OS X Mountain Lion: Find your computer’s name and address
If you share files on a network, you may need to tell other people your computer’s name or network address so they can locate your computer on the network.
Your Mac has three identifiers that people may look for on the network: computer name, local hostname (or “local network name”), and network address.
Computer name
If you have file sharing turned on in Sharing preferences, users on your network can find your Mac listed by its computer name. To find your Mac, a user chooses Go > “Connect to Server,” and then clicks Browse.
- To see the computer name for your Mac, open Sharing preferences. The computer name appears at the top of the window.
- To change the computer name, type a new name in the Computer Name field. You may need to click the lock icon and provide an administrator name and password before you can change the name.
Local hostname
Your computer’s local hostname, or local network name, is displayed on your local network so others on the network can connect to your Mac.
The local network name is your computer’s name with “.local” added, and any spaces are replaced with hyphens (-). For example, if your computer’s name is My Computer, your local network name is “My-Computer.local.” Local network names are not case sensitive, so “my-computer.local” is the same as “My-Computer.local.”
Network address
If you are sharing your computer’s screen, allowing remote logins, or using other sharing services, other users may need to look for your computer’s network address instead of its name.
Your computer’s network address is provided by the Domain Name System (DNS) Server your computer uses. If you don’t use a service, the network address is derived from your computer name.