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Level 1

6 points

Computer name keeps changing.

I've read several items on this issue but have not found my answer.

My computer name keeps changing. I thought it was my printer network that was causing it but now I see that the "new" name is ACTIVE in Network-->WINS of System Preferences. It shows the computer's WINS-->NetBIOS Name as Name-2. And it says it is active.

Does anyone know how:

To turn it off so I can disable it?

What it is and how can I keep it from changing again?

Why this happens (see above).

I do have MS Office on the computer and I have locked down changes to my Printer Network, to NAME instead of NAME-2. (The printer is connected USB but has network capability.)

I only have my computer on the MAC Router, no other computers are networked to it. (I do have an iPad, iPod & iPhone.)

I keep putting the name back and it keeps changing itself back to NAME-2. This is driving me crazy.

Thanks!

iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.3)

Posted on Jun 15, 2012 2:43 PM

Best reply

RRFS

Level 5

4,522 points

Posted on Jun 15, 2012 3:10 PM

Are you useing both an Ethernet connection and your WiFi? If so turn the WiFi off.

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26 replies

bmhcjs

Level 1

0 points

Jun 27, 2012 2:10 PM in response to Tarik2nu

After a week of good behaviour (I removed the static DNS entries from my Mac), last night it started again.

The only active connection if my Wifi one; everything else was set to off.

So today I've removed all other connections completely - the only connection listed in the Network section is the Wifi connection.

This is getting really annoying Apple; it never happened before 10.7.4 was released!

Tarik2nu Author

Level 1

6 points

Jun 27, 2012 4:37 PM in response to bmhcjs

I don't know if this will help you but it solved my problem. I am no longer getting computer name changes and it's been several days...I used to get them all the time.

I went to System Preference-->Network-->WiFi & Ethernet were both connected.

I disabled my Ethernet all together and the duplications stopped. (Don't forget to restart.)

Thanks RRFS.

RRFS

Level 5

4,522 points

Jun 27, 2012 6:12 PM in response to Tarik2nu

You are welcome, glad my idea worked, honestly it was a shot in the dark.

bmhcjs

Level 1

0 points

Jul 2, 2012 2:14 PM in response to Tarik2nu

Well, unfortunately its happened again.

I guess there is nothing to do except wait for Apple to send out another service pack or Mountain Lion.

I've only got WiFi active and DNS is assigned by the Time Capsule.

Aug 8, 2012 12:38 AM in response to bmhcjs

I've got the same problems and Mountain Lion did not fix it.One strange thing though, it's only my iMac that get's new name. Both of my MBP dont have this problem.

Aug 28, 2012 3:15 PM in response to jonniefromcavite

I too am looking around trying to figure out why my machine name changes randomly since 10.7.4.

Annoying since I'm running my own webDav server to syncing todo items - my app depends on a steady machine name.

TildeBee

Level 7

31,917 points

Aug 28, 2012 7:31 PM in response to BDAqua

BD --

Thumbs UP!!!!!!

😎

BDAqua

Level 10

239,993 points

Aug 28, 2012 8:49 PM in response to TildeBee

Jan 26, 2013 9:57 AM in response to Tarik2nu

I only have a single interface on my Mac Pro and this started happening just a couple of weeks ago. I am only at Lion, 10.7.5. The log entry after awaking from sleep:

Jan 26 09:27:26 Caprica hidd[117]: MultitouchHID: device bootloaded

Jan 26 09:27:29 Caprica configd[16]: network configuration changed.

Jan 26 09:27:29 caprica configd[16]: setting hostname to "caprica"

Jan 26 09:27:30 caprica mDNSResponder[12]: mDNSCoreReceiveResponse: Received from 10.0.1.1:5353 16 Caprica.local. AAAA FE80:0000:0000:0000:021F:5BFF:FE39:FD2C

Jan 26 09:27:30 caprica mDNSResponder[12]: mDNSCoreReceiveResponse: ProbeCount 2; will deregister 4 Caprica.local. Addr 10.0.1.198

Jan 26 09:27:30 caprica mDNSResponder[12]: Local Hostname Caprica.local already in use; will try Caprica-2.local instead

The IP address is reserved in DHCP on my Airport Extreme running version 7.6.1.

This is indeed annoying as when the conflict dialog appears, keyboard input only beeps so you can't wake it up until pressing the power switch.

Jason T.

Level 1

0 points

Jun 7, 2013 10:14 PM in response to ericrhall

I realize I'm rather late to this discussion, but I found this thread trying to solve my own problem. I migrated a from a 2008 macbook to a new 27 inch iMac on Tuesday, then tried to sync my iPHone 5 for the first time tonight, and that is when I started having the computer naming problem. It started when I connected the phone and i received an error "iTunes could not connect to this phone. Could not allocate a resource".

Immediately after I got that, a window popped up advising that "My iMac" was already in use and the name was changed to "My iMac 2", which made no sense as there is no such mac on the network.

I tried resetting and trying the phone again, each time I opened iTunes, I received the error message.

Then I tried this solution to solve the problem with the phone connecting to iTunes (keep in mind this iTunes is an exact copy of the one that I was previously syncing my phone to" -

The solution from this page solved both problems so far.

http://khellek.blogspot.com/2012/10/itunes-could-not-connect-to-this-iphone.html

Edft

Level 1

0 points

Nov 19, 2014 8:55 AM in response to Tarik2nu

I wish I could recall where I saw a solution that was provided around 2005 - but in any case the following was recommened and it does appea to solve the problem.

1 - Go to System Preferences and click on "Energy Saver"

2 - Check only "Put hard disks to sleep when possible"

3 - Close "Energy Saver" window

3 - Go back to the System Preferences Menu and click on "Sharing"

4 - Set the Computer name to your choosing.

5 - Close "Sharing" window

6 - Close System Preferences

Computer name keeps changing.