Error message "You were not connected because a duplicate name exists on the network". Where is the other computer?

I'm having a very similar problem as in this similar question: When trying to copy something from another computer, I receive following error message:

You were not connected because a duplicate name exists on the network.
Go to System in Control Panel to change the computer name and try again.

As mentioned I could easily solve this issue by modifying the hostname of my computer, but instead of that I'd like to contact the owner of the other computer and discuss on what to do. Therefore I need to have some information on the other computer (e.g. IP address). Does somebody know how I can show all computers in my network, so that I can know where to find the duplicate computer?

Just for your information, a ping request only reveals my own computer (obviously), but also the nslookup does not give satisfying results:

<server>.<domain>.com can't find <computer_name>: Non-existing domain

When I shut down the machine and try to ping it (using its name), the ping request returns <IP address>: Destination host unreachable (the mentioned IP address is the one of the machine I've just shut down). Nslookup only mentions the IP address of the machine I've just shut down. (So there seems not to be any duplicate machine).

Does anybody have any ideas? (Oh, yes, before I forget: all machines are virtual ones)

Dominique

Posted 2016-11-29T10:26:54.333

Reputation: 1 013

1Given that your computer is not connected to the network, your best option is to go to a second computer, then ping your computername and see what ip address it gets. You can use that information to trace it to where the pc is, but if all pc's are in the same subnet, this will not get you far. – LPChip – 2016-11-29T10:31:44.250

Good idea. Unfortunately no results: I've restarted my PC, I've tried again to perform a copy and I've again the same error message. Then I went to another PC in the network and pinged my computer, everything was working fine (returning the already known IP address). – Dominique – 2016-11-29T10:43:42.793

Most likely, there is no other pc with the same name on the same network: it is the DHCP application which remembers the old lease to the same name. In due time (perhaps 24h) this will expire and you will be able to connect with your own name. In the meantime, you can setup a static IP address. – MariusMatutiae – 2016-11-30T06:55:05.007

Error message "You were not connected because a duplicate name exists on the network". Where is the other computer?

No answers