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What format do you use when assigning computer names? Do you reuse those names when a computer is replaced?

Hey guys and gurls, We currently use FOG to image our machines with a Windows 7 Syspreped image on a windows domain on a windows server 2008 R2 dc. I have written scripts to install drivers, check for updates, add to active directory,etc so the build can be deployed without user interaction However, I would like to add a feature into this that will remove the computer with the same name on the domain. As we sometimes have to reimage a computer(s) that are already on domain, I would like a script that if it fails to add to domain using my scripts puts a txt file with the name of the PC itself onto a share/server. Then this server which is on the domain checks with a script every 5-15mins and if it sees a txt file gets its/there names and searches AD and removes the computers in question. Then the new computer will wait 5-15 mins and the run the task again, therefore it should be able to add itself to domain. I can do the new computer side of scripts but need help getting a script on the server to check for the text file and then remove the associated computer from domain based on this information. I thought there might be a way of on the new computer as to over rule the existing computer object. Thanks in advance for your guys help, Tom

Is there a way to Preserve Computer Name on a Refresh Task Sequence? I'd like to be able to Refresh a Lab of 30 PC's over the summer, or as needed, and maintain the existing PC Name. Everything I've read leads me to believe that I won't be able to do this easily, if at all. If preserving a Computer Name on a Refresh cannot be done, I guess I can change the naming convention 'on the fly' for that classroom, and then rename them back to the standard computer names after the fact Or, I could just delete the 30 PC's from AD, and manually type in the PC names individually in the task Sequence as I PXE boot these to refresh them with Litetouch. Either method is not ideal, but I don't see a better option. Feedback on how you deal with a Lite Touch refresh of multiple PC's where you want to maintain the PC name of the computer would be appreciated. Thanks, Stephen

I am looking for any assistance possible. This is what I am trying to accomplish. I would like to have Internet Explorer (IE9) add a footer to any printouts that includes the hostname of the computer, and I would like this change to be made in the registry with a batch file. I have researched and found that the computer name/hostname could be manually entered in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\PageSetup footer string, and that the computer name/hostname can be found HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\ComputerName\ComputerName. The ideal scenario would be for the batch file to copy the ComputerName string over to the PageSetup footer string, and the batch could be executed via SCCM. Would anyone have any recommendations on how I could implement this? Thanks!

Hi All, I was wondering what the best approach would be to assign multiple machines each with their own unique computer name during my deployment. I have been given the responsibility to deploy about 100 computers in an environment and needed to assign different computer names to each machine. Currently I have a setup using MDT for the actual deployment and WDS that is used for the PXE boot. Is there a way (preferable without using a PowerShell script) that I can deploy these machines? The reason I say preferably without PowerShell script is because I'm a rookie with scripting. If there is any other way to do this, please let me know! Thanks for any help you guys can provide! -Mehrdad