Comments on: Change your Mac Hostname via Terminal

By: Bob Robillard

Bob Robillard — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 17:17:04 +0000

set your PS1 variable (probably in .bashrc). Like:

taffey:~ duke$ PS1=”>”
>pwd
/Users/duke
>PS1=”CLI prompt: ”
CLI prompt:
CLI prompt:
CLI prompt: PS1=”`hostname`:”

By: Bogdan

Bogdan — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 07:49:57 +0000

You can use:

sudo scutil –-set HostName new_hostname

to avoid the annoying security dialog and do everything in the command line. It will ask you for the admin login password in the command line.

– Bogdan

By: Hadoop, MapReduce, & localhost | RazDev

Hadoop, MapReduce, & localhost | RazDev — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 22:23:45 +0000

[...] Mac OSX instructions for changing hostnameIf your hostname is not a valid URL endpoint, like [...]

By: Set the HostName, Computer Name, and Bonjour Name Separately in OS X

Set the HostName, Computer Name, and Bonjour Name Separately in OS X — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 18:45:12 +0000

[...] appears locally, from file sharing and networking, and even Bonjour services, with the help of the scutil command. This allows you to have a custom hostname for Terminal and SSH, another friendlier name [...]

By: Andy

Andy — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 10:30:04 +0000

Thanks.. Very helpful mate

By: Suren

Suren — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 14:53:12 +0000

You need to use this command

sudo scutil –set HostName newhostname

By: Merav

Merav — Fri, 25 May 2012 18:29:10 +0000

change the host name in /etc/hostconfig
that’s the onlything that worked for me.

By: Steve

Steve — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 21:50:57 +0000

It does not work. What is wrong with Apple? It still says the wrong host name and I can’t seem to figure out how to change it. Any suggestions?

By: Philip

Philip — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 20:00:38 +0000

I think when you re-start the terminal, you will see your changes.

By: Philip

Philip — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 19:59:43 +0000

Thanks, it was very useful

By: Helpless Nerd

Helpless Nerd — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 12:38:11 +0000

Thank you! but I still get the same response.
Really confusing…

By: OSXDaily

OSXDaily — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 06:31:07 +0000

Make sure you use a double dash like — for set flag:

scutil –set HostName “helpnessnerd”

By: Helpless Nerd

Helpless Nerd — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 01:58:36 +0000

It doesn’t work

I wrote:
“scutil -set HostName helplessnerd”

And the only response I’ve got:
“scutil: unknown, type “help” for command info”

Can somebody help me?

By: Chrisb

Chrisb — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 14:57:43 +0000

Useful!!! Thanks.

By: Steven T

Steven T — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 11:05:44 +0000

Hi Manish,

Just to not, it’s suppose to be “–set” with the double dash there. Not sure if the — will be converted, but here’s the one with spaces in between “- – set”.