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I don't use (I've disabled it by normal means and blocked the ports with personal a firewall) Windows Networking (CIFS aka NetBIOS aka SMB etc), but my PC has a name as it seems to be mandatory in both Windows and Linux.

After I connect to WiFi router getting TCP/IP settings via DHCP I then can see my PC's IP and MAC addresses in the router's DHCP lease table alongside with the PC's name.

How to hide the name or show them a fake one? I am afraid the one knowing my PC's name can steal its soul...

I am in particular interested in Windows XP, Windows 7, Linux and FreeBSD solutions - write for any.

Third party tools like advanced firewalls and/or system DLL/drivers patches are considered acceptable.

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    Can you be a little less cryptic as to why you aren't wanting your PC name showing? I know you think you're being funny or cute, but it truly is baffling why you are asking this. What is the end goal for this? If you're concerned that much about your machine being seen, don't connect it to the network.
    – DJ Chateau
    Dec 26, 2012 at 20:35
  • @DanielChateau: It's a valid and interesting concern IMHO when you consider public Wifi access points and ISP DHCP servers may be logging this information and such.
    – LawrenceC
    Mar 23, 2014 at 0:47
  • @ultrasawblade, there is really no identifying information in a computer name, or at least there doesn't have to be - it is easy to change to whatever you want.
    – MaQleod
    Mar 23, 2014 at 0:53

3 Answers 3

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you could just change the name to something very generic. Start-Right click Computer->Properties then hit change settings. A panel comes up that allows you changing your computer name after clicking the change button. If you just want to randomly spoof your computer name you could look for a tool like this one http://www.irongeek.com/i.php?page=security/madmacs-mac-spoofer

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  • +1 You generally cannot not-have a computer/host name in Windows. Soul thieves generally go after users Apple products anyway... :)
    – David Chen
    Aug 27, 2011 at 15:07
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It is actually doable on Wi-Fi adapter in Windows 10 with these 2 requirements in the registry:

  1. The MAC address of the Wi-Fi adapter need to be explicitly specified with the NetworkAddress
  2. RandomMacState exists with value 01 00 00 00

For adapters that showing Random hardware addresses in its setting, just turn it on. Otherwise, directly modifications of the registry are required:

  1. NetworkAddress can be manipulated with Macshift
  2. RandomMacState need to be created as Binary Value under Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WlanSvc\Interfaces\{GUID}\, where GUID can be referred back to the output from Macshift

After reconnecting to the network, Windows should omit DHCP option 12, 81, 60 in its DHCP Discover and Request, where 12 and 81 will be the computer's name, and 60 will be MSFT 5.0 to identify it as a Windows OS

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There is no easy way to disable or change the hostname that the Windows DHCP client gives to a DHCP server, from something different than the current system hostname, that is.

One could solve this problem by writing a VBS script that changes the computer name to one out of a list of random ones, and set it to execute on every shutdown using Scheduled Tasks. A good template to start customizing for your needs is here.

Under Linux, isc-dhcp-client has provisions (in /etc/dhcp.conf) to send the DHCP server a different hostname than what the system's is currently set to.

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