– How to rename the User folder in Windows 10? – Super User

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

If the button were disabled, Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer option were unchecked.

Check it. Then, click Properties. Click OK again. Click Yes to sign out. Then sign in again. Because User Name and User Folder Name are the same things, we also need to change User Folder Name to inform our programs where their user data is stored. We’ll perform these steps on Windows Registry , also known as Regedit.

To do that, we need the built-in administrator account of Windows In Windows 11, the built-in administrator account is disabled as default. So, if you’ve not enabled it before, you need to do that now. Click Advanced tab, then Advanced button in this tab. You’ll see Local Users and Groups Local window.

Double-click on Users folder, then double-click on Administrator account that I’ve marked in the image below. Account is disabled option is checked, which means your built-in administrator account is disabled. Uncheck it, then click OK. Open Start Menu and right-click on your Account Name at the bottom. Then click on Administrator to switch the signed-in account.

If you’ve not signed in to the administrator account before, Windows 11 will prepare it from scratch for you. This preparation doesn’t affect your main account. Please wait. Now, you’re in the built-in administrator account. We’ll change your main account’s username in my case, it is muham as I said before completely here. Before start, you need to log off from the main account. This command allows you to open Windows Command Line.

Since we’ve already signed in with the built-in Administrator account, you don’t need to open it as an Administrator. Type query session and press Enter to see the main account’s ID. Type logoff yourIdNumber and Enter. As you can see below, my main account’s ID number is 2 , and I’ve typed logoff 2 to log off my main account entirely. You’ll see your main account’s folder there. Rename it by selecting then pressing F2 on your keyboard to your new username.

For example, my new username will be ce7in , so I’ve renamed my account’s folder from muham to ce7in. Then press Enter and go to ProfileList folder directly. Right-click on ProfileList folder and click Find. Search for your old User Name. It is muham for me as you know. Right-click on it and click Modify. Change Value data field from the old User Name muham to the new one ce7in. The final result will be like the one below. Then click OK. After restarting, your PC might automatically sign in to the built-in Administrator account because it was the last signed-in user.

To sign in to your main account, open Start Menu and right-click on the Administrator account, then click on your main account name as we’ve performed before.

I hope you have not been encountered any problem with your apps and programs. Finally, please feel free to ask for help using the discussion form below if you run into a problem. I’m here for you. Informative post and clear instructions, however, the devil is in the details. In your conclusion you say “Since some of your apps might look for their user data in the old User Folder path, you might encounter some errors.

Nothing works anymore, Onedrive, Outlook, etc. So it is not “some app”, the most important apps do not work anymore! Changing the environment variables of these apps should help. In case you don’t know how to change the environment variables, check this article out.

All apps you have mentioned are new generation apps, so they should work after changing your user folder name. I have meant some old-school apps and programs there. I have Windows 11 and all my apps are up to date. Changing the name as per your instructions was a breeze however Outlook and OneDrive stopped working and were giving an error message that they cannot locate the folder anymore.

For OneDrive, all you need to do is sign out and re-sign to it. When you do that, OneDrive is synchronized with your system changes. I also encountered the problem for Outlook, did you find a solution for that? Edit: run as administrator bypasses the problem, so I now automatically run as admin would still prefer it to work normally though.

But, after all data moved, I found the User Folder name is not good. So, I tried to change it but it was not possible by myself. I googled and found your explanation here.

But, unfortunately, I wrongly understood the process and I took the following steps only. At the step 24, when I tried to reboot laptop, log in was not possible. I cannot try to do anything basically. After that, I relooked your explanation and found that I did not take steps of the followings. It was totally my mistake and my carelessness. Is there any way that I can recover all the set up, Sir? I had spent about 10hours to do all the set ups, if I add data transfer time, another 10hours is counted.

I cannot repeat such time consumption again due to busy works from Monday. If you want to save your data, you need to a usb.

Glad if help. Yea, same on me. I forgot to change in File Explorer then it crashed. Great tutorial. Worked like a charm. Couple comments from my Experience: After you rename the User folder name and before signing in as Admin, I recommend a reboot. Something still thinks Windows is accessing the old name and errors. Apps I had to repoint to profile: Blizzard Games, One Drive uninstall reinstall worked perfect and Google Drive needed to be repointed. Other than it went well. Your suggestions are so valuable for other Windows users who will have similar problems on Blizzard Games, One Drive, or Google Drive when renaming their Windows 11 accounts or users.

I’m not getting the same “Local users and Group local ” window that you are getting above. I am attaching my window’s screenshot with this message for your reference. Require urgent help on this because I am stuck at this for some time. Thanks in advance! This is the screenshot :- s3. I think you use Windows 11 Home. If I’m right you cannot use Local Users and Groups because it is not included in your Windows version.

Alternatively, you can follow the steps below to enable the Built-in Administrator account:. Hello Muhammed I am a long time Windows 7 user. Just got my new laptop with Windows 10 and upgraded to Windows Still learning to use Windows I want to make the changes according to your instructions above. If you want to change user folder name in Windows 10 but find that there is no Rename option when you right-click the user folder in C drive, this post provides 2 ways to let you rename user folder in Windows FYI, MiniTool software provides some useful software to help you better manage your Windows computer incl.

To change user folder name in Windows 10, the common practice we may think of is to go to C drive and open the Users folder in Windows 10, then right-click the target user folder and click Rename to give it a new name. However, you may find that there is no Rename option after you right-click the user folder. Then how to change user folder name in Windows 10?

This tutorial provides 2 ways to help you with Windows 10 change user folder name task. But some people find that this only changes the user folder name, but not the user account name. If you search a file in the user folder, you will find that the user folder name in the directory is still the old one. To really change user account name in Windows 10 and rename the user folder, you can try Way 2.

Attention: Changing user folder name or editing the Registry is risky and may cause data loss. Do at your own risk. You can also create a system restore point to easily restore Windows 10 OS if something bad happens. This way is a little bit complicated, but you can try if you really want to rename a Windows 10 user folder.

Then select the Administrator account that you created to log in. Then you can open C drive on your computer and open Users folder.

 
 

 

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Cancel Submit. Sumit Independent Advisor Independent Advisor. The best approach to this to create a new user account and delete the older one after signing into new. Make sure to grant admin priviliges to the new account. There is a way to change the name of user profile folder but it isn’t a great method, in my opinion because of risks involved. Disclaimer: There are links to non-Microsoft websites which would provide accurate and safe information.

There is no need to buy paid products to fix your computers as they do more harm than good sometimes. Finally, please feel free to ask for help using the discussion form below if you run into a problem. I’m here for you. Informative post and clear instructions, however, the devil is in the details.

In your conclusion you say “Since some of your apps might look for their user data in the old User Folder path, you might encounter some errors. Nothing works anymore, Onedrive, Outlook, etc. So it is not “some app”, the most important apps do not work anymore! Changing the environment variables of these apps should help. In case you don’t know how to change the environment variables, check this article out. All apps you have mentioned are new generation apps, so they should work after changing your user folder name.

I have meant some old-school apps and programs there. I have Windows 11 and all my apps are up to date. Changing the name as per your instructions was a breeze however Outlook and OneDrive stopped working and were giving an error message that they cannot locate the folder anymore.

For OneDrive, all you need to do is sign out and re-sign to it. When you do that, OneDrive is synchronized with your system changes. I also encountered the problem for Outlook, did you find a solution for that?

Edit: run as administrator bypasses the problem, so I now automatically run as admin would still prefer it to work normally though. But, after all data moved, I found the User Folder name is not good. So, I tried to change it but it was not possible by myself. I googled and found your explanation here. But, unfortunately, I wrongly understood the process and I took the following steps only. At the step 24, when I tried to reboot laptop, log in was not possible. I cannot try to do anything basically.

After that, I relooked your explanation and found that I did not take steps of the followings. It was totally my mistake and my carelessness. Is there any way that I can recover all the set up, Sir?

I had spent about 10hours to do all the set ups, if I add data transfer time, another 10hours is counted.

I cannot repeat such time consumption again due to busy works from Monday. If you want to save your data, you need to a usb. Glad if help. Yea, same on me. I forgot to change in File Explorer then it crashed. Great tutorial. Worked like a charm. Couple comments from my Experience: After you rename the User folder name and before signing in as Admin, I recommend a reboot.

Something still thinks Windows is accessing the old name and errors. Apps I had to repoint to profile: Blizzard Games, One Drive uninstall reinstall worked perfect and Google Drive needed to be repointed.

Other than it went well. Your suggestions are so valuable for other Windows users who will have similar problems on Blizzard Games, One Drive, or Google Drive when renaming their Windows 11 accounts or users. I’m not getting the same “Local users and Group local ” window that you are getting above. I am attaching my window’s screenshot with this message for your reference.

Require urgent help on this because I am stuck at this for some time. Thanks in advance! This is the screenshot :- s3. I think you use Windows 11 Home. If I’m right you cannot use Local Users and Groups because it is not included in your Windows version. Alternatively, you can follow the steps below to enable the Built-in Administrator account:. If you search a file in the user folder, you will find that the user folder name in the directory is still the old one.

To really change user account name in Windows 10 and rename the user folder, you can try Way 2. Attention: Changing user folder name or editing the Registry is risky and may cause data loss.

Do at your own risk. You can also create a system restore point to easily restore Windows 10 OS if something bad happens. This way is a little bit complicated, but you can try if you really want to rename a Windows 10 user folder.

Then select the Administrator account that you created to log in. If, for some reason, this account is not present on the screen, you need to restart your computer. Rename the user folder via the context menu or by pressing the F2 key. The contents of this folder should open up before us. Step 3: Now, you need to find precisely the folder that links to our account.

It will not be so easy to do because the folder names contain dashes and numbers. To see the value of the string, you need to click on it twice. Having found the necessary folder, enter the updated path to the user directory. Now you can close the registry editor. The only thing left is to disable the Administrator profile.

If you are using Windows 10 Pro or Windows 10 Enterprise, you should rename the user data folder:. Step 1: Log in to your profile with administrator rights, or activate your Administrator profile following the instructions described above.

Find a folder with the required account, as described above. After that, the procedure to change the name of the user directory can be considered fully completed. Now it is enough to sign out of the Administrator account, and go to the one for which all the actions were performed.

If everything has been done correctly, there will be no system errors once the account is started. Often, there are situations when the user can do something not according to instructions, or during the renaming of the data folder may occur system errors.

Unfortunately, sometimes this can lead to the loss of important data that may have been stored on the desktop or elsewhere on disk C. Besides, there are often situations when due to the manipulations of inexperienced users, Windows stops working, and you have to reinstall the system, which almost always leads to formatting of disk C.

What to do if important information was lost? We strongly recommend you not to make hasty decisions and use a professional solution for data recovery RS Partition Recovery. Download RS Partition Recovery.