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Can't change computername (but can change hostname)

My trusted client computers (all 10.6.8) have their computername (prefs->sharing) greyed out. However, the hostname (edit button) can be changed.


I can't find any managed preference for this in WGM. Can anyone tell me how I can change the computer name?


Thank you!

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.8), i5 with Thunderbolt

Posted on Dec 8, 2011 7:03 PM

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Posted on Dec 10, 2011 3:37 PM

Try 'sudo scutil -set computrname thename.thedomainname' from Terminal. Then reboot.


Also, we found iit necessary to disable IPv6. Otherwise our macs kept renaming themselves every couple of days.


It appears to be a bug.

4 replies

Dec 11, 2011 7:28 PM in response to piperspace

Yes thank you for the lead, this works, but the correct command turns out to be:


>sudo scutil --set ComputerName thecomputername


(case matters in "ComputerName", and you need two dashes before "set".)


And in my case, I don't want the domain name in the "computername", as the DNS server takes care of appending (expand-hosts) the domain name when it's not there.


Thank you!!!

Can't change computername (but can change hostname)

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