Automated PC Naming

[Mr_M_Cox]

hi all, i was wondering if anyone knew what you had to do to automatically name your workstations in numerical order when imaging using Norton Ghost. i am sure i was told a way usng the .ini file but cant remember for the life of me.

 

Cheers for the Help

[Mr_M_Cox]

hi all, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE help. i have had lots of viewings but no replies.

[Anglo_Jaxon]

We have always had to rename the PC manually - in fact we have to login to the computer (not the network) then rename the machine, then login to the network.

 

Sometimes we even have to take it off the network domain and then change the name.

 

 

Sorry I could help!

 

[djm968]

For a template configuration set, the default computer name appears in the

Computer Name page as Computer N*****.

 

When the task runs, the wildcard stars are replaced with a number unique to each computer. You can increase or decrease the number of stars, and you can alter the alphabetical part of the name.

 

For example, if you create computers for the Administration department,

set the computer name to Admin *****.

 

To specify the computer name

1 In the Properties for New Configuration Set window, in the left pane, click

Computer Name.

2 Check Apply Computer name.

3 In the space provided, type the computer name.

4 If you are setting up a Windows 2000 or XP configuration, and want the

NetBIOS computer name to be applied as part of the configuration, check

Apply NetBIOS Computer name.

[MicrodigitUK]

Hi I am having a similar problem with Ghost’s automatic naming of workstations. I can get it to automatically name the workstations using the wild cards but it is in a random numerical order which is no good for naming a room of workstations.

 

Any Symantec Ghost teci help welcome!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Mr_M_Cox]

thaks you so much for tha response djm968. only thing i was wondering . we call our PC's PC001, PC002 etc, will ghost start at PC000 and work up (if the name given is PC***) as secondly what if i wanted just to do PC020 would it know to insert it in or would it add it on the end leaving you with missing numbes?

[djm968]

Hi I am having a similar problem with Ghost’s automatic naming of workstations. I can get it to automatically name the workstations using the wild cards but it is in a random numerical order which is no good for naming a room of workstations.

 

Any Symantec Ghost teci help welcome!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

I am not sure of a way around this, other than physically moving the workstations around. I was working on a start-up script that sets the computername by looking up its MAC address in a table but have not had much time to play with this recently.

 

Anyone else got any ideas?

[djm968]

only thing i was wondering . we call our PC's PC001, PC002 etc, will ghost start at PC000 and work up (if the name given is PC***)

 

To be honest I can't remember, it’s been a while since I played with computer naming in ghost, but I think ghost naming will start from PC001 with a format of PC***.

 

secondly what if i wanted just to do PC020 would it know to insert it in or would it add it on the end leaving you with missing numbes?

 

I don’t really understand your second point, for an individual workstation, I would just let ghost give it a name using the standard template and re-name it manually.

[john_robinson001]

I tend to run Sysprep on the initial template PC before creating the image. After running it, edit the sysprep.inf file and delete whatever value is assigned to "computer name".

 

Now, when you rollout the image, the client machines will stop and ask to be given a name before they finish the setup and join themselves to the domain.

 

I know its not exactly automated, but it makes it really easy to quickly whip round a room, enter the computer name, and press "enter" to finish the job. Certainly quicker than having to change it manually in Windows afterwards.

 

If anyone wants any more info on this, let me know... I'll be happy to provide.