The –c Switch

The –c Switch
The function of the –c switch is to display the local NetBIOS name cache on the workstation on which it is run. Figure 4.6 shows sample output of the nbtstat –c command.

FIGURE 4 . 6 Sample output of the nbtstat –c command

Each entry in this display shows the NetBIOS name, the hex ID for the service that was accessed, the type of NetBIOS name (unique or group), the IP address that the name resolves to,
and its Life (in seconds). The Life amount dictates how long (in seconds) each entry will live in the cache. When this time expires, the entry is deleted from the cache.

NOTE:

If you run nbtstat to display the cache and you get the result “No names in the cache,” all entries in the cache have expired. This will happen often if you don’t regularly access machines or services with NetBIOS names.