Renaming your Windows 11 computer is a pretty harmless job, and it’s something one doesn’t really think about too much. However, at times while troubleshooting your computer, you might instantly need to know what the previous name of the computer was. Windows doesn’t provide you with a straightforward way to find it, but fortunately, there are a few methods to do it, and we will talk about them in this article.
How to find old computer name Windows 11
1] Check Windows Event log
The Event Log is the easiest way to find your previous Windows 11 computer name, since Windows records name changes in its event logs.
- Go to Windows Search, type Event Viewer, and open it.
- Navigate to Windows Logs > System.
- From here, click on Find from the right pane and search for ComputerName or name change.
- Now look for the entry with Event ID 6011. You will find something like: The computer name was changed from OLDNAME to NEWNAME.
2] Using Registry Editor
You could also use Registry editor to check your previous computer name. Here’s how:
- Press Win + R, type
regedit, and hit Enter. - Navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SchedulingAgent - Over here, you will find an OldName string value in the right pane.
- Double-click on it, and it will show you the previous computer name under the Value data field.
3] Using PowerShell
- Go to Windows Search and type PowerShell. Then right-click it and select Run as administrator.
- In PowerShell, run the following command:
(Get-ItemProperty HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\SchedulingAgent).OldName
- This will display the old computer name stored in the registry Windows OS Hub.
Checking NetSetup.LOG
You can also use the NetSetup.LOG file to check your previous computer name. It is a Windows log file that tracks the steps and any errors that occur while a computer is being joined to an Active Directory domain.
- Press, Windows Key + E to open File Explorer.
- Navigate to:
C:\Windows\Debug\NetSetup.LOG - Search for entries with
"NetpValidateName". - This log may contain details of hostname changes, especially if Event Logs were cleared.
So those were three quick methods to find your old computer name in Windows 11. However, if your PC rename event occurred months ago, Windows might not have kept a record of it. As a result, the above methods may not always work.
