I added a host file entry to ServerA that mapped the IP address of ServerA to ServerB. When I attempt to 'dir' ServerB from a command prompt on ServerA, I get 'unknown user or bad password' message. I want ServerB to be an alias that's mapped to ServerA for file services. That configuration should be within the scope of ServerA only -- other servers should not see this mapping. For example, if someone on ServerA executes 'dir \\ServerA\c$', it will show the contents of the root of the C drive on ServerA, and if someone on ServerA executes 'dir \\ServerB\c$' it will also show the contents of the root of the C drive on ServerA, and if someone on ServerC executes 'dir \\ServerB\c$' it will also show the contents of the root of the C drive on ServerB. Any ideas?

> Any ideas? Yes, the whole idea won't work; you can't use the hosts file to tell a given machine that it's instead another one :) and I don't think LMHOSTS will help, either, see, the hosts file is looked up before issuing a DNS query (or an NBT one) but when it comes to the LOCAL machine name it will kick in first, so you can't do what you are asking using either the lmhosts or hosts file Now, maybe if you'll explain with more details and infos what you really need to achieve we may find out an alternate solution