How to Change the Raspberry Pi Hostname

By default the Raspberry Pi has its hostname set to “raspberrypi”. This appears as part of the command prompt when you open a terminal window. It only takes a few minutes and you’ve got a choice of two methods.

I sometimes change the hostname so that when I list devices on my home network I can easily identify any Raspberry Pis I’ve got connected amongst all the phones, tablets and PCs.

Method 1 – Using raspi-config

From the command line (or terminal if you are using the desktop) type :

sudo raspi-config

From the menu select “Hostname”.

Read the notes and select “OK”.

Enter your required hostname and select “OK”.

Select “Finish”.

When prompted to reboot select “Yes”.

Your Pi will reboot and will now have your new hostname.

Method 2 – Editing Files Manually

From the command line (or terminal if you are using the desktop) type :

sudo nano /etc/hostname

followed by ENTER. Type the hostname you require and using the menu save the file and exit.

Then type :

sudo nano /etc/hosts

followed by ENTER. Replace all instances of the old hostname (e.g. “raspberrypi”) with the new hostname that you entered above. As an example I changed my hostname to “pi2” so my file looks like this :

127.0.0.1 localhost
::1 localhost ip6-localhost ip6-loopback
fe00::0 ip6-localnet
ff00::0 ip6-mcastprefix
ff02::1 ip6-allnodes
ff02::2 ip6-allrouters

127.0.1.1 pi2

Save the file. Then you can either reboot by typing :

sudo reboot

followed by ENTER or simply restart the hostname process by typing :

sudo /etc/init.d/hostname.sh start

followed by ENTER.

The hostname as been changed. You new hostname will now be visible in the command prompt when you open a new terminal window.

Please ensure you choose a hostname that only contains upper and lower case letters, numbers and the “-” character.