How to rename the User folder in Windows 10?

280

105

After installing Windows 10 on my Surface Pro 3 it took my user name 'Jeremy' and created a user folder named C:\Users\jerem.

I want to rename the folder C:\Users\Jeremy. The procedure for Windows 8 does not work. There are a couple of reasons.

  1. OneDrive is now a fully integrated part of the OS, and it completely breaks. A find/replace in the registry seems to work, but it's hard to be confident in that approach.
  2. When the computer is rebooted, the TabletInputService writes a TextHarvester.dat file to the old user profile location (creating it if needed). This makes it impossible to keep the folder deleted. An old solution found online doesn't work. This issue also causes an error message to pop up every time the computer boots.

GollyJer

Posted 2015-03-17T20:40:02.333

Reputation: 4 896

7@MehmetFide it's not a bug - it take the first five letters from your email address - this is by design, not an error. – CalvT – 2015-09-25T15:12:03.517

113so it is a design bug. my name is "mehmet" and it puts as "mehme" which is annoying and silly. it is clearly a bug from customer point of view. – Mehmet Fide – 2015-09-25T16:43:24.000

9@CalvT do you have a source stating this was a design decision? And why? Seems silly to me. – Keegan – 2015-10-13T13:53:19.013

OK, so it makes a decision that may or may not be right from the customer's point of view. The question is how does the user change it? – Edward Falk – 2016-09-06T19:34:07.303

3@MehmetFide Well, it's part of the effort to make paths short. Most programs still choke on paths longer than about 250 characters, and that was a problem that was getting out of hand. That's also why the Users folder is no longer Documents and Settings :) – Luaan – 2016-12-18T17:44:40.450

7Got a Surface Book, I'm here because I noticed the same issue. What a freaking annoyance, trimming two letters off the user name I've used for two decades. – mlepage – 2017-01-21T02:27:25.447

8It should at least ask before doing this, and offer the user to change it. – mlepage – 2017-01-21T15:43:28.483

2Looks ;like it is taking the first five letters. Mine is aksha – DollarAkshay – 2017-10-27T21:50:47.863

1I'd rather have my initials than this. At least my initials are still me. – SherylHohman – 2018-05-22T22:55:30.617

3Geeze DOS at least allowed 8 characters! And even a dozen characters is nowhere near 250 !! What about the option to choose which 5 chars would make sense ?? – SherylHohman – 2018-05-22T23:21:38.667

@MegmetFide - Please don't misuse words in English. It is not a bug, because the code that creates the profile name is not "produc[ing] an incorrect or unexpected result, or to behave in unintended ways", from the designer preservative (per https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_bug). It is undesired, but not a bug.

– user66001 – 2019-04-18T13:50:10.807

As a side note, I wouldn't do the search and replaces with regedit. On my fresh windows install there were 180+ occurrences in my registry, so I'd recommend a registry editing tool like http://registry-finder.com/. (Note I am not affiliated with this tool)

– travisjayday – 2019-08-10T19:34:01.257

I choose this solution instead, and it works. – arilwan – 2019-10-23T19:24:56.690

yah whoever decided this is ridiculous. MANY of us use the command prompt so of course that would be annoying. – wesley franks – 2020-02-01T03:37:47.247

Answers

175

This can be done without folder renaming and messing with registry:

  1. Create a local account with the user name you wish.

    • Local account creation is well hidden; here is how to find it:
      Settings > Accounts > Family & Other users > Other users > Add someone else to this PC > The person I want to add doesn't have an email address > Add a user without Microsoft account

  2. Change account type to administrator (can skip if there is other administrator).

  3. Remove original Microsoft linked account
  4. Link local account to Microsoft account if you wish

voldemarz

Posted 2015-03-17T20:40:02.333

Reputation: 1 881

1Unfortunately this did not work out how I thought it would. Following these steps and then relinking my Microsoft Account created yet another User directory with my machine name appended to the end of it. – Andrew T Finnell – 2015-11-02T22:15:05.390

4One caveat, if you use "Family safety" set up in your microsoft account, this can get very tricky at (4) if you want to do it for other family members. The other family members become "known" to the PC as soon as you convert the first account, and I hit a full-stop when converting the other local users . I had to disable that feature first, then add all family members as local accounts, then convert them to M$ accounts. – Ed Randall – 2015-11-21T07:56:14.107

2Someone did an edit that seems more useful as a comment: IMPORTANT Be aware many application settings, video game saves, and so on are stored in the original user folder. (Rarely, some settings may even be tied to the old username). Your pictures, documents, music, and so on will still be in the old user directory. – Journeyman Geek – 2018-12-28T06:13:00.677

1How do you do step 4? – Daniel Kaplan – 2019-05-21T03:46:45.503

@DanielKaplan not exactly sure since haven't tried in a while and something may have changed, but probably something along the lines of this https://www.windowscentral.com/how-link-your-windows-10-product-key-microsoft-account

– voldemarz – 2019-05-22T13:19:15.830

@JourneymanGeek IMHO it's a core part of the answer in that it's not renaming, but instead creating a new user. So the notice that your original user folder is where everything still is is very important. – Nick T – 2019-09-04T03:24:31.400

A step is missing between 2 and 3: log off with the old account and log on with the new account. – CarLaTeX – 2019-11-16T07:29:49.357

@CarLaTeX Isn't that obvious that you need to be not using an account when removing? These are not dummy-proof steps, but generic description of actions for someone who knows his way ardound Windows. – voldemarz – 2019-11-17T11:54:37.880

@voldemarz Yes, it is obvious, but when I did it I had a moment of uncertainty between the two steps (however, I upvoted because I succeeded in changing my user name with your answer). – CarLaTeX – 2019-11-17T12:12:36.353

49

While not a direct answer to the question, a symbolic link can be a risk-free solution if the problem is not just aesthetics, but that restored or legacy configuration files or links refer to the user directory.

  1. Open an elevated command prompt
  2. Change to the user directory
  3. Create a directory junction targeting the real name of the user directory

e.g.,

C:
CD\Users
MKLINK /J Jeremy jerem

This enables you to use c:\Users\Jeremy\..... to refer to parts of your profile.

Kitiara

Posted 2015-03-17T20:40:02.333

Reputation: 591

3nice simple solution, can be enough for some issues. – stefano – 2016-08-27T08:23:07.200

What exactly do you mean by "Change to the user directory"? Do you mean inside "users" or inside "<username>" or outside both? – Xonatron – 2017-06-11T16:48:01.117

3This worked. Thanks so much for this suggestion. I opened CMD with admin privileges, navigated to c:\users, and ran "mklink /j matt matthew" (for example) to link "matt" to the already existing "matthew" folder. – Xonatron – 2017-06-11T16:52:36.530

A great way to not have to change git source paths when working from work and home via cloud. – quantomworks – 2017-07-25T15:52:57.800

3In my case it helped me surpass some errors a program had because my user folder has an space in it. So I ran mklink /j greatUser "My Full Name" and it works. Thanks! – Metafaniel – 2018-08-10T17:26:47.900

This will not change the value when I run commands like whoami on cygwin or my default SSH username. – SOFe – 2019-03-25T06:34:52.103

WARNING: Some programs will not follow a directory junction, and will crash as a result. – user66001 – 2019-04-18T14:01:29.223

Warning for Linux user : the arguments are not in the same order as for ln -s! – Eric Duminil – 2019-04-28T19:33:12.070

This is a nice answer to add to the more comprehensive solution from @RegEdit. Specifically, I used that solution, and then I created a directory junction so that applications could access the user directory under the old name if they wanted to do so. Without the directory junction, I would have needed to reconfigure a lot of applications and perhaps to edit the registry.

– user697473 – 2019-12-04T18:07:23.660

46

Microsoft has actually documented a very simple and clean way to rename a user profile folder.

There is no need to create a new user account, so all the settings associated with the existing user profile are preserved. And the only registry change required is to edit a single string value (the one that tells Windows the path of the user profile folder):

  1. Log in by using another administrative account.

Note You may need to create a new Administrative account at first.

  1. Go to the C:\users\ folder and rename the subfolder with the original user name to the new user name.
  2. Go to the registry and modify the registry value ProfileImagePath to the new path name.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\<User SID>\

That's it!

A note on <User SID>: the ProfileList registry key contains a number of sub-keys. To find out which one to change, click on each sub-key and examine the values, to find the sub-key with the right ProfileImagePath:

enter image description here

For example, let's say we want to get rid of the space in a user profile folder name. So in step 2, we use File Explorer to navigate to C:\Users and rename the John Smith subfolder JohnSmith. And in step 3, we click on the <User SID> sub-keys until we find the one with ProfileImagePath C:\Users\John Smith, and change it to C:\Users\JohnSmith.

This procedure was provided by Microsoft in relation to a perceived issue with Windows 7, but the same procedure continues to work in Windows 10.

Renaming a User Account Does Not Automatically Change the Profile Path

You will also need to check your PATH and User variables for any out of date paths and reboot. Some applications add new PATH/user variables with the user profile folder name fully expanded and they won't automatically update.

Reg Edit

Posted 2015-03-17T20:40:02.333

Reputation: 1 930

This solution totally work. Thanks alot. But if you use linux on windows, you need reinstall linux that run on top of windows. – Pamungkas Jayuda – 2019-01-16T08:50:00.143

4This should be the accepted answer. On Windows 10 1809 you have to do another step with OneDrive. When you log in you'll be told ...Desktop cannot be found, moved or deleted. You'll have to re-sign into OneDrive and let it sync with the new folder change. I also went into OneDrive Settings -> Auto Save and tapped "Update Folders" just to make sure Desktop was being properly picked up. After a short few minutes it seems that everything fell back into place. – Daniel Jackson – 2019-02-15T19:12:33.083

1This simple procedure works well. Many software cannot be uninstalled afterward though. To correct this, you have to change all occurences of the former username in the registry. Luckily regedit has a search feature, unfortunately it has no replace feature so it can take a while to do it manually. – Futal – 2019-03-14T11:20:00.993

It worked, but this local user's system search under Windows 10 1903 was broken and did not yield any results from within system settings anymore. – Michi – 2019-05-29T20:21:20.870

2To avoid a ton of manual registry changes, "Unlink this PC" In OneDrive before doing this change-over. Then set up OneDrive again. – Ian W – 2019-08-26T13:28:53.477

@Reg Edit I am unable to even rename the folder. I shut down and login as the other Admin, and it says the folder is still open and will not allow me to rename it. – likejudo – 2019-09-03T00:46:58.113

@likejudo maybe you have something running on start-up? You can easily see what has it open using a Sysinternals utility. Download from this link and then from the command prompt enter "handle c:\users". https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/handle

– Reg Edit – 2019-09-03T19:03:49.007

1Followup on this, as of December 2019 (1909 edition). I enabled the local Admin account with net user "Administrator" /active:yes and then logged in as Admin. Since my main user account was active, I had to open Task Manager and choose the Users tab. From there I was able to log out of the other session. Then, I was able to change the folder name and make the registry entry change. When I rebooted, I had to force Windows to log in as the main account, not the Admin account. Once back in my main account, I disabled Admin again with net user "Administrator" /active:no. – Eric Cloninger – 2019-12-27T20:31:36.857

1I can't believe how easy it was - especially after following some tips from the comments above. I've searched the whole registry (remember to select "Computer" before performing a search, so that it scans the whole registry) and I found a total of 6 instances with the old user account name and 4 of them were paths to the profile image (it's a fresh installation of Windows though). Unlinking OneDrive was also a great idea, as it was very easy and after the restart, it linked itself back automatically once I opened the OneDrive app. – pafflick – 2020-02-29T19:06:22.190

45

I had the same problem and I have solved it as follows (using information that I found on a few other websites):

  1. Just to be safe, create a restore point. Open the Control Center, type in System Restore and click on Create System Restore Point. Select the C: Drive and click on Create.
  2. Click on the Windows Button (at the bottom left), type regedit and click on Execute command.
  3. Confirm the UAC dialog by clicking Yes.
  4. Make a backup of the prior registry by clicking File > Export.
  5. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Windows NT/CurrentVersion/ProfileList. There you can find a few subfolders (starting with 'S-1-5-'). Search for the folder that contains the path (that you want to change) in the registry key named ProfileImagePath. (Example from the question: search for the value 'C:\Users\jerem').
  6. If you have found it, double-click on it and change the path. (Following the original question, you would now change the value to 'C:\Users\Jeremy').
  7. Close the Registry Editor window.
  8. Click on the Windows Button (at the bottom left) again and type netplwiz and click on Execute command.
  9. Make sure that the checkbox 'Users have to enter username and password' is checked. Select the user (for whom you want to change the path) from the list and click on Properties.
  10. Change the user name in the new window. (Following the original question, you would now change the user name to 'Jeremy'). You can also change the full name here, if you wish (but in my case the correct name has already been entered). I suppose that you can not leave the full name field empty. Close the window by clicking OK.
  11. Close the other remaining opened windows also by clicking OK.
  12. Restart the system.
  13. Start Windows 10 again and try to login. This will fail (because of the changed path) and you will automatically be logged in with a temporary user account (which will take a bit of time). However, you can now change the name of the folder using the Windows Explorer (following the example above, you would now rename the folder jerem to Jeremy).
    Note: alternatively, you can boot into a second operating system (if you have one installed) or use a Live CD operating system to change the folder name.

UPDATE: Thanks to user @lmiguelvargasf for informing me about an issue with my solution! I thought that the system would be a bit more intelligent in updating the references in the registry, but it is not! Therefore you should start the Registry Editor again (as in step 2) and make a backup by clicking File > Export. Then click on Edit > Search (or Find...), type in the old path (in the example it would have been C:\Users\jerem) and search for keys, values and data. Replace all references containing the old path (C:\Users\jerem) with the new path (C:\Users\Jeremy). A click on the key F3 searches for the next reference. Repeat that until you don't find any references to the old path. Even with a relatively fresh installation on Windows 10, you might have to update about 100 entries (especially OneDrive and Edge have quite a lot of caching paths in the registry). And also some additionally installed programs might have created registry entries!

Finally, restart the system again and start Windows 10. The first login could take quite a while, but everything should now work fine again and the path of the user directory should now be changed! If everything works fine, you can now delete the original folder (the folder named jerem, using the example of the question).

INFO: I am working on a German system. I tried to translate the bullet points correctly, but it is very likely that they might be named a bit different!

DISCLAIMER: This solution is working on my laptop after upgrading from Windows 8.1 (64-bit) to Windows 10 (64-bit). However, I cannot guarantee that this solution might also work for others with other configurations. If you follow the solution provided above, you are doing everything at your own risk!

traintes

Posted 2015-03-17T20:40:02.333

Reputation: 567

1This worked for me on Windows 10 64-bit! After doing the 11 steps, to get to the temporary account, I had to put in my password, then my PIN, and keep pressing "skip" after Windows reported that there were some errors until it finally logged me in. After renaming the folder I restarted Windows and everything worked perfectly – Jorge Luque – 2015-08-02T08:41:01.700

I tried not putting in a "full name" and was unable to make this work, after putting in full name this worked fine. – jidar – 2015-08-04T05:40:25.177

@jidar: I suppose that the full name in step 9 is a mandatory field. However, (in my case) the correct name was already filled in and therefore I did not alter it. – traintes – 2015-08-05T07:41:55.077

8

This will work, but it will break several things, including the ability to install apps from the Windows Store. After checking the Event Viewer I noticed a number of errors related to the ESENT service, which were still referencing the old user account folder. The easiest way I found to solve the problem was by creating a symbolic link from the "wrong/original" user profile folder ("xavie" in my case) to the "new/correct" one ("xavier"). For this I used the awesome Link Shell Extension.

– xfx – 2015-08-07T05:30:37.913

@xfx: As I mentioned in the post, I did not encounter any problems/issues up until now (following the steps provided above). Also I don't have a problem when trying to install something from the Windows Store - it just works as expected. However, I had to do some smaller things afterwards (e. g. confirm my account again, etc.). – traintes – 2015-08-08T08:26:53.690

1@traintes: your solution has worked for me, but I have had trouble with Android Studio because it was installed before I rename the username. What worked for me after following your steps was to change every oldusername in the Registry Editor to newusername. – lmiguelvargasf – 2015-08-15T22:24:28.447

@lmiguelvargasf: That's a good tip, actually! I have done this steps with a rather 'clean' system (with just a handful of programs installed) and didn't run into any issues. However, I suppose that every program handles this issue differently. Maybe I will include this also in my answer (as a last step) - so what did you exactly search for? I mean did you search for olderusername only or for C:\Users\oldname to replace? – traintes – 2015-08-16T23:09:14.173

2@traintes: I just looked for oldusername and in the search I included old keys, values and data that contained the word. – lmiguelvargasf – 2015-08-17T03:35:12.020

4Be careful during the registry search and replace. You don't want to accidentally double replace "c:\jerem" with "c:\Jeremy" or you could end up with a "c:\Jeremyy" somewhere. In fact, you might want to search for that afterward just to be sure. Also, there may be some other programs which store the paths elsewhere, such as an .INI file, .XML file or a database. Expect something to break and be prepared to hunt it down. – GuitarPicker – 2015-08-17T15:46:36.110

@GuitarPicker: Therefore I suggested to make a registry backup before you use search and replace. And yes, it is definitely possible that some paths are stored in INI files, databases, etc. - but I think that most programs will use relative paths and the USERDIR variable. However, I also suggested that you do this on a clean system - then you have the assurance that only Edge and Skydrive have paths in the registry! – traintes – 2015-08-19T20:13:40.113

I was hoping this would simply change the path name while keeping all user settings and program installations / settings. This was not the case though, so I might as well have created a new local user with the desired name, then connect it later with the microsoft account as described in other answers – Alex – 2015-08-26T14:35:59.430

Even after all this, I've found that the Windows Store breaks after the change. I think I'll end up just making a new Local account and using that instead. – alanaktion – 2015-11-19T06:49:38.117

In final step 13., it is safe to delete any new temporary User account that was made following these steps, I think, right? – cellepo – 2016-01-09T23:02:50.150

Can't the content of the UPDATE (per @lmiguelvargasf) to this Answer be done in between 6. & 7.? – cellepo – 2016-01-09T23:05:30.963

@cellepo 1) It is safe to remove the temporary user after restarting the machine AFTER step 13! 2) I do not think so, but I haven't tried it. However, I suppose that other programs might cause problems (e. g. while logged in with the temporary user), because if you already update ALL registry entries between steps 6 & 7, then the registry would then contain paths that do not exist at that time... – traintes – 2016-01-11T00:54:54.543

As a warning to all, this method screwed up OneDrive for me. The fix was to download the installer (for Windows 7/8, since there isn't an installer for Windows 10), and use it to set OneDrive back up from scratch. All my files were still there of course. – Nicu Stiurca – 2016-03-28T18:02:33.257

2To keep the system in a continuously sane state, I'd recommend (as @xfx did) that you create a symlink from the new name to the old one before making changes. Right-click the Start menu and open Command Prompt (Admin). Then cd C:\Users and mklink /D newname oldname. Once you've rebooted and ensured that nothing refers to the old name, you can delete the symlink and rename the directory. – Trevor Robinson – 2016-05-15T20:39:59.333

Another warning to all: When I did this it broke Cortana. I could no longer launch apps by hitting the window key and typing (only some of them would be found, but most would not be). I haven't figured out how to get my machine back to a stable state. Might have to reinstall. Don't do this. -1 – JMarsch – 2017-01-08T23:51:51.320

Follow-up: In the end, I used the voldemarz's answer. I had to create a local account, delete my old account (lost all my app settings), and then re-create it and re-link it. So far, everything seems to be working (I'm just living with the default folder name that windows gave me) – JMarsch – 2017-01-10T17:24:57.137

1

Note that for search and replace, a program that has an actual find and replace tool is helpful. I used https://sourceforge.net/projects/regedt33/ and it worked well.

– Venryx – 2017-04-18T17:59:09.643

Worked great. My only hiccup was after changing the registry in the early steps, the start button wouldn't allow a search, so couldn't run netplwiz from the start button. A quick search form the c: drive found netplwiz.exe in c:\windows\system32, so ran it by just double-clicking on it. Also, already had a second account on the machine (my wife's) so could use it to rename the folder. – buttonsrtoys – 2017-12-23T14:34:28.737

One could find 3rd-party non-registry config files which need to be manually updated using the 'Everything' search application with a query like ext:ini;xml;cfg content:oldAccountName – lukeuser – 2018-08-27T18:36:12.087

When I tried to change the name of the folder using Windows Explorer, it gave me "This folder is being used by another application" error even though I closed all the apps (background too) – Samleo – 2019-04-13T02:33:21.803

18

  1. To access the Advanced User Accounts panel type netplwiz in Search the web and Windows box next to your Windows button then click or tap on Netplwiz (Windows application).

  2. In the Advanced User Accounts panel, select the user you want to modify and click Properties

  3. In the properties window for the user, enter the new user name and click OK.

  4. Restart for the changes to take effect.

Source: http://www.opentechguides.com/how-to/article/windows-10/43/win10-change-account.html

Jp_

Posted 2015-03-17T20:40:02.333

Reputation: 329

8The question is about changing the profile folder name, not the user name. Does your solution work for that? I doubt it... – zagrimsan – 2015-12-09T13:26:39.843

2I was searching for ´netplwiz´, because I want only rename my username. – dhcgn – 2016-02-25T17:06:30.913

5

Your link is updated and now includes how to change the Folder name too. And this other link includes 2 methods (onr for Local Account and other for Microsot Account) to change the UserName and then change the Folder name: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/insider/forum/insider_wintp-insider_security/rename-user-account-folder-in-windows-10-preview/88033eca-6b32-47c5-90ac-a5e7af17d094?page=1&auth=1

– Troglo – 2016-05-13T20:42:36.413

2This actually helped as much as the accepted answer: for some reason, Windows wouldn't let me create a local account with the name I wanted (probably because I already tried switching from my ms account to a local account so the name was still registered somewhere), but using netplwiz and the advanced user account mmc, I managed to do that with far more ease than by using the "normal" local account creation! – Melvyn – 2016-07-24T12:40:03.607

1This should be the accepted answer. I tried this method while logged in with a Microsoft Account for which I wanted to change the user folder name. After changing the account name in netplwiz AND rebooting the computer, surprise, the folder also got renamed. Tried and tested in WIN10 v1809 – Ivan – 2019-02-24T12:27:23.750

2

I think the best way to go about this is to first create a "Local Account" then after login to your "Microsoft Account" It should link your folder with you online account now.

AnonymousWinUser

Posted 2015-03-17T20:40:02.333

Reputation: 37

4That doesn't really answer the question though as the OP had already logged in to Microsoft so it's too late to do what you suggest. The answer doesn't tell him how to fix his problem. – DavidPostill – 2015-07-20T09:25:06.423

0

There is a much faster and easier way. (As usual, Windows NT got it right, but Microsoft just keeps making trivial UI tasks harder and harder as they try to cater to the fringe tablet market. Luckily the old apps are still available.)

Open the Start menu, type comp and select Computer Management, expand Local Users and Groups, right-click Users to a new local account there, then click Groups and open the Administrators group and add the new account.

Log off, log in with the new account. The account name will be used to create a new folder in Users. You can copy whatever you need from the old user folder, then delete the old user account from the same app (or that "Family" thing in Settings). Re-link to your MS account if you wish.

McGuireV10

Posted 2015-03-17T20:40:02.333

Reputation: 271

2Unfortunately the Computer Management > Local Users and Groups option is not available in Windows 10 Home edition, only in Professional and above. – Salvador – 2018-09-05T11:14:17.640

0

I had the same problem and this worked. Thanks to tenforums website!

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/89060-change-name-user-profile-folder-windows-10-a.html

Summary:

1) in a command window: wmic useraccount get name,SID

get the SID for the user.

2) Open registry using regedit command.

search for

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\

edit local user name to new name.

3) Important: after editing the registry you must restart your computer otherwise the rename will give the same error.

4) Now you can rename the directory (folder).

likejudo

Posted 2015-03-17T20:40:02.333

Reputation: 261

Please quote the relevant content so your answer is complete. – Daniel B – 2019-09-04T14:40:08.913

@DanielB it is several pages long and has screenshots etc. – likejudo – 2019-09-04T15:38:20.620

If (more like when) the page you linked goes away, your answer is suddenly not an answer anymore. That’s of no help to anyone. If you feel like the guide is overly detailed, you can also try to shorten it. – Daniel B – 2019-09-04T17:34:45.140

These are the same instructions as an existing user. – Ramhound – 2019-09-04T22:59:13.640

@likejudo - I still believe this answer is suggesting the same solution that already was submitted minus looking up the SID of the user which I believe isn’t necessary. Any event you still have not quoted the relevant information as required by our rules. If you copy a source from another website it must be cited (which you have done) and quoted (which you have failed to do). – Ramhound – 2019-09-09T11:28:18.287

0

I managed to get that Windows 8 tutorial to work for myself by logging into the second admin account in safe mode (I used "Safe Mode With Networking" myself; the precise methods used to get your version of Windows 10 into Safe Mode may be different). Safe Mode prevents OneDrive from loading, among other things.

After renaming the directory, you'll need to search and replace "C:\Users\jerem" to "C:\Users\Jeremy" (in my case, it was "C:\Users\Kimiko" to "C:\Users\Muffin") in Regedit while you're logged into the secondary account, and then you'll need to do it again once you've logged back into your main account so you can get everything in HKEY_CURRENT_USER as well. This won't catch everything in files, obviously; when I rebooted after doing the second search and replace, OneDrive complained that its home directory had been deleted, among other things. Everything seemed to work after that, though.

Dizzy H. Muffin

Posted 2015-03-17T20:40:02.333

Reputation: 1

You haven't run into the TextHarvester.dat issue? – GollyJer – 2015-06-09T01:20:28.260

1I have not, but it occurred to me when I was checking just now that this might because I'm using it on a desktop machine and have never had a touchscreen attached. In which case I would guess you could go back into Safe Mode after following my instructions, and then do the DelProf2.exe /u thing. – Dizzy H. Muffin – 2015-06-09T15:17:38.877

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I can't comment yet... I just wanted to add that I followed the steps from traintes' solution, but if you want to avoid getting the error when restarting the pc, you can follow these steps before restarting:

  1. activate the Administrator account from command prompt (with admin rights) right clicking on the windows logo and selecting the option and typing net users Administrator /active:yes
  2. reboot the computer in Advanced Startup clicking on Start > Power > (shift +) restart
  3. Go to Troubleshoot > Advanced Options > Command Prompt
  4. Select the Administrator account
  5. Navigate to C:\Users typing c: then cd users
  6. Type rename oldname newname using your current folder name instead of oldname and the desired folder name instead of newname

exit and reboot... easy peasy...

TonyMorello

Posted 2015-03-17T20:40:02.333

Reputation: 139

2You are restarting the computer as often as in my guide (twice). However, following your steps, you are saving a bit of time as you don't have to be logged in with a temporary profile (which takes a bit of time to create)... – traintes – 2015-08-27T15:48:48.697

Have you tested these instructions? At least in prior versions of Windows, because HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList<User SID>\ProfileImagePath will still be pointing to c:\users\oldname, Windows will just assume the folder has been deleted and recreate it when you next login. You should also find that because you are logged in as oldname, ntuser.dat will be open and prevent the renaming of the directory. Finally, you should also advise people disable the administrator account as the final step; There is a reason it is disabled by default! – user66001 – 2019-04-18T14:09:50.440

Asked: 2015-03-17T20:40:02.333

Viewed: 943 595 times

Active: 2020-02-17T00:06:22.417