In the Name Resolution section, we wrote about a technique for forcing the NBT cache to contain entries for critical servers on a network. Even if the WINS server is down or the entries are corrupt, the cached entries will allow name resolution. An LMHOSTS file is needed that contains all of the server names, IP addresses and domain information, formatted in a particular way. We have created a program that generates the LMHOSTS file automatically and includes the #pre switch to load the entries into cache and 0x1b entries for browsing. This program also generates batch files that use “net view”, “ping”, “nslookup”, and use nltest from the NT Resource kit to test your network setup. Additionally, this program will generate a batch file used to distribute the LMHOSTS file. This is the seventh release (version 1.6). This software is freeware, spread it around as you wish:
Download LMHOSTS Freeware Version 1.6 3.3 MB

Note: We really like the built in database for maintaining the names, otherwise we would write a simpler app. With this version, it is likely that you will need to update some system files and reboot before continuing the update. Also, we did find that on a pristine Windows95 install, setup wouldn’t run because oleaut32.dll was too old. Yow! This is a pretty generic program compiled with VB. We did find out the scoop: SETUP.EXE File Linked to Missing Export OLEAUT32.DLL:185 Summary: If you are installing this on Windows95, you might need to install vbrun60.exe. Don’t install LMHOSTS Generator on your production servers, since it modifies system files. Uninstall any previous versions of LMHOSTS generator if you reinstall.

Here is a new command line open source version. Just right-click and save.
Self extracting Microsoft Windows version 59k
Tarred/Gzipped Linux version 16k