Getting Linux to resolve NetBIOS names

Like many others, my network consists of a mixture of Linux and Windows machines.  By default, it seems Linux doesn't not seem to resolve NetBIOS names.  After a quick Google search, this seems can be "fixed" by adding wins to the line begins with hosts: in the nsswitch.conf file found in /etc/

cd /etc/nsswitch.conf

sudo pico nsswitch.conf

locate the line that starts with host:

append the word wins to its end, e.g.

hosts:          files mdns4_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] dns mdns4 wins

save the changes, and now you should be able to ping computers on your network with their NetBIOS names.

(ref: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-networking-3/ping-netbios-names-from-linux-samba-271336/)

edited: can use NetBIOS name with mount command too.  This is much easier to remember than using IPs of machines.

edited 2018-02-04: You may need to install winbind to get this to work.  Here is the command.

sudo apt install winbind libnss-winbind

service winbind restart