hosts files

The hosts files are not necessary any more as the DNS server in WinGate provides name lookup for the WinGate machine. This section is for interest sake. You can if you like add names to the hosts file. If you wish to have name resolution for the WinGate machine, use the Network name of the WinGate machine.

A HOSTS file acts as a local database that tells your computer where to go when it's looking for a certain address, kind of like a "mini-domain name server." Using NOTEPAD, create a new text file. The only entry in this file should be the IP address and name of the WinGate machine, separated by at least one space.

It is in the format

IPNUMBER<tab>NAME<enter>

IP Name to use for the WinGate machine

It might look like this:

192.168.0.1 wingate

Make sure you press ENTER at the end of the line of text, otherwise Windows 95/NT may have trouble recognizing it.

Save your file in the \WINDOWS directory in Windows 95 or the \system32\drivers\etc directory in NT, with the filename HOSTS with NO file extension (for those who care, the HOSTS file entries do not replace or interact with NetBIOS names in any way). To save a file name with no extension in Notepad, surround the name in quotes, and add a dot to the end.

Usually there is a hosts.sam (sample) file in the same directory as the hosts file, so if you cant find hosts or you muck up your copy, you can look at the sample to see how they are laid out. Any line with a # at the front is a comment. You only need the one line (as above) to get resolution for the name of the wingate machine.