OS X keeps appending "(2)" to computer name

[MikhailT]

I can confirm at least with 2 other folks that turning off "Wake on Network Access", fixing the computer name, and rebooting after that, it remain fixed for more than a day.

For me, I used to see 2-3 digit increments on the same day, saw (20) one time. Once I turned it off, it's been more than 24 hours with no change.

The console logs also show that bonjour proxy service was involved every time it changed the name.

 

[crjackson2134]

That other user was also me . Yeah, I have done everything that you have mentioned and was suggested in this thread and it wasn't working properly until this evening, but.... I have the location back to automatic, and wake for wifi network access on and for a giggle I decided to change the network for one last time by removing the (2) from computer name in sharing, and, for some unknown reason, it is still working a couple of hours later!

Don't ask me why because changing it over and over again for the last two days didn't help.

You know, OSX does 2 things that are really annoying to me. This issue, and the "Disk not Ejected Properly" every time my system wakes from sleep. I would pay Apple a stupid amount of money to fix these, but I really don't think they know how.

 

[Damers]

I can confirm at least with 2 other folks that turning off "Wake on Network Access", fixing the computer name, and rebooting after that, it remain fixed for more than a day.

For me, I used to see 2-3 digit increments on the same day, saw (20) one time. Once I turned it off, it's been more than 24 hours with no change.

I've tried turning off 'Wake for Network Access" without success and I also get 2-3 digit increments each day.

I'm curious if anyone who upgraded from Mavericks, as opposed to clean install Yosemite, has had this problem pop up. Anecdotally, everyone I know who upgraded from Mavericks [3 people] hasn't had this issue yet.

 

[hutchej]

I've upgraded from Mavericks on 3 MacBooks (2 x rMBP, 1 x MBA) and have experienced the issue.

 

[MikhailT]

I've tried turning off 'Wake for Network Access" without success and I also get 2-3 digit increments each day.

I'm curious if anyone who upgraded from Mavericks, as opposed to clean install Yosemite, has had this problem pop up. Anecdotally, everyone I know who upgraded from Mavericks [3 people] hasn't had this issue yet.

Did you reboot after renaming the computer name to remove it? I upgraded from Mavericks, so it's not that.

 

[Damers]

Did you reboot after renaming the computer name to remove it? I upgraded from Mavericks, so it's not that.

I did try rebooting, unfortunately the problem persisted. Thanks for the info.

 

[MikhailT]

It looks like Apple is aware of this as they closed my report as a duplicate.

 

[matt2053]

I can confirm at least with 2 other folks that turning off "Wake on Network Access", fixing the computer name, and rebooting after that, it remain fixed for more than a day.

For me, I used to see 2-3 digit increments on the same day, saw (20) one time. Once I turned it off, it's been more than 24 hours with no change.

The console logs also show that bonjour proxy service was involved every time it changed the name.

It's hardly a fix though, because then you can't really use Find My Mac.

 

[Intell]

It's hardly a fix though, because then you can't really use Find My Mac.

I'm still able to locate all of my machines and have that turned off.

 

[Oblivion426]

That other user was also me . Yeah, I have done everything that you have mentioned and was suggested in this thread and it wasn't working properly until this evening, but.... I have the location back to automatic, and wake for wifi network access on and for a giggle I decided to change the network for one last time by removing the (2) from computer name in sharing, and, for some unknown reason, it is still working a couple of hours later!

Don't ask me why because changing it over and over again for the last two days didn't help.

This issue persists for me. Was fine for a few days now has added a (2) next to my Mac's name.

 

[theSeb]

You know, OSX does 2 things that are really annoying to me. This issue, and the "Disk not Ejected Properly" every time my system wakes from sleep. I would pay Apple a stupid amount of money to fix these, but I really don't think they know how.

The "disk not ejected properly" is driving me insane, because that's usually the disk that I keep my iTunes library on and often it causes iTunes to go haywire. This is especially annoying for homesharing. Initially I thought that it was because the drive was connected via a USB 3 hub, but it's still happening when it's connected directly. "Put drives to sleep whenever possible" is turned off

----------

This issue persists for me. Was fine for a few days now has added a (2) next to my Mac's name.

It's been working fine for me for 24 hours - still only one rMBP on the network and no numbers appended. I am holding thumbs that it continues to work.

 

[AlecEdworthy]

It's been working fine for me for 24 hours - still only one rMBP on the network and no numbers appended. I am holding thumbs that it continues to work.

I was the same, no numbers appended, then this evening I got (2) after my computer's name. I've tried the renaming my location trick too and that didn't work either

EDIT 1: Just come across this, http://zepfhyr.com/blog/2014/10/bonjour-yosemite-and-you/ which suggests toggling the discoveryd service using,

sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.discoveryd.plist
sudo launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.discoveryd.plist

Then resetting the computer name using System Preferences. Tried it and I'll let you know how it goes. Tempted to script this for each wake up using sleepwatcher...

A

 

[crjackson2134]

The "disk not ejected properly" is driving me insane, because that's usually the disk that I keep my iTunes library on and often it causes iTunes to go haywire. This is especially annoying for homesharing. Initially I thought that it was because the drive was connected via a USB 3 hub, but it's still happening when it's connected directly. "Put drives to sleep whenever possible" is turned off

Now imagine if you had 6 large external drives that are never disconnected. Mine are connected directly to 2 4 port USB 3 cards. No hub involved. I too have the put drives to sleep option disabled.

I get a whole screen full of those warnings and have to keep clicking them closed.

 

[theSeb]

I was the same, no numbers appended, then this evening I got (2) after my computer's name. I've tried the renaming my location trick too and that didn't work either

A

I am going to pretend that I didn't see this and hopefully my Mac hasn't either.

----------

Now imagine if you had 6 large external drives that are never disconnected. Mine are connected directly to 2 4 port USB 3 cards. No hub involved. I too have the put drives to sleep option disabled.

I get a whole screen full of those warnings and have to keep clicking them closed.

I can see that would be painful. Luckily the rest of my storage is based on Thunderbolt enclosures (Lacie 2Big and Pegasus R4) and those never give me grief.

 

[Damers]

I was the same, no numbers appended, then this evening I got (2) after my computer's name. I've tried the renaming my location trick too and that didn't work either

EDIT 1: Just come across this, http://zepfhyr.com/blog/2014/10/bonjour-yosemite-and-you/ which suggests toggling the discoveryd service using,

sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.discoveryd.plist
sudo launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.discoveryd.plist

Then resetting the computer name using System Preferences. Tried it and I'll let you know how it goes. Tempted to script this for each wake up using sleepwatcher...

A

Please let us know if this works. I'm also tempted to set a crontab to run a script every 30 minutes that sets the LocalHostName before the ghost in the machine can change it.

 

[Macsterguy]

Working so far, we will see...

I just tried this and it seems to be holding - with airport extreme & time capsule:

• login using airport utility
• under the wireless tab - DISABLE GUEST NETWORK - this seems to stop the ghost mac
• in the wireless options tab - DISABLE 5GHZ NETWORK - this seems to stop the ghost mac

- UPDATE YOUR AIRPORT OR TIME CAPSULE - RESTART YOUR ENTIRE NETWORK
- RESTART ALL DEVICES

• on Mac's / Syst Prefs / iCloud / uncheck Back to My Mac / re-check Back to My Mac

I have never gotten better speed, reliability or distance with 5GHZ anyway...

SpeedTest.net says 90MB download / 6MB up with 5-GHZ turned on or off. Tested on my Mac, MBP, MBA and iPhone

Working so far, we will see...

 

[theSeb]

I have never gotten better speed, reliability or distance with 5GHZ anyway...

SpeedTest.net says 90MB download / 6MB up with 5-GHZ turned on or off. Tested on my Mac, MBP, MBA and iPhone

Working so far, we will see...

5 GHz will not make your internet faster, because your internet is not fast enough to saturate the 2.4 GHz channel, so your test does not make sense.

If you're using wifi to stream or copy stuff around the house, then 5 Ghz will make things faster, in certain conditions (it does not travel through walls as well and has a shorter range in comparison to 2.4 Ghz, if I recall correctly)

 

[Healeyman]

I just tried this and it seems to be holding - with airport extreme & time capsule:

• login using airport utility
• under the wireless tab - DISABLE GUEST NETWORK - this seems to stop the ghost mac
• in the wireless options tab - DISABLE 5GHZ NETWORK - this seems to stop the ghost mac

- UPDATE YOUR AIRPORT OR TIME CAPSULE - RESTART YOUR ENTIRE NETWORK
- RESTART ALL DEVICES

• on Mac's / Syst Prefs / iCloud / uncheck Back to My Mac / re-check Back to My Mac

I have never gotten better speed, reliability or distance with 5GHZ anyway...

SpeedTest.net says 90MB download / 6MB up with 5-GHZ turned on or off. Tested on my Mac, MBP, MBA and iPhone

Working so far, we will see...

I have followed this thread from the beginning and tried everything countless times. This post finally sent me in a direction I had not been before, thank you Macsterguy. My wife and I have 2 iMacs on the same network with my Apple Id. They both were incrementing computer and host names constantly. I could not access her puter remotely anymore. From reading this post I disabled and enabled 'Back to My Mac' and from there logged into my Time Capsule Base Station tab and found that my Apple ID was no longer one of the users, there was nothing there. So I clicked 'add' and put myself back in got the green status light, rebooted both machines and for the last 2 hours nothing has incremented on both puters. I can now remotely log into either from the other, which I couldn't before. Before I tried this 'fix' all my other options were put back to where they were previously. Wake for network access on, WINS work group which was incrementing has stopped and my computer name and host name after being put back to where they originally were have remained that way on both puters. It would seem, here anyway, that Yosemite changed/removed my 'Back to My Mac' settings? I did not uncheck or remove my Apple ID from the Time Capsule Base Station Back to My Mac user box. So others may want to check that they still are registered users and logged into Back to My Mac. Thanks again Macsterguy, if anything changes I'll let you know

 

[crjackson2134]

Last night about this time, I changed my computer name back to normal (removed the (2)), then shutdown/power off. Next I rebooted my Aport Extreme Basestation. 24 hours later, the settings are holding and no more (2) after the computer name. Let's see how long this will last...

 

[netnothing]

It looks like Apple is aware of this as they closed my report as a duplicate.

Curious....what bug ID did they say it was a duplicate of, because my bug is still open.

-Kevin

 

[Gav Mack]

So far I've got clients as high as (7). They have airports too.

Definite 10.10.1 bug fix and as I run both wifi and cat 6 on my Mac Pro and have 3 airports I'll be hanging back to see if it's fixed.

 

[dannys1]

I've got this as well, along with seemingly every other bug in Yosemite on my rMBP (though my Mac mini and iMac are fine!)

This, nofication centre not rememerbing settings (now fixed with some terminal commands in another thread) and Handoff being about as reliable as Lindsey Lohan being t-total for the rest of her life is driving me mad (and don't get me start on how poorly iWork Handoff is if the icons even appear!)

I can't believe that the last suggested fix was to disabled my 5ghz network! No thanks!

I've not had it go past (2) at first disabling Back to my Mac worked last night and all today it was fine until this evening. I've also got two Airport Extremes connected via a long outdoor cat 6 cable so I don't think that helps. My OSX, iOS and Airport devices have never been rebooted so many times as the last few days trying to get all this buggy Apple networking stuff working!!

 

[Macsterguy]

5 GHz will not make your internet faster, because your internet is not fast enough to saturate the 2.4 GHz channel, so your test does not make sense.

If you're using wifi to stream or copy stuff around the house, then 5 Ghz will make things faster, in certain conditions (it does not travel through walls as well and has a shorter range in comparison to 2.4 Ghz, if I recall correctly)

Yep, thats what I said:

"I have never gotten better speed, reliability or distance with 5GHZ anyway..."

This isn't about that. It's about Mac's being renamed with (#'s)

 

[KoolAid-Drink]

I've seen it go as far upwards as (8), annoying for sure but doesn't seem to actually impact any other system behavior though. It's more of an annoying visual bug, which I'm sure will be resolved by 10.10.1 or x.2.

 

[border terrier]

This isn't related to Yosemite as I have had intermittent recurring issues for years so that's Mountain Lion and Mavericks. I get issues on my Mac Pro but not my MBP so I am guessing it's to do with running wifi (2 networks) and Ethernet together with my router which is a crappy BT home hub 5. On the MBP I only use wifi.

FYI a I've not yet seen this with Yosemite.