How to Change Your Mac OS X System Information in the Terminal
Access the Mac OS X command line terminal to view and change basic operating system information such as the computer hostname, the time zone where the computer is located, and the current time and date. Terminal commands are especially useful if you are fond of the Unix command line or want to write a script to automate system information changes.
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Instructions
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Click the "Finder" icon on the Dock, then click "Applications" in the window that appears. Click "Utilities," then click "Terminal."
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Type "uname --v" in the command line window that appears and press the "Enter" key. Note the system information that appears in the command line output.
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3
Enter "hostname" at the command prompt and tap the "Enter" key. Note the hostname assigned to the computer that is displayed in the command line output.
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Type "sudo scutil --set Hostname new_hostname" on the command line, except replace "new_hostname" with the new hostname you wish to assign to the computer. Press the "Enter" key.
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Enter "sudo date 1230" at the command prompt, except replace "12" with the current 24-hour clock hour and replace "30" with the current 24-hour clock minutes. Press the "Enter" key.
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Type "sudo date 1108101230" on the command line, except replace the "11" with the current year, the "08" with the current numeric month, the "10" with the current day of the month, and the "1230" with the current hour and minutes according to the 24-hour clock. Tap the "Enter" key.
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Enter "sudo /usr/sbin/systemsetup --listtimezones" at the command prompt and tap the "Enter" key. Find your current time zone listed in the command line output. Type "sudo /usr/sbin/systemsetup --settimezone US/Eastern," except replace "US/Eastern" with your current time zone as listed earlier in the command line output. Press the "Enter" key.
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References
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