Windows 7 Where to convert LAN computername--->IP ? Even resolve local computername-->127.0.0.1 not working

[pstein]

In one of my tools (and in many other utilities out there) there is the option to specify a certain computer (in the local LAN) by computername.

So I tell the tool: Connect to remote computer "maggie" on port 1521 in LAN and do something....

Unfortunately the tool is not able to find computer "maggie" and I got an error.
When I replace the computername by the real IP address (e.g. 192.168.0.52) then everything works fine.

So there seems a problem for the tool to resolve the computername to IP.
Even worse this problem appears when I use the computername for the local computer:
homer-->127.0.0.1 is NOT recognized!

In general this is a task not for a tool but for the underlying OS (here Win7).

Where exactly can I tell Windows 7: "Hey Win7, when you get a resolve request for maggie then return IP
192.168.0.52. Or even better: Detect automatically all existing computers in LAN and map computernames to corresponding IPs automatically".

Do I really have to write all mappings in old-fashioned "hosts" file?

Peter

 

[Trouble]

First make sure all your computers are members of the same workgroup.
Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP in the properties of IPv4, in the properties of your network adapter
Set the startup type of the TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper service to automatic and start it. (services.msc)
Likewise with the Computer Browser service.
WINS, NetBIOS and lmhosts are responsible for resolving ComputerNames to IP Addresses
DNS and hosts are responsible for resolving FQDNs (Fully Qualified Domain Names) to IP Addresses.
Regards
Randy