Need a script to change the name of a computer

[Cancerous]

About to roll out a bunch of VM's onto a domain, but I need to know how to automate a computer name change based on a variable BEFORE it joins the domain.

I've got a cmd script in SetupComplete.cmd that goes to a website to get a hostname based on the computers IP.
So is there any way to automate a script to get the variable and assign it as the host name?

This is the script I use to get the hostname. It assigns the hostname to the variable VMHOST.

for /f "delims=" %a in ('c:\windows\system32\webfetch.exe websiteurl.php') do @set VMHOST=%a

 

[WindowsStar]

Where is the variable you need? or are you talking about VMHOST variable and using it?

 

[Cancerous]

Using the VMHOST variable.

 

[WindowsStar]

Using the VMHOST variable.

I am not sure if I know how to rename the machine from the command line. I would have to look that up. I can turn all of it into VBScript for you, unless you don't know VBScript and need to manage it???? Let me know. -WS

 

[Cancerous]

I'm sure I'll cope. I have a tiny little bit of coding experience, so if it's just changing some variables then it will be fine.
& I work in a software company so I'm sure one of the developers will know how to use vbscript.

 

[WindowsStar]

Here you go. I just modified your command line command. Please note: You can get into some major trouble if the name is longer than 15 characters. There is NO name checking here. Please test this on a machine that if it crashes you are ok with that. Let me know -WS

for /f "delims=" %a in ('c:\windows\system32\webfetch.exe websiteurl.php') do @wmic computersystem where name="%COMPUTERNAME%" call rename name=%a

 

[Cancerous]

Thanks.
I'll test it on Monday when I get back to work.

 

[WindowsStar]

Great, don't forget to let me know if it works or not. -WS

 

[Cancerous]

I get the "Unexpected switch at this level" error.

 

[WindowsStar]

Does the following give you the computer name?

for /f "delims=" %a in ('c:\windows\system32\webfetch.exe websiteurl.php') do @echo %a

If yes, on a test machine does this change the name?

wmic computersystem where name="%COMPUTERNAME%" call rename name=Test-PC

or

wmic computersystem where name="%COMPUTERNAME%" call rename name="Test-PC"

 

[Cancerous]

I'm doing it using wsname.exe now.

for /f "delims=" %a in ('c:\windows\system32\webfetch.exe websiteurl.php') do @set VMHOST=%a

wsname.exe /N:%VMHOST%

That works
Not it's just a matter of getting it to work with sysprep