Computer Name on a network

I have a user who changed the name of his computer which is on a company network. Now the computer is not recognized by any server and he can't do anything. The computer is basically dead.

My question is.

Is there a way I can rename his computer back to the old name without re-formatting the hard drive? I tried to right click my computer and went to properties then went to the computer name tab then clicked change to change the name of the computer but that did not work.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.

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Comments

cdad2000

hey dude,

Relax, dont do anything crazy. How about press F8 at start-up to go to the last know cohnfigurations. If that doesn't work try renaming the PC in safemode, and lock down that PC, make an example of him.

Webmaster

Is it a computer running XP and is it a member of a Windows 2000/2003 domain? Do you have admin permissions on the client and in the domain?

If yes, change the name of the computer back to the original 'and' join it temporarily to a workgroup with a temp name. Reboot it.

Reset the computer account in Active Directory Users and Computers on a domain controller.

After the client rebooted, rejoin it to the domain.

jescab

oh yes - i am making an example of him.

I will try last known good configuration..........

yeppers he is runnign XP Pro.....i am not sure which domain it is a member of. I will have to call the help desk for that info.

forbesl

jescab wrote:

oh yes - i am making an example of him.

I will try last known good configuration..........

yeppers he is runnign XP Pro.....i am not sure which domain it is a member of. I will have to call the help desk for that info.

My question would be why in the world that user had administrative privileges to change his computer name to begin with.....very poor security practices.

jdog29

This is a simple way of changing computer name back, that is if you know what the old name was.

Right Click My Computer, Choose Properties, Click Computer Name Tab, Then near bottom Click the Change tab. Then type the name you want and workgroup or domain. Then OK, Apply, Ok and Exit out and reboot computer. The computer should now be renamed and in the workgroup or domain that you chose.

Edit: Oops, Your right. He did state that above. I'm sorry for being a dork on that. Just disregard my statement above here. Good Luck

Good Day,

Jdog29

Plantwiz

jdog29 wrote:

This is a simple way of changing computer name back, that is if you know what the old name was.

Right Click My Computer, Choose Properties, Click Computer Name Tab, Then near bottom Click the Change tab. Then type the name you want and workgroup or domain. Then OK, Apply, Ok and Exit out and reboot computer. The computer should now be renamed and in the workgroup or domain that you chose.

Good Day,

Jdog29

Original comment from Jescab

.. I tried to right click my computer and went to properties then went to the computer name tab then clicked change to change the name of the computer but that did not work.

Looks like that was tried

jmc724

Permissions issue....

Option 1:

Logon as domain admin, or user that has domain admin privedges, or local admin, right click on my computer, properties, computer name, change, new computer name, ok, apply, ok , restart

Option two:

Logon as local admin/domain admin, disjoin from network, do the rename procedure, rejoin network. Even if its a new computer name, when you rejoin domain it will create a new computer account.

Last known config doesnt do computer accounts in a domain environment.

Exam 210, 215, 270, 271,290 you guys should know this by now....

johnnynodough

Is there a way I can rename his computer back to the old name without re-formatting the hard drive? I tried to right click my computer and went to properties then went to the computer name tab then clicked change to change the name of the computer but that did not work.

If he has abilities to change his computer name in a domain then you have bigger security problems than local admin rights. If you have correctly configured group policies only an account with given rights would be able to change a computer name. It sounds like his account has more domain rights then yours does.

What you need to do is delete the computer object in AD, and readd with an account that has given rights to add computers to the directory. EVen if you rename it the same it wont work without re-creating the computer object because a new SSID will be associated with the computer name.

This is all assuming that you are using AD.

johnnynodough

ALso, the easiest way would be to pull the PC out of the domain, drop it in a workgroup, reboot, rename, reboot, re-add, reboot. That will update the computer obect in AD but takes a few minutes longer.

johnnynodough

I posted all of the above before I saw JMC724's post, so jsut do what he said, same outcome as option 2.

jescab

Yes we are using AD.

This si a guy that had admin prev. because he is a cad support person and needs rights to modify some computers. He had no business modifying the computer name. He was only suppose to work with the CADD packages only.