Importing an LMHOSTS File During Windows NT 4.0 Setup (156425)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0
  • Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0
This article was previously published under Q156425

SUMMARY

As with Windows NT 3.x, an LMHOSTS file can be imported during installation to enable a computer running Windows NT Workstation 4.0 or Windows NT Server 4.0 to join a domain across a router when WINS is not available to facilitate name resolution. The TCP/IP configuration options presented during setup depend on whether DHCP client support is selected on the client.

MORE INFORMATION

If the TCP/IP protocol is selected in the "Installing Windows NT Networking" phase of Windows NT Setup, the user is prompted with the question:

If there is a DHCP server on your network, TCP/IP can be configured to dynamically provide an IP address. If you are not sure, ask your System Administrator. Do you wish to use DHCP? Yes/No.

If the YES option is selected, the TCP/IP configuration dialog is bypassed, along with the ability to configure the following:
  • Import an LMHOSTS file.

    For more information, see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge base:

    ARTICLE-ID: 101927
    TITLE : The Lmhosts File for TCP/IP in Windows NT

    ARTICLE-ID: 180094
    TITLE : How to Write an LMHOSTS File for Domain Validation

    ARTICLE-ID: 180099
    TITLE : Troubleshooting LMHOSTS Name Resolution Issues

  • Manually specify WINS server address (useful if you want multiple domain controllers to register with the same WINS server).
  • Enable TCP/IP routing.
  • Define DNS address and domain name.
The TCP/IP configuration information can be configured with DHCP enabled by clicking the "Back" button two times from the following dialogue box:

Windows NT is now ready to start the network so that you can complete the installation of networking. Click Next to start the network. Click Back to stop the network if it is running.

Click the Back button two times to go back to the TCP/IP Properties screen. Here, you can choose to import the LMHOSTS file.

Unlike previous versions of Windows NT, the LMHOSTS file can be accessed from any locally available device (floppy disk drive, hard disk drive, CD-ROM drive) during setup instead of the root directory of a:\.

NOTE: After the LMHOSTS file has been imported and networking has been initialized, it cannot be reimported. Even though it is possible to back up and tell the installation process to reimport LMHOSTS, it will not be written to the cache. If the wrong LMHOSTS file is imported (for whatever reason) the installation will have to be restarted from the very beginning. There is also no way to remotely purge and reload the cache.
Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:8/9/2001
Keywords:kbinfo kbsetup KB156425
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