Q:

MacOSX how to ping local Windows machine by using $machine_name.local?

I have home network with 3 devices:

MacHighSierra
Windows10
WDMyClould

Bell Home Hub 2000 is the router, from my Mac, I can access #3 by doing
ping WDMyCloud.local

But the same thing didn't work for the Windows machine, I had to use IP. ping Windows10.local dosen't respond, but, ping 192.168.2.18 works
Any suggestions on how to diagnose and fix?

A:

I think I figured out by using Wireshark, MacOSX uses MDNS protocol to browse local network. Western Digital MyCloud has MDNS server running, so it responds to MDNS Standard query. Windows10 needs to have something maybe Bonjour for Windows installed so to resolve Multicast DNS query.
https://commaster.net/content/how-resolve-multicast-dns-windows
All in all my router doesn't do local DNS service at all. And Mac uses MDNS to explore local network.

