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Asked by: jlarot4062

How do you rename computers in Active Directory?

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Asked On
2008-09-08 at 14:14:37ID23713595
Topics

Active Directory

,

Windows Networking

Participating Experts
2
Points
500
Comments
3

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Answers

 

by: Chris-DentPosted on 2008-09-08 at 14:19:54ID: 22421759


From the computer, open the Properties for My Computer, select Computer Name, then choose the new name.

As the computer needs to maintain a trust with the domain we can't do it from the server end.

HTH

Chris

 

by: ylandrumPosted on 2008-09-08 at 14:58:20ID: 22422072

You can however use the netdom command to rename it remotely, though:

The syntax of this command is:

NETDOM RENAMECOMPUTER machine /NewName:new-name
          /UserD:user [/PasswordD:[password | *]]
          [/UserO:user [/PasswordO:[password | *]]]
          [/Force]
          [/REBoot[:Time in seconds]]

NETDOM RENAMECOMPUTER renames a computer that is joined to a domain. The
computer object in the domain is also renamed. Certain services, such as the
Certificate Authority, rely on a fixed machine name. If any services of this
type are running on the target computer, then a computer name change would
have an adverse impact. This command should not be used to rename a domain
controller.

machine is the name of the workstation or member server to be renamed

/NewName        Specifies the new name for the computer. Both the DNS host
               label and the NetBIOS name are changed to new-name. If
               new-name is longer than 15 characters, the NetBIOS name is
               derived from the first 15 characters

/UserD          User account used to make the connection with the domain
               to which the computer is joined. This is a required parameter.
               The domain can be specified as "/ud:domain\user". If domain is
               omitted, then the computer's domain is assumed.

/PasswordD      Password of the user account specified by /UserD. A * means
               to prompt for the password

/UserO          User account used to make the connection with the machine to
               be renamed. If omitted, then the currently logged on user's
               account is used. The user's domain can be specified as
               "/uo:domain\user". If domain is omitted, then a local computer
               account is assumed.

/PasswordO      Password of the user account specified by /UserO. A * means
               to prompt for the password

/Force          As noted above, this command can adversely affect some services
               running on the computer. The user will be prompted for
               confirmation unless the /FORCE switch is specified.

/REBoot         Specifies that the machine should be shutdown and automatically
               rebooted after the Rename has completed. The number of seconds
               before automatic shutdown can also be provided. Default is
               30 seconds


NETDOM HELP command | MORE displays Help one screen at a time.

For example, say I have a computer called "OLDNAME" on domain "DOMAIN" which I want to rename to NEWNAME. I also want it to force the rename so no prompting will occur, and have it reboot 55 seconds after the rename. For simplicity's sake, I have a domain admin account called "ADMIN" I would enter this command:

netdom renamecomputer OLDNAME /newname:NEWNAME /userd:DOMAIN\ADMIN /passwordd:ADMINPW /usero:DOMAIN\ADMIN /passwordo:ADMINPW /force /reboot:55

NOTE: Use caution; the password is not hidden when you type it in the command line! I use a domain admin becuase it is easier. Your mileage may very.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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