There are two ways to specify a computer name for a target device, when deploying with SmartDeploy.
The first method is to Create an Answer File which includes a Naming Convention. A naming convention is a set of rules and prioritizations which specify one of three possible methods to generate a computer name.
You can rearrange the options on the list, and SmartDeploy will attempt to use them in the order specified.
The first rule to generate a valid computer name (less than or equal to 15 characters) will be used.
The methods available are:
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Use existing computer name
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Read from WMI query (with or without a prefix)
Note: A common query you may wish to use here, to retrieve the serial number from the BIOS, is this one:
SELECT SerialNumber FROM Win32_SystemEnclosure - Generate custom name (this can be a letter, followed by one or more # characters, which represent pseudorandom numerical digits)
If you do not wish to use any of these naming conventions, and you would prefer to manually set a specific computer name for each endpoint, then you can do so without an answer file on the Network Identification page of the Deploy Wizard. If you want to use an answer file, but have it stop on only the Network Identification screen, you'll need to create an attended answer file and skip the pages you don't want to see. Please refer to the Deployment Automation section of Create an Answer File.
