To rename a computer

1. Open System in Control Panel.
2. On the Network Identification tab, click Properties.
3. In Computer name, type a new name for the computer, and then click OK.

   If the computer is a member of a domain, you will be prompted to provide a user name and user password to rename the computer in the domain.

 Note

• You must be logged on as an administrator to the local computer to change the computer name.
• To open a Control Panel item, click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, and then double-click the appropriate icon.
• A computer joining a Windows 2000 domain must use the name created for it by the network administrator, unless you have a user name and password with rights to create computer accounts
• If you supplied a valid user name and password for a secure Windows 2000 domain, the domain membership will be automatically updated with the new computer name.
• It is recommended that you use computer names that are 15 characters or less. If your computer has TCP/IP networking protocol installed, the computer name can be up to 63 characters long but should only contain the numbers 0-9, the letters A-Z and a-z, and hyphens. You may use other characters, but doing so may prevent other users from finding your computer on the network. If your network is using the Microsoft DNS server, you can use any characters except periods. If other networking protocols are installed without TCP/IP, the name is limited to 15 characters.
• If you specify a computer name longer than 15 characters and you want longer names to be recognized by the Active Directory domain, the domain administrator must enable registration of DNS names that are 16 bytes or longer.
• If your computer is a member of a workgroup, no networking is installed, or TCP/IP is not installed, the computer name cannot be more than 15 characters, and the characters must all be uppercase.

Change the DNS suffix of your computer

Join a domain

Join a workgroup