Do NOT change your PC name

[MS]

I ran a server through VPN on the same computer I played on it. Decided to change my PC name for a less messy one than the default I've had for ages. Next time I log on my server I'm greeted with a character creation screen, because my login on the server had been saved apparently not by my Steam name, but my PC name.

I don't know if this only applies to server hosts, but some of my friends also show PC name looking titles in-game. Essentially, if you change your PC name you might lose your inventory items and character levels.

Recovery: change your PC name back to the old one and restart. If you don't know what it was, you can find the previous name in the Registry Editor at HKLM\Software\Microsoft\SchedulingAgent\OldName. If you, like me, rechanged the name in panic to a name that wasn't the old one, this information is lost and replaced with the second newest name. In this case you can still go to Event Viewer -> Windows Logs -> Security, and try to look for old events dating before the renaming. For some, on General tab the Computer shows the PC name at that time. In my case I was unable to change to this name and got the message "The PC name is invalid." I believe this might be because the inputted name was a substring of the current one. I changed the name into a very short one, restarted, and was allowed to change into the old name again.

[Sweet Briana 💋™]

Great info and a lesson learned!