtain DNS server address automatically. However, if you do not, select the opther option, Use the follwing DNS server addresses and enter in the preferred and alternate DNS server address.