Gregg Brooke
asked on
Can Not Change Computer Name
I had to bring an old machine out of mothballs. When I booted it, it said that there a duplicate name on the network. Logged on as local administrator and attempted to change the name. Could not. Have run into that problem before so took the machine out of the domain and put in the WORKGROUP workgroup. Rebooted. This usually allows me to change the name. Logged on as local admin. Attempted to change the computer name. Received the following error:
The following error occurred validating the name "newmachinename".
A general network error occurred.
Domain controller is SBS 2003 Standard
Workstation in question is Win2000.
Research on the above error message turns up nothing specific to my situation. Any suggestions?
The following error occurred validating the name "newmachinename".
A general network error occurred.
Domain controller is SBS 2003 Standard
Workstation in question is Win2000.
Research on the above error message turns up nothing specific to my situation. Any suggestions?
Check your event log and let me know what the specific error is.
Not sure how to fix the renaming problem, but if you don't find anything you could always do a sysprep (found in the deployment tools http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=e5a33392-77a2-4d9c-a70e-8eb1369c85ed)
It should do it fine, but it'll also wipe your user accounts and Windows key. Just warning you.
It should do it fine, but it'll also wipe your user accounts and Windows key. Just warning you.
ASKER
The only thing that shows up when I attempt to change the name is:
Event ID: 7000
Source: Service Control Manager
The NetBIOS Interface service failed to start due to the following error:
The system cannot find the file specified.
Event ID: 7000
Source: Service Control Manager
The NetBIOS Interface service failed to start due to the following error:
The system cannot find the file specified.
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
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ASKER
Could not lose the user account, so I went with the NIC suggestion. Removed the NIC. Booted the machine with no NIC. Was able to change the name. Put the NIC back in. Booted. Was able to put machine in the domain. As patmoli mentioned, it does seem that the issue was something in the protocol stack.
If you haven't already done so, unplug the network cable. If you're still connected to the network, you're likely getting some interference from the other machine with the same name.
If you've already done that, try patmoli's suggestion. If that doesn't help, you may need to remove & reinstall the TCP/IP stack. Procedure to do that can be found here.
:)
If you've already done that, try patmoli's suggestion. If that doesn't help, you may need to remove & reinstall the TCP/IP stack. Procedure to do that can be found here.
:)
Ack, you accepted while I was typing.
Oh, well; glad you found your solution!
:)
Oh, well; glad you found your solution!
:)
As you said that it is not a domain computer, we can take a chance by changing the name of the computer from the registry (this will not cause any problems though)
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ CurrentCon trolSet\Co ntrol\Comp uterName\A ctiveCompu terName.
Restart the server service or reboot.
Or
You could use 'newsid' software to change the computer name in the GUI. (This will also generate a new SID for you PC)
You may download newsid software from the link below
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897418.aspx
Hope it helps, good luck.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\
Restart the server service or reboot.
Or
You could use 'newsid' software to change the computer name in the GUI. (This will also generate a new SID for you PC)
You may download newsid software from the link below
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897418.aspx
Hope it helps, good luck.