Same device name has multiple IPs and MAC addresses - my fix

Router: Cisco Linksys EA4500 (N900)
Cloud Firmware: 2.1.139.145204 (no, I don't plan to update this version to the latest)
Cable Modem Service

So I was playing around with Oracle's VirtualBox (it's kinda like VMware, or Microsoft's HyperV) on my primary LAN-wired desktop in my home network, to create Virtual Machines (VMs, hereafter) to technically preview Microsoft's Windows 10 (may be released next year), and a couple of my other Windows installations.
I ended up launching VMs with the same hostname, but with different MAC addresses (and thus, different IP addresses).

The Linksys cloud firmware displayed all those MAC-IP combinations under the same hostname icon in its Smart WiFi Tools' Device List.
Some people here have complained about this issue, and I'd like to say this has never happened to me before (using the EA4500 for over a year), and I have about 15 devices connecting to my router, a minimum of 5 online at any one time.
With this kind of situation, you can't individually address each of those affected machines for Parental Controls and other configuration options.


What I did to solve the problem:

1. Ensure every VM has a unique name (change hostname in Windows Control Panel).
(this can be challenging since a cloned VM will initially start with the same name as its master, and the problem will already occur. Once the problem occurs, just renaming the hostname and rebooting the device/VM will not solve the problem. Would be nice if it did)

2. Get all duplicated devices off the network.
3. Execute a "ipconfig /flushdns" from the command prompt.
4. Delete any device (click on the x in the Device List icon) when it goes offline in the Smart WiFi Device List.
5. Ensure no duplicates exist under Connectivity, Local Network, DHCP Reservations (I use DHCP reservation for a number of my devices so they are guaranteed a fixed local IP)
6. Hit Refresh (more than once! ) under Troubleshooting, Status to get a list of devices with non-duplicate MAC addresses.
7. Do the same after clicking on the DHCP client table button on the same page.
8. Reboot the router (this step was not necessary some times, but I'd do it just to be safe).
9. Now add the devices back onto your network one at a time.

If there are no more hostname duplications, the VM devices with their unique MAC addresses should create new icons in the Device List page as they connect to the home network.

Hope the above helps somebody.