SOLVED: mDNS on Windows 11 partially works

Guides & How-To
1

I have been struggling for months on why none of the Start9 services (Lightning tools mostly) don’t resolve their .local domain on my Windows machine. Onion services has been my workaround. No issues on my iOS devices. Running dns-sd -B on Windows would return my Brother Printer and also my Start9 server itself, which I could access with it’s .local domain but no other services. I tried registry hacks, reinstalling Bonjour Print Services, etc., to no avail.

Finally, this is what actually resolved it for me:

  • I had iTunes from the Microsoft Store, uninstalled it.
  • I had Bonjour Print Services 2.0.2 and another Bonjour service installed, uninstalled both.
  • For good measure, I uninstalled Apple Update Service and other Apple services. Rebooted.
  • In local Group Policy, set Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Network > DNS Client > Turn off multicast name resolution = Enabled. (not sure if this is necessary)
  • Installed iTunes, non-Microsoft Store version. I opted for iTunes instead of just Bonjour because I do use it anyway.

Everything works! I think the issue was multiple versions of the Bonjour service causing a conflict. I hope it helps others who are facing this issue.

2

“Installing iTunes” has always been a valid way of installing Bonjour. It seems like, for whatever reason, the Microsoft Store version doesn’t include the right or working version of Bonjour, or interferes with installing it separately.

Thanks for this post, it might help others.