hostname stored on sysvol? 2

[cameramonkey]

I have a collection of HDDs here, and I am trying to quickly figure out what PCs these came out of. Once I know the name of the PC (thanks to carefully crafted hostnames) I will know what I am working with (and whether its worth saving)

They are all out of single drive systems, so they will all have been configured as a the C: drive on each system.

Is there anywhere (other than the registry file) that windows stores the hostname so that it could be easily discovered? I am thinking of someplace like the hosts file, etc.


Ideas?

 

[PRPhx]

The host file is stored on your pc at:
C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc. You may have to change the name of the windows folder if you installed windows to a different folder.

 

[SimonDavies]

Have a look at

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/rfv.html

however with all the hassle of getting the remote files off the disk (unless of course you're daisy chaining them off an existing system) you may just be easier loading the OS in safe mode and getting it from there.

Simon

The real world is not about exam scores, it's about ability.

 

[cameramonkey]

PRPHX: that is correct. the hosts file is there, however by default there are no references to the system's host name, just a generic "(local)" entry.

Simon: we will be attaching them to usb drive adapters as that is the fastest/easiest way for us to do this project.

That's why I was hoping for a hosts-esque file that would be a holy grail that we could look for.

 

[BadBigBen]

If I remember correctly that information is stored in the SYSTEM HIVE...

which can be imported and searched...

Here is the procedure using BartPE, but should also work for an installed OS...

How to edit the registry offline using BartPE boot CD ?

http://windowsxp.mvps.org/peboot.htm

you are looking for the file called system/b]...

Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

 

[linney]

Can you load the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE Hive and pick it up that way from this location?

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\ComputerName\ComputerName

These two articles in the RegEdit Help are a good explanation of the process.

To load a hive into the registry
To unload a hive from the registry

It only takes a few seconds to load and unload Hives, and not much more time to navigate to the location in the loaded Hive. Is there any reason that you state "other than the Registry"?

 

[cameramonkey]

Linney: if we knew a quick file to reference, it would speed the process along, and depending on the machine it could be shortcuttable. (load drive, double click shortcut, reference. lather, rinse, repeat)

I'll probably just drop the drives into a test box and safe mode each disk to see where they came from. That appears the be the easiest.

thx to all.

 

[IllogicallyLogical]

Look at the NetSetup log file.

C:\Windows\Debug\NetSetup.LOG

You should be able to find the machine name in there.

Joey
CCNA, MCSA 2003, MCP, A+, Network+, Wireless#

 

[linney]

Good one IllogicallyLogical thanks for suggesting that.