[SOLVED] Local Computers can see a weird Netbios name

[Dudester4]

When I'm connected to other wireless networks, other people can see my computer as "Macbook-EC86FA" under shared. I don't get why this is shown. I don't see this with any other mac. I have noticed that this "EC86FA" is under system prefs>network>advanced>wins>NetBIOS Name. What is NetBIOS and how do I stop my computer from showing up as this?

I'm running a Macbook(Late 2009) with OS X 10.6.6.

 

[Ijack]

Sounds like you have Windows File Sharing turned on. Have a look at this link. The section "Turn on Windows Sharing" tells you how to enable this; reverse the procedure to disable it.

 

[Dudester4]

Sounds like you have Windows File Sharing turned on. Have a look at this link. The section "Turn on Windows Sharing" tells you how to enable this; reverse the procedure to disable it.

The instructions you linked were for v. 10.2-.4. I'm running 10.6.6. Under Sharing, only the printer sharing is checked. File sharing is off and nothing is checked under file sharing>options.

 

[Ijack]

Those particular instructions were for earlier versions of OS X, but the principle is the same. NetBIOS is a network protocol that was, and still is, used by Windows computers in addition to - or sometimes instead of - TCP/IP. Normally it is now implemented as NetBIOS running on top of TCP/IP rather than pure NetBIOS.

It's the printer sharing that is making the NetBIOS name appear. I've just tried it with a 10.5 setup; with printer sharing off the NetBIOS name doesn't appear on the network but as soon as I turn it on it does.

I only thought of file sharing; printer sharing didn't even occur to me. If you don't want it to appear, turn printer sharing off (unless, of course, you need it).

 

[Dudester4]

Those particular instructions were for earlier versions of OS X, but the principle is the same. NetBIOS is a network protocol that was, and still is, used by Windows computers in addition to - or sometimes instead of - TCP/IP. Normally it is now implemented as NetBIOS running on top of TCP/IP rather than pure NetBIOS.

It's the printer sharing that is making the NetBIOS name appear. I've just tried it with a 10.5 setup; with printer sharing off the NetBIOS name doesn't appear on the network but as soon as I turn it on it does.

I only thought of file sharing; printer sharing didn't even occur to me. If you don't want it to appear, turn printer sharing off (unless, of course, you need it).

I will have to check, but I thought other computers running on the network had print sharing on and still had no Netbios showing. But I'll check. Thanks.