Want to change the default computer name? It’s been simple pretty simple in Windows but the latest iteration, Windows 11, made it even simpler. The option to rename the computer has now been added to the main screen of the computer ‘Settings’ in the ‘System’ tab.
Apart from the ‘Settings’, you can also change the computer name through the ‘System Properties’, ‘PowerShell’ or the ‘Command Prompt’.
If you have bought a new computer and want to change its name, or for any other reason, here’s how you do it on Windows 11.
Change Computer Name from Windows Settings
To change the computer name, press the WINDOWS key to launch the ‘Start Menu’, search for ‘Settings’, and then click on the relevant search result to launch the app.
The ‘System’ settings will launch by default and you would find your computer name mentioned at the top on the right. Click on the ‘Rename’ option under the computer name.
Now, enter the new computer name in the text box and click on ‘Next’.
You will now be asked to rename your computer for the new computer name to come into effect. Restart the computer and you will find the new computer name mentioned in the Settings.
Note: If you see ‘One or more of the characters you typed won’t work. Try something different’, it’s because you have entered a character that’s not allowed for a computer name. Check if you have added space, apostrophe (‘), colon (:), underscore (_), period (.) or other similar characters, and remove them. For the computer name, you can use alphabetical characters, numerical characters, and a hyphen (-).
Change Computer Name from System Properties
You also have the option to change the computer name from the properties. One of the advantages of using this method is that when you enter a character that’s now allowed, a dialog box with the list of permitted characters and the ones that are not allowed is displayed. This makes it easy to delete the characters and come with a name that conforms to the standard.
To change the computer name, press the WINDOWS key to launch the ‘Start Menu’, type ‘sysdm.cpl’ and click on the relevant search result.
The ‘Computer Name’ tab of ‘System Properties’ will open by default. Click on the ‘Change’ option.
Now, enter the new computer name based on the guidelines we discussed above, and click on ‘OK’ at the bottom.
You will now be asked to restart the computer, click on ‘Restart now’ to restart it right away. Do make sure that you have saved all files before restart to avoid data loss.
Change Computer Name via Command Prompt
To change the computer name, search for ‘Windows Terminal’ in the start menu, right-click on the relevant search result and then click on ‘Run as administrator’. Click ‘Yes’ on the confirmation box that pops up.
Check if it’s the Command Prompt, PowerShell, or Cloud Shell tab that opens. If it’s not ‘Command Prompt’, click on the downward-facing arrow at the top where the tabs are listed and select ‘Command Prompt’ from the drop-down menu.
Note: You can modify the settings to launch whichever tab you want from the three, when opening Windows Terminal.
An elevated ‘Command Prompt’ will open in a new tab, since we selected ‘Run as administrator’ earlier. Now, enter the following command in Command Prompt.
wmic computersystem where name="Present Name" call rename name="New Name"In the above command, replace the ‘Present Name’ with the current computer name and ‘New Name’ with the one you want to name it, and then press ENTER to execute it.
The command will now be executed, look for ‘0’ next to ‘ReturnValue’. In case it shows ‘5’, you haven’t launched the Command Prompt with administrator privileges. Once you have ‘ReturnValue’ as ‘0’, close the ‘Terminal’ window and restart the computer for the changes to reflect.
After you restart the computer, the new name will reflect throughout.
Change Computer Name via PowerShell
You can also change the computer name with the shell command in Windows PowerShell. Launch the Windows Terminal with administrator privileges as discussed above and open Powershell.
Next, enter the following command in the PowerShell window.
Rename-Computer -NewName "New Name"In the above command, replace ‘New Name’ with the new name for your computer, and press ENTER to execute the command.
Once the command is executed, you will be asked to restart the computer for the changes to come into effect. Close the Terminal window and restart the computer.
That’s all there’s to changing the computer name on Windows 11.
You can go with any of the four methods to change the computer name, since the end result remains the same. However, we recommend using the first two, in case you are not acquainted with ‘Command Prompt’ or ‘PowerShell’.
