This Computers local hostname is already in use?

Question

SISEL2020 Author

Level 1

14 points

This Computers local hostname is already in use?

I woke my iMac up from sleep to fin the following message...

"This computer's local hostname "Name of my hard drive.local" is already in use on this network. The name has been changed to "The name of my hard drive-2.local"

To change the local hostname, open System Preferences and click Sharing, then click "Edit" and type the name in the Local Hostname field."

Can anyone tell me why is this happening? I've never seen this before. Has my computer been compromised?

Thanks

iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.4)

Posted on Sep 2, 2012 8:13 PM

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Answer 1

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,739 points

Sep 2, 2012 10:37 PM in response to SISEL2020

You have two simultaneous connections to the same local network: probably Ethernet and Wi-Fi. Disconnect the Ethernet cable or turn off Wi-Fi. If that's not the issue, shut down any virtual machines (Parallels, VMware, or VirtualBox) that are running. Rename the computer in the Sharing preference pane.

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Answer 2

Jan 26, 2013 12:44 PM in response to Linc Davis

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.

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