Renaming a Windows Computer from the Command Line
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Windows includes a very handy PowerShell commandlet for renaming a computer. The most simple form is to rename the local machine, rarely would we want to rename a remote one although that is supported as well. After renaming a machine, a reboot is necessary for the change to take effect.
Rename-Computer myservername Restart-ComputerThat's it. When the computer comes back up, it will have the new Hostname and NetBIOS name.
An alternative restart command would be:
shutdown /r /c "Renamed Machine" -
Oh, you can do that even on remote machines, either by Enter-PSSession or Invoke-* or by using Rename-Computer's -ComputerName parameter
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And btw, you are using a PowerShell command in the first place, why not rebooting that machine using a PowerShell cmdlet in this case?
Restart-Computer -Force -Timeout 0 -
@thwr updated to reflect
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@scottalanmiller Oh, cool. Just thought it would make more sense
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I learned something new today. I have been using the shutdown command for years. I never realized you could rename a PC with it.
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@IRJ said in Renaming a Windows Computer from the Command Line:
I learned something new today. I have been using the shutdown command for years. I never realized you could rename a PC with it.
shutdown doesn't do the renaming, you just have to reboot after you rename.
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@scottalanmiller said in Renaming a Windows Computer from the Command Line:
@IRJ said in Renaming a Windows Computer from the Command Line:
I learned something new today. I have been using the shutdown command for years. I never realized you could rename a PC with it.
shutdown doesn't do the renaming, you just have to reboot after you rename.
I use "m" instead of c for computer name
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@IRJ said in Renaming a Windows Computer from the Command Line:
@scottalanmiller said in Renaming a Windows Computer from the Command Line:
@IRJ said in Renaming a Windows Computer from the Command Line:
I learned something new today. I have been using the shutdown command for years. I never realized you could rename a PC with it.
shutdown doesn't do the renaming, you just have to reboot after you rename.
I use "m" instead of c for computer name
/c is the comment for the logs to tell them that you just "Renamed Machine", it doesn't rename it, it literally puts "Renamed Machine" into the reboot logs.
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@scottalanmiller said in Renaming a Windows Computer from the Command Line:
@IRJ said in Renaming a Windows Computer from the Command Line:
@scottalanmiller said in Renaming a Windows Computer from the Command Line:
@IRJ said in Renaming a Windows Computer from the Command Line:
I learned something new today. I have been using the shutdown command for years. I never realized you could rename a PC with it.
shutdown doesn't do the renaming, you just have to reboot after you rename.
I use "m" instead of c for computer name
/c is the comment for the logs to tell them that you just "Renamed Machine", it doesn't rename it, it literally puts "Renamed Machine" into the reboot logs.
Ok. Got ya.
