Enter your computer name

  • Article

Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

To enter your computer name

  • During Setup, in the Computer Name and Administrator Password dialog box, follow the instructions for entering your computer name. The recommended length for most languages is 15 characters or less. For languages that require more storage space per character, such as Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, the recommended length is 7 characters or less.

Notes

  • It is recommended that you use only Internet-standard characters in the computer name. The standard characters are the numbers from 0 through 9, uppercase and lowercase letters from A through Z, and the hyphen (-) character. Computer names cannot consist entirely of numbers.

  • If you are using DNS on your network, you can use a wider variety of characters, including Unicode characters and other nonstandard characters, such as the ampersand (&). Using nonstandard characters may affect the ability of non-Microsoft software to operate on your network. For more information about DNS, see Related Topics.

  • The maximum length for a computer name is 63 bytes. If the name is longer than 15 bytes (15 characters in most languages, 7 characters in some), computers running Windows NT Server 4.0 and earlier will recognize this computer by the first 15 bytes of the name only. In addition, there are additional configuration steps for a name that is longer than 15 bytes. For more information, see Related Topics.

  • If a computer is part of a domain, you must choose a computer name that is different from any other computer in the domain. To avoid name conflicts, the computer should be unique on the domain, workgroup, or network. If this computer is part of a domain, and it contains more than one operating system, you must use a unique computer name for each operating system that is installed. For example, if the computer name is FileServerNT when the computer is started with Windows NT Server 4.0, the computer must have a different name, perhaps FileServerNew, when it is started with a product in the Windows Server 2003 family. This requirement also applies to a computer that contains multiple installations of the same operating system.

Information about functional differences

  • Your server might function differently based on the version and edition of the operating system that is installed, your account permissions, and your menu settings. For more information, see Viewing Help on the Web.

See Also

Concepts

Name resolution for TCP/IP
Workgroups compared with domains
Active Directory naming
Namespace planning for DNS