Device Name
Hello All,
Is there an intuitive way to change the name of a device to a more common name. KACE currently picks up on the Windows computer name and uses it in the 'Name' field for the device. However, our naming schema uses an acronym-serial number for the device name, which makes it difficult to decipher what the device is. Is there a way to change the 'Name' field? Any best practices to make this more managable? I am currently using manual labels, but that is just for departmental organization.
Thank you!
Answers (3)
Top Answer
Use the description field for windows to set your departments with. I have a bunch of kscripts that staff uses to assign departments with. The scripts run daily. They work like your manual labels. I run a weekly report for machines that do not have the description field set to our standard convention.
Comments:
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Thanks for the response! This is what I was planning on doing, but wanted to avoid it if there was an easier way do label them individually in KACE. - rruhl 5 years ago
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It will be the same amount of work with labels or description kscripts. The nice thing about the scripts is they are easier to teach to the support staff to maintain vs labels. The only way to automate is find a common factor for each group of machines that is unique to those groups to create smart labels against. - SMal.tmcc 5 years ago
It's pretty rare that I need to change a Description field remotely, so I don't use a KACE script to do this. I use a VBS script that has two GUI prompts:
This must be online for it to connect to on the fly.
What you enter will be discovered at the next check-in.
chgdescriptionfield.vbs
Const HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE = &H80000002
strComputer = inputbox ("Please Enter Computer Name","Enter Computer Name","brooklyn-7")
Set objRegistry = GetObject _
("winmgmts:\\" & strComputer & "\root\default:StdRegProv")
strKeyPath = "System\CurrentControlSet\Services\lanmanserver\parameters"
strValueName = "srvcomment"
strDescription = inputbox ("Please Enter New Description","Enter Description",".")
objRegistry.SetStringValue HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, strKeyPath, strValueName, strDescription
strKeyPath = "System\CurrentControlSet\Services\lanmanserver\parameters\srvcomment"
' Wscript.Echo strDescription
Msgbox("Computer Description Sucessfully Changed to " & strDescription )
Comments:
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Thanks! This is definitely a possibility. A little more hands on that what I had hoped, but I like the script! - rruhl 5 years ago
Your naming scheme is pretty normal. I think there are a number of ways to answer your question. The way I determine what the device is, is by setting up my dashboard view to display that field when looking at device inventory.
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Thank you for the response, Worzie. When you say "display that field", are you referring to the 'Name' field? - rruhl 5 years ago
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Click the cogwheel shown in the right corner, and navigate the highlighted Column Visibility, and select Model. This will show you what that device is when viewing device inventory. - worzie 5 years ago
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That will just give me the device model. I'm looking for a way to label the devices individually. To give you an idea, we have POS devices that showup in KASE with their computer name. I want to label the devices with a more common name to make managing the individual devices easier. - rruhl 5 years ago
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Then yes, you are referring to the "Description" field rather. See SMal.tmcc's suggestion on how you can set this. You'd have to target all of the existing machines to adjust them individually of course. There isn't going to be an automated way unfortunately. This should be done at the time of joining them to the domain. I'm referring to the Computer Name tab, Computer description field in the System Properties on the PC.
I usually have enough prefix in my PC names to separate them by department. Agency3+Location3+Dept2+Dell_Tag7 - worzie 5 years ago
