Hostname and IP address on Windows 11 network

Question

HI,

Could anyone explain to me why I cannot access my storage (Western Digital NAS MyCloudHome) via the hostname MYCLOUD-KEMHLP clicking on it

while it is fully possible via the IP address 192.168.0.39 as shown on the sreen shot attached. The click is always ending with an error 0x80070035. I tried all the possible tests and parameters and I always get a failure.

Note: the WD support guys did not succeed to solve the problem. I can't find where the problem is. Apart from that I can access my files differently.

Thks

YB

Answer 1

To be honest WD does not give you much liberty to configure the NAS not to say that there is no such parameters as you advise.

I use a specific DNS Primary 1.1.1.1 Second 1.0.0.1 in my router. Could it be a reason ??

Here is what I get with the above commands. However I mus add that as a miracle today I can access the files by cliking on the name MYCLOUD-xxx. Not sure it will last.

Don't ask me what I did since I did not do anything than switching off my PC at the end of the day and booting it in the morning. Incredible !!

Thanks for your advices

yann

Answer 2

I use a specific DNS Primary 1.1.1.1 Second 1.0.0.1 in my router.

In your router or in your network card? It makes a big difference.

By using 1.1.1.1, when your computer asks "where is MYCLOUD-KEMHLP?", 1.1.1.1 doesn't return your local address of 192.168.0.39, it returns 212.95.74.75 which would appear to be some other machine on the internet.

Ping is returning the correct 192.168.0.39 address, so network discovery must be working, but I don't know what impact having DNS return a different address for MYCLOUD-KEMHLP has on functionality. I would recommend getting that fixed first.

Your router needs to manage local name resolution for your 192.168.0.nnn network. If it doesn't find a name locally, then it can forward the "where is" question to 1.1.1.1. From the output of your nslookup command, the DNS query is going straight to 1.1.1.1.

On my network, my router at 192.168.1.1 provides DHCP address allocation, DNS resolution, and acts as the gateway to the internet. Output from "ipconfig /all".

A name lookup example. Note that my router uses ".home", where yours uses ".local".

The NIC on my laptop looks like this. I have the "register this connection in DNS" checked so that other machines on my network can resolve the name/address.

Since ping resolves MYCLOUD-KEMHLP.local to the correct local address, try using that name (\\MYCLOUD-KEMHLP.local) in the explorer like I did with test10.home.

Beyond that, you may need to contact your ISP to get help configuring your router.

Answer 3

Here's what I see.

You have your router configured to "route all DNS requests to 1.1.1.1". My router's default configuration is "register all local IP addresses and names, and forward any other DNS lookup requests to my ISP". That's the root problem. Your router is not acting as the DNS server for your local names/addresses.

192.168.0.39 is a private IP address. 1.1.1.1 cannot register "your" address because there are potentially thousands of machines on the planet with the 192.168.0.39 address.

https://www.lookip.net/ip/192.168.0.39

Someone else has registered the name MYCLOUD-KEMHLP as an alias to a device named nc-ass-vip.sdv.fr.

https://ipinfo.io/212.95.74.75

So when your PC wants to access MYCLOUD-KEMHLP, you have a name/address conflict. If your PC uses DNS, it gets 212.95.74.75, but if it uses network discovery it gets 192.168.0.39.

The .home suffix is on my network. It will not work on yours. You need to use .local because that's what your router is configured for.

I looked around on my router's configuration, and I apparently do not have a way to set the DNS servers. Is there some reason that you are using 1.1.1.1? What was the default configuration? Have you tried undoing the 1.1.1.1 change and use the default DNS settings?

If you are happy using the MYCLOUD-KEMHLP.local name, then end of problem. Otherwise you need to configure your router to "register all local IP addresses and names, and forward any other DNS lookup requests to 1.1.1.1".

Does "KEMHLP" mean something? Is that a name that you chose? You could also log on to device and see if you can rename it from MYCLOUD-KEMHLP to your own name like MYCLOUD-YANNB.