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13 Posts
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7866
November 10th, 2005 13:00
Error message: Duplicate name exists on the network
I have a Dell Inspiron 700m that is a part of an office network. When ever a user logs on to the computer and is connected to the network, an error message comes up stating a duplicate name exists on the network. This does not affect access or usage, but the error is annoying and I don't know how to figure out how there could be a duplicate name.
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LtLeary
241 Posts
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November 10th, 2005 14:00
This is usually caused by using a cloning software such as Ghost and just means that two machines on your network have the same "computer name"
Depending on how many computers are on your network it may be just as easy to go to each machine, go to a command prompt and enter "hostname" This will tell you the name of your machine.
If you have more machines than a few, get your network administrator to give you a hand. Depending on what equipment you have in your network you may be able to go to the router, WINS server, DNS server, etc to help track down the rogue machine.
To rename the offending machine:
Right Click on My Computer select Properties
Click on the Computer Name Tab and then click on "Change" to change the name.
LT
JersWork
770 Posts
0
November 11th, 2005 00:00
Does the user's PC have both wireless networking and wired networking? If so, it is possible that they are causing the duplicate name inadvertently. When the compter connects via the wire it registers the computer name on the network. Later, when the wireless has finished initializing, and connects to the network, it uses the same name (since it is the same computer) to register that connection to the network. This was happening to me until I decided to use hardware profiles and disabled the wreless in the profile I would select when I was going to be connected via a cable. I created similar profiles to disable the wired NIC, and all NIC's for the cases when I wanted to use wireless alone, or to be totally isolated. It was a bit of a pain, but it elminiated the problem of the duplicate name warning.
Since those days, I am now using an IBM ThinkPad for myself. It has a piece of software which will automatically enable/disable different NIC's based on the available connections and defined profiles/rules.
nemishh
13 Posts
0
November 22nd, 2005 13:00
Thanks for the replies.
The hostnames are not duplicated.
Also, this computer is never wired.
I'm not sure if the problem is related to the fact that I show two wireless connections in the lower right corner. Both are connected to the same secured network. Should I disable one of the connections and how do I do this. One of them is the Windows connection icon. The other I think may be the wireless device's own icon.