disable computer name changes

Jenncat
New Contributor III

Is there a way to disable users from changing the computer name. We have students that are constantly changing the computer names. 

3 REPLIES 3

mm2270
Legendary Contributor III

Lock down the avenues to change the computer name? Like lock them out of the Sharing Preference Pane and prevent the use of Terminal for starters. Those 2 will stop the majority of the changes. They're students, and unless they need to use Terminal for something specific in a class, they shouldn't need to be able to run it.

You can also create policies in Jamf that re-apply a set Computer Name if you want to go that route. Personally, I think prevention up front is better, but you can also do both to really make sure they stay as the names you assigned them.

Jenncat
New Contributor III

thank you

 

AJPinto
Honored Contributor III

I have a script that sets the host name, and have it scoped to all devices that do not meet our host name standard. JAMF has an extension attribute that checks the host name and defines if it’s compliant or not. If someone changes the host name, JAMF will change it back reasonably fast. 

I would suggest identifying how users are setting the host name and blocking it. Terminal requires sudo to set the host name, if they don’t have admin access they are not using that. Sharing is the other main location, and it can be blocked.