Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

System Administrator's Mouse

R

rmoliv

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Dec 20, 2017
1,572
3,117
I bought a new iMac today and both the Magic Mouse 2 and Magic Keyboard were named by default as System Administrator's Mouse and System Administrator's Keyboard. This didn't happen on my other iMac where they were named [insert name]'s Magic Keyboard and [insert name]'s Magic Mouse by default if I remember well. Both Macs are running High Sierra. I renamed the keyboard and mouse but every time I restart the computer the names reset. What's going on? How do I change them permanently? Apple Support was of no help...
 
Last edited:
Pretty sure that the mouse default name is your user account name.
(obvious question: Is your user account named "System Administrator"? Check in your Users & Groups pref pane. Sometimes you get a surprise when you actually check your account settings :cool:
Is your computer name (the name of your computer in the Sharing pref pane) as you would want it?

I think if you have changed the mouse and keyboard name, your system should keep the new name through a restart (and not revert to what should be an internal-only account name).
The name of a mouse is relatively minor, but I wonder what ELSE is incorrect about the system that you just have not noticed yet?

You said your iMac is new today.
I always erase the drive on a new Mac, boot to a current installer and reinstall fresh. That is one way that I know the system is installed correctly.
Should be good out of the box - that's what you might expect - but sometimes things happen.
I would suggest a "nuke-n-pave" before you continue further.
 
Last edited:
I guess everything's correct with my settings. I just checked and my user account is my name/surname and so is my computer's: [My name]'s iMac. This is a minor issue I know but for someone who is OCD it's very upsetting. I'm really not in the mood to start from scratch, isn't there any other solution to this? Maybe I should call Apple Support again. The advisor I spoke with had no clue.
 
But, you have your backup that you used to migrate everything you needed to the new Mac
(Unless someone else set up your new Mac for you, like a tech at the shop where you purchased your iMac)

Here's something else to consider...
I thought that the bluetooth device name is stored in the system - however...
I don't use a bluetooth mouse very much, so I experimented a little, changing the name on a magic mouse.
The name was kept through a restart, so all looks good then. This was set up and renamed on a 2008 MacBook, running 10.8.5
I THEN took the mouse, shut it off, Moved to my main Mac mini, running High Sierra.
Connected to the mouse, and the mouse, on a completely different Mac, showed the same custom name that I had assigned to the mouse on a different Mac. I don't remember ever seeing that happen before. I just remember default names. The mouse does not appear to use default names. It uses whatever name that you name it. Even on different computers.
So, the mouse stores its name internally (on the mouse)
Mine is an older mouse (with removable batteries), so I assume if I left it for a period of time with batteries out, that the stored name would eventually disappear.

Could be nice to know how your bluetooth devices got renamed to System Administrator. I would be more OCD about THAT part, and is also why I suggest that at least a reload of macOS might be a good way to proceed (just to make you feel better :D ) (I would do a full wipe and reinstall, but if someone else did your initial setup, then that may leave you a bit out of the loop, and I can understand that, too.)
 
Go to SystemPreferences/Bluetooth and right-click on the device, then choose "Rename" and make it anything you want.


Sorry ... missed that you had already renamed them.

Perhaps deleting the device, then reinstalling it might do the trick. You will need an alternate mouse while doing this.
 
Hello, thanks everyone for replying. DeltaMac I've just done as you suggested and wiped and reinstalled macOS. Thing is, the issue persists. Even though this is "rmoliv's iMac" and my account is my name the keyboard and mouse are still named "System Administrator". Well, I am indeed the administrator but that's not how the keyboard and mouse are supposed to be named. Is there anything else that can be done that you know of? By the way, I purchased the computer at the store and set it up myself so no one else did the initial setup and the box was sealed as everything else was.
 
Update: I just checked and now it keeps the name I choose unlike before the reinstallation. But I'm wondering which were the mouse and keyboard's default names (if they happen to have one) and/or how did they get the System Administrator name... Does anybody know?
 
Last edited:
I wouldn't get too upset about "the names" of the keyboard and mouse (so long as you remember what they are).

If the devices work, use them!
 
My wireless magic trackpad and magic keyboard say [my first and last name]'s Trackpad and [my first and last name]'s Keyboard. I opened up Bluetooth Preferences, saw all of the devices in the Device list, and right clicked the one I wanted to rename and changed the name, and I saw the new name in the menubar under the Bluetooth section. I know you said you tried renaming them. Did you do exactly that to rename them? (I'm not sure if there's some other way of renaming that's buggy.)

Would you be able to take a screenshot of where you're seeing a name that you don't like, as well as the Bluetooth Preferences device list?

One thing worth noting is that I'm on a MacBook Pro running macOS High Sierra 10.13.2. Are you running the latest OS? If not, maybe the OS you're running has a bug with renaming the bluetooth devices.
 
Had the exact same problem. Installed High Sierra on a new Mac mini I bought this week and all three Bluetooth devices (mouse, keyboard andtrackpad) were all renamed as you described.
 
xnatrex, I'm running the latest update of macOS High Sierra. Yes I did as you said. But then when I did a reboot the names reverted to System Administrator's Mouse and Keyboard. Anyway, I reinstalled the OS as suggested above and it's working fine now, it keeps the names I choose. I'm wondering though how and/or why the mouse/keyboard were named System Administrator instead of my name since either the iMac and my account have my name.

MiamiC70, did you sort it out? If so, how?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back