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Creating a HOSTS File

If you don't have any form of internal Name Resolution available (DNS or WINS) then you may need to create a WINS file on your Windows Mobile device. A DNS service from your ISP is not suitable.
A Hosts file is like a personal address book of IP addresses and the Windows Mobile devices supports it.

To create a Hosts file you will need a third party tool such as Zimmerman Pocket Hosts. Download the software from the site and follow the readme file to install it on to your machine.

Once installed on your handheld, you need to enter the information about your host PC.

1. Get Your Host PC IP Address
   1. Click "Start", "Programs", "Accessories" and choose "Command Prompt"
      or
      Click, "Start", "Run" and type "cmd (minus the quotes) and press enter.
   2. In the command prompt, enter "ipconfig" (minus quotes) and press enter.
   3. The line you are looking for is "Ethernet Adapter Local Area Connection". Under that you will find a some numbers. You want "IP Address", probably starting with "192.168...". Make a note of it.
2. Get Your Host PC Name
   1. Right Click on My Computer.
   2. Choose Network Configuration (Windows 2000) or Computer Name (Windows XP).
   3. Read the name and make a note of.
      If your computer is part of a domain, you only want the computer name minus the domain name. For example, if your computer name is "workstation.domain.com" then you only want "workstation".
3. Enter This Information in Pocket Hosts
   1. Start Pocket Hosts.
   2. In the box marked "Host Name" enter the name of your machine as recorded above.
   3. In the box marked "IP Address" enter the IP address of your machine as recorded above.
   4. Press "Add" to add it to the list.
   5. Press OK.
   6. Close the application.

   

You can now try and connect to the host PC over your internal network. If you are using an older version of ActiveSync, then you can try synchronisation over the network - once you have configured it. You could also try using some of the network tools listed on this page.

Follow this same procedure to add any other machines that you have on your network that the Windows Mobile device could connect to.

Other Uses for Hosts File Entries

Network Printer

If you have a network printer, add an entry for "Printer" and then the network printer's IP address. When you configure the network printing software you enter the name "printer" instead of the address.

Internal Web Sites

If you have internal web sites, perhaps a web server or configuration pages for hardware (like routers and firewalls) then you could add an entry to the Hosts file so that you can reference them by name instead. e.g. firewall instead of 192.168.0.254.