the domain: is foo.bar.local full hostname is: bla.foo.bar.local short hostname is: bla I installed winbind. here is my smb.conf: name resolve order = lmhosts host wins bcast here is my nsswitch.conf: hosts: files mdns4_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] dns wins mdns4 when I try to ping full hostname, I get: "ping: unknown host" when I ping short hostname it works and shows me PING bla.foo.bar.local (10.11.20.135) 56(84) bytes of data. 64 bytes from bla.foo.bar.local (10.11.20.135): icmp_req=1 ttl=62 time=49.7 ms *notice that it manages to get the full hostname!? :S now the only reason I need it is cuz I'm trying to reach intranet websites. when I type short hostname "bla" in firefox address bar, it automatically changes it to the full hostname (which is good, right?!) but then it says: Server not found Firefox can't find the server at bla.foo.bar.local. what am I doing wrong? it's driving me nutz. so if you are wandering then yes, it is company intranet I'm trying to reach from ubuntu. If I use my crappy winxp everything is working perfectly well.