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Apple Mac computers: how to rename Sophos Agent in Central

When users and device names change, the change of the new Mac System name is not reflected in Sophos Central.

Sophos Endpoint seems to picks the SMB network name, not the System name. / hostname

Even if you change that, it will not change the name in Central.

I cannot find ahelpful link in the documentation, only this one comes close:

https://doc.sophos.com/central/customer/help/en-us/PeopleAndDevices/ProtectDevices/EndpointProtection/CentralMacCommandLineOptions/index.html#mac-examples

And there is looks like one needs to edit xml files but this looks so ugly, I cannot believe this is the correct way to simply rename a Sophos Agent in the management console.



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  • Thank you for reaching the community forum.

    Based on what you've mentioned above, the hostname has been successfully changed. 

    You may need to perform re-registration on this device to reflect the changes to central. You may follow the below steps and let us know the outcome. 

    To force a re-registration without uninstalling and re-installing, you can delete the read-only Sophos keychain and re-register the Mac by following these steps:

    1. Click the keys Cmd + Q or File > Quit stopping Keychain Access.
    2. Open Spotlight by clicking the keys Cmd + Spacebar.
    3. Type terminal then click Enter.
    4. In Terminal, run the command below:

      sudo security delete-keychain "/Library/Sophos Anti-Virus/SophosSecure.keychain"; sudo security delete-keychain "/Library/Sophos Anti-Virus/Sophos.keychain"

      Note: There will be a password prompt. Enter the same password when installing an application or unlocking a system panel. The password will not appear on the screen but is being accepted. If there is an error entering the password, press Enter to try again.
    5. Type keychain in Spotlight then click Enter key.
    6. Make sure that the Sophos chain is gone in Keychain Access.
    7. Open Terminal from Spotlight (press Cmd + Spacebar, type terminal, and press Enter).
    8. Run the following commands:
      1. sudo killall SophosConfigD 
      2. sudo launchctl stop com.sophos.mcs 
    9. Restart the macOS device.
    Glenn ArchieSeñas (GlennSen)
    Global Community Support Engineer

    The New Home of Sophos Support Videos!  Visit Sophos Techvids
  • The same question was also raised in a recent thread here.

    While testing, I found that changing the local hostname under the "System Settings > Sharing" menu does not communicate the name change into Sophos Central. 

    Changing the name under the "System Settings > General" tab will communicate the name change in to Sophos Central. I suspect the steps mentioned by Glenn above will work, as this will force the endpoint to register into Sophos Central as though it were initially installed. 

    In my case, I performed a reboot on the mac device. When the system powers on it’ll perform a full policy render and communicate the updated hostname back into Sophos Central. 

    Let me know if you find the same to be true.

    Kushal Lakhan
    Team Lead, Global Community Support
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