Very dumb DNS question ..

Hi guys,

Y'all be thinking what a slaphead after reading this but how and ever. How long does it take of a website name/domain to register on the DNS against it's IP address? I was given a quick project for a small company and provided with the hosting and domain name. All grand, I FTP'd on, uploaded the sample code I'd written to see what changes I needed to make and then tried to access the page. Host unrecognised. I can ping the IP address but I can't ping the name (not resolved) so is it just a matter of wait a day or two or should I get back onto the web-host?

Second part of the question (even more dumb than the first ) the server is a windows environment (though shared with a few users). Because of this I am unfamiliar with the folder layout (am used to working on UNIX hosts or completely owned Windows hosts). I have a root folder and several sub-folders one of which is wwwroot. My instincts tell me to put my files there and not in the root fodler but I just want to check with anyone who has prior experience.

Many thanks and sorry again for the dumbness

-RD