How To Figure Out Your PC's Host Name From the Command Prompt

If you're doing any work with networking, you probably need to know the name of your computer. Rather than diving into Control Panel, there's a really simple way to do this from the command prompt.

Note: If you haven't already, be sure to read our complete guide to networking Windows 7 with XP and Vista.

To see the hostname… all you have to do is type hostname at the command prompt. Go figure, eh?

The same thing works in Linux or OS X, though you can see that most of the time the hostname is part of the prompt anyway. Note: you can also change the hostname by simply typing “hostname <newhostname>”.

Of course, the easiest way to see your computer name in Windows is to just hit the Win+Break key combination, which will pop up the System pane from Control Panel.

 

If you want to change it instead, you can always change your computer name easily through Control Panel.