The Local Zoo - Microsoft Windows Tips and Tricks

Determining the hostname from a command prompt

It's sometimes amazing, the little nuggets of information that you find out by accident. Supporting users on remote networks is common for me, and controlling or connecting to their machines can be awkward if you don't know the hostname or IP address. First of all you have to see if they know the hostname (very rare), if not, instruct them how to open a command prompt, then type "ipconfig", then try and get the IP address, or even, if you're brave, try for the hostname from "ipconfig /all". Here's something I found out (which I really should have known) : with the advent of Windows XP, there is a new command : "hostname". Give it a try!