Z shell showing myuseraccount@"chromecast" as hostname???

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Z shell showing myuseraccount@"chromecast" as hostname???

Just recently got last macbook air M1. After opening the terminal, I saw that the first line is showing "myuseraccount@chromecast ~ %"... I have not modified anything specifically. What could explain the "@chromecast" hostname and what does this means? I mean I always had something like "mysuseraccount@useraccount-macbook-air ~ %". I don't get why I have this. And my computer name or account name has nothing to do with this.

All the terminal commands works without any issues.

Thank you.

Posted on Feb 7, 2021 12:03 PM

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Answer 1

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amazka Author

Level 1

5 points

Feb 8, 2021 4:33 AM in response to amazka

Ok, thank you dear Apple community. I solved this now.

What happened is the first time I configured the brand new macbook, there must have been a router issue where the netbios assigned to the mac was wrong ("chromecast").

What I did to solve this:

- sudo scutil --set ComputerName "MAC-LAPTOP-SHARE"
- sudo scutil --set LocalHostName "MAC-LAPTOP-SHARE.local"
- sudo scutil --set HostName "MAC-LAPTOP-SHARE"
Flush the DNS cache after each one by running: dscacheutil -flushcache

Then before rebooting put back my router to factory default. Then the netbios was showing the correct info and the hostname was showing my macbook air name.

source: https://superuser.com/questions/962397/mac-identifies-itself-incorrectly-on-network

https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/40734/why-is-my-host-name-wrong-at-the-terminal-prompt-when-connected-to-a-public-wifi

Thank you!

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Answer 2

VikingOSX

Level 10

123,176 points

Feb 7, 2021 12:27 PM in response to amazka

What do you have set for your PS1 prompt in the ~/.zshrc file? Zsh does not read bash dotfiles.

PS1="%n@%m %~ %# "
username@hostname ~ %

See Zsh prompt expansion

If you are using a VPN, then the remote VPN server will assign its own hostname that overrides the hostname in your Sharing preferences.

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Answer 3

Feb 7, 2021 12:13 PM in response to VikingOSX

Also: what is the computer name in System Preferences->Sharing?

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Answer 4

VikingOSX

Level 10

123,176 points

Feb 8, 2021 5:17 AM in response to amazka

One of the tricks that I use to see my hostname regardless of VPN usage is to do the following in my ~/.zshrc file:

MyHost="$(networksetup -getcomputername)"
PS1="${MyHost}: %~ %% "

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Answer 5

amazka Author

Level 1

5 points

Feb 7, 2021 12:35 PM in response to Luis Sequeira1

It is showing the name of my macbook air, theorically what I expected to see instead.

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