Change the hostname in Mac OS X [osx]

When I log into the network at my job my Mac’s hostname always turns to:

larryx.na.corp.ipgnetwork.com

I have my local hostname set to:

larryx.local

So What I would like to do is set my Mac’s hostname to my local hostname. You can do this all from Terminal in a single line.

Run this command in Terminal:
sudo scutil --set HostName larryx.local

This is also helpful if you’re in Terminal and have a really long hostname at your prompt. If you want to view your current hostname, run this command in Terminal:
hostname

Update (February 13, 2012): Some people have reported that their hostname is not updating. Please try closing your current Terminal session and starting up a new one. Then type “hostname” and you should see your changes.

This is what it looked like for me:
Last login: Fri May 23 09:55:20 on ttys000 larryx:~ lgordon$ hostname larryx.na.corp.ipgnetwork.com larryx:~ lgordon$ sudo scutil --set HostName larryx.local Password: larryx:~ lgordon$ hostname larryx.local

Care of: CodeSnippets

Update (March 29, 2011): After making this post I never thought that this would have helped so many people out there. I’m really glad that this has helped you and I thank you for your kind words.

Date

May 23, 2008

Time

2:56 pm

Tags

Tags: howto, Mac, programming

suredazzle

Hi,

How are you? I am trying to set up on Mac similiar to your.

Hostname
melissa.na.corp.abcxyz.com

etc/hosts don’t change this entry. echo $HOSTNAME. It returns melissa-imac.local.

No HOSTNAME file in etc/.

Where should I backup or begin?

Thanks,
suredazzle
Pingback: Just wondering…. » Blog Archive » MacOSX and hostname
HX

Nice tip, thanks. I was looking to change hostnames of my MacBook and iPhone. Turns out it works on both.
Lisa

Thanks! Apple’s support site was no help!
- http://www.resumewritingservice.biz/ resume writing
  
  It’s really strange that Apple’s support site has no info on such a small but important topic
Dom

For some reason the command suggested doesn’t work at all for me:

[dpo@pod:~ ]$ hostname
pod.local
[dpo@pod:~ ]$ sudo scutil –set HostName rocky
Password:
[dpo@pod:~ ]$ sudo scutil –get HostName
rocky
[dpo@pod:~ ]$ hostname
pod.local

Any ideas? I am running 10.5.8. I have to change the hostname from time to time to make some grumpy license managers happy. Editing /etc/hostconfig works but is less elegant.
- Unacoder
  
  the hostname on your current console will not change, you need to close the console and open a new one.
  
  Also, I changed all three values: ComputerName, HostName, LocalHostName
Ace

Dom, make sure you use double dashes, e.g. “–set” when you enter the

“Sudo scutil –set HostName” command.
http://www.wordpressmassinstaller.com Demarcus Fanner

How ya doing? You picked the ones closed to my heart too, despite the fact I know I am guilty of #1 when I don’t pay attention.
Tore

Tahnks a lot, your solution really works, it is the only place I found where it says how to do it, apple solution doesn’t work.
Stripes

This is awesome! It works perfect for me. As much as I love my Mac, there are some things that I wish were more straightforward UNIX-y.
http://makevoid.com Francesco

Great! It worked well, thank you.

Notice that if you change the hostname this way you may need to restart (or re-log into) the machine because the internet / lan may go down. It seems that bonjour or other name-resolving services can’t figure out that the hostname is changed and don’t update the name.

Bye!
Pingback: Bits And Pix » OSX: Set Mac hostname (i.e. avoid perforce workspace issues)
Pingback: Trocando o Hostname no Mac OS | @Italux
Dieter

Thank you for the post.
My computer name was greyed out so I used this command.
It worked,
However, I had to use ComputerName instead of HostName.
Thank you again.
Dieter

Thank you for the post.
My computer name was greyed out so I used this command.
It worked,
However, I had to use ComputerName instead of HostName.
Thank you again.
Pingback: links for 2011-01-12 « Midashuang's Blog
Johndo AsIplease

thank you, worked like a charm on osx 10.6, have my mbp on a domin, make sure to use the same path “example.domain.local” or whatever or you could eff up the link with AD.
http://www.digglife.cn digglife

Thanks,it works.
Chilzap

Thanks, It just works now.
Kenny

Thanks.. I have been trying to join my AD and all other posts I have read failed.. Found yours and Voila’ worked like a charm..
Pingback: Fix XAMPP HostnameError001 on Mac OS X « Larry Gordon
http://profiles.google.com/pravinp Pravin Paratey

Thank you! I had been searching for it for a while now.
Wow

Goto System Preferences ->Sharing ->Web Sharing – below Computer Name, hit Edit… ur done
- Something
  
  no dude, his procedure is for the “hostname”, not the computer name. I don’t know why these are separate it seems.
  - c00lryguy
    
    Yeah, it changes the hostname. I just did it on Lion. Works fine.
    - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1110162736 Rob Redmon
      
      I just tried this on an iMac running Lion. It did not work for me. hostname still reports the name of the host that I migrated from (using Migration Assistant). Any ideas?
      - Thekostya
        
        Just run new session in terminal.
      - Dude
        
        quit and relaunch your terminal session
      - Hunk
        
        restart the terminal
    - http://www.lamnk.com Lamnk
      
      No, doesn’t work for me, either on Lion or (Snow) Leopard
Elopez

Thank you man! I was looking exactly for this!
MisterGrim

Thank you sir, worked like a charm!
http://www.rare-earth-tech.com Rajeev J

works for me on snow leopard. Quick and easy. Thanks a lot!
anatoly

Thank you Still works like a charm on OSX Lion.
http://jfgrissom.myopenid.com/ JFGrissom

Very nice… thanks for putting this out there… very easy to do and easy to find via google too!
http://jfgrissom.myopenid.com/ JFGrissom

Hi Larry,

Thanks for posting this… such a simple thing… but so useful!

Much appreciated!
Jay
Jnunez

Man this worked great. After the hostname change, log out of terminal and log back in, you should see that the hostname has changed in the terminal command line as well.
http://www.oriste.com/ oriste

Thanks for that reminder, I had forgotten how to use scutil. If all you wanted was a shorter hostname in the bash shell, you could also have changed the bash prompt to show only the first part of the hostname, up to the first point. See here for an excellent explanation: http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/howto-linux-unix-bash-shell-setup-prompt.html
Jason Hernandez

Thank you for the info! Now I can contribute a FIX back to the community

I have been having an issue since I upgraded my box to OSX 10.7 Lion – It periodically “falls off” the Windows AD Domain. The most visible effect of this is that when the screen saver with a password kicks in, you cannot unlock the screen. Also, when you are doing things that require admin privs, the password doesn’t work. Seriously aggravating.

Fix:
- Set the hostname manually to the fully qualified domain name
– Run this magic command from the Terminal (command line): sudo scutil –set HostName InsertYourHostnamehere
- Reboot

That’s seriously all you have to do. But what a P.I.T.A. to figure out.

Related reference: http://forums.macrumors.com/archive/index.php/t-1188443.html
Tduncalf

Awesome, thanks! Mine kept defaulting back to (null) for some reason.
http://www.facebook.com/ezequiel.pitty Ezequiel Pitty

open terminal and type
$sudo hostname “nameofyournmachine”
nate5765

if i change the hostname, can it harm my cpu in any way? also, is this the same as dns?
so like if I have a minecraft multiplayer server running on my cpu, if i change the hostname can they use that to log in instead of my ip?
Jesper

Worked fine for me on Lion. Thank you very much!
Elzorro144

it should be noted that once you enter those above commands you have to RESTART terminal or open a new window before the changes are shown.
Cuongnt

Very good
Pingback: Hack your Mac | Pearltrees
Montgomery Newcom

In addition to HostName, LocalHostName and ComputerName can be changed. LocalHostName will change the NetBOIS name. Presumably, ComputerName is used somewhere, so it should probably be changed too. It might be used on the login screen.
http://www.robv.net Rob V

This worked for me on Lion:
sudo hostname
http://www.SNTMNT.com/ Vincent van Leeuwen

Helped me a lot. Thanks!
http://www.facebook.com/people/Raul-Lopez/1498327244 Raul Lopez

Thanks!
http://www.professionalthesiswriters.com/ professional thesis writers

It’s really strange that Apple’s support site has no info on such a small but important topic
Unacoder

the hostname on your current console will not change, you need to close the console and open a new one.

Also, I changed all three values: ComputerName, HostName, LocalHostName
LG

How did you change all three values? What were the commands you ran? Thanks!