Linux Mint Forums

Hello,

I have LMDE XFCE and it works nicely, but I have this strange issue when I try to set the DNS servers to custom addresses (for OpenDNS).

I'm doing it as described on their site, that is: Network Manager -> Modifiy connections -> (my wired connection) -> IPv4 settings -> method: automatic addresses only (DHCP). This unlocks the box where I can enter the custom DNS.

But when I apply and reconnect, I lose access to my LAN (NAS, other PC) -- there's even no more 'network' item in Thunar.

I'm very surprised with this behavior as this used to work under Gnome (Ubuntu). What am I doing wrong?

TIA for any advice - regards, Daniel.

Can't give you a definitive answer, but here are a couple of thoughts:

- I've found that when I use the method you describe to set the DNS servers, for some reason the local network name in the etc/hosts file gets changed. So it's a matter of changing it back to what it should be.

- I find it easier and more trouble-free to set the DNS servers directly in my router. How straightforward this is obviously depends on what router you have.

Thank you Brian for your quick reply. It put me on the track of the right setting.

What did the trick was not the /etc/hosts file (which remained unchanged) but the /etc/samba/smb.conf.

It had to be edited at these places:

# Change this to the workgroup/NT-domain name your Samba server will part of
workgroup = WORKGROUP
netbios name = M6400

(last line added with the network name of my PC - probably not essential)

and:

# What naming service and in what order should we use to resolve host names
# to IP addresses
name resolve order = lmhosts wins bcast host

(apparently the _order_ of items on the right hand side is critical, and is _not_ the same as the original.)

I'm almost sure I already had to edit this file in my previous setup; I only had forgotten that...

Granted, it would be _much_ more convenient to do that in the router. But I don't have a 'real' router; only one of those "boxes" which also provide telephony, TV... It's far from being as feature-packed as a full-blown router.

Regards - Daniel