How to change user folder name windows 10

How to Change the User Folder Name in Windows 10

Although risky, it can be done

What to know

This guide will show you the easiest and safest method to rename your Windows user folder in Windows 10. The options are to create a new local account or go through the Windows Registry.

Due to the time involved and the risks associated with changing the user folder name, it’s probably best to do so if you can live with the existing name.

How to Change User Account Folder Name in Windows 10

Changing the name of your account in Windows 10 is relatively simple, but changing the name of the user folder is another matter entirely. Many applications and Windows settings rely on the user folder name as part of a pathway to required data for them to run correctly.

Although it is possible to change the name of your folder in Windows 10, it can very easily break software or even make the entire user profile unusable. With that in mind, the safer and more reliable method is to create a new account with the desired folder name.

Create a local account for Windows 10. Make sure to name it what you want your user folder to be. You also want to set the account as an administrator.

Sign in to your Microsoft account by navigating to Settings > Accounts > Your Info. Select Sign in with a Microsoft Account instead.

Input your Microsoft account name and password to log in. That will automatically sync your Microsoft account settings and store purchases. You will still need to install your applications on the new account, but your user folder name will be the same as the original local account.

Change Windows 10 User Folder Name In Registry

The more advanced method for changing your user folder name is to do so in the registry. This method won’t force you to make a new account, but any mistakes can make your user profile invalid, and even when it works, some software may not function properly due to file path conflicts. Proceed with caution and only if you’re happy to create a system restore point before starting in the event something goes wrong.

This method is only viable on Windows 10 Pro, not Windows 10 Home.

Type wmic useraccount list full and press enter. In the resulting list, search for your existing account name. Take note of the SID number for your existing account name.

Rename your existing account by typing CD c:\users, then rename [YourOldAccountName] [NewAccountName]. Rename JonM Jon Martindale, for example. Be sure to set your new account name to what you want the user folder to be.

Open Regedit, and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList.

Look for the profile you want to change the user folder name (based on the SID value you noted earlier) and open the ProfileImagePath value.

Change the value data to the new folder name—make sure it’s the same as your newly renamed account—and select OK.

If you followed the steps correctly, your Windows 10 user folder name should have your new account name. If you run into some issues accessing the account or the user profile is corrupted, use your system restore point to get back to a functioning system again, and if you still want to change the user folder name, run through the steps again.

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To perform a factory reset in Windows 10, go to Windows Settings > Update and Security. In the Recovery section, select Get Started and follow the on-screen instructions.

To turn on Bluetooth, go to Start > Settings > Devices > Bluetooth & other devices and toggle on Bluetooth.

How to rename the User folder in Windows 10?

10 Answers 10

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

Create a local account with the user name you wish.

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

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

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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):

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

The procedure quoted above was provided by Microsoft (here) in relation to a perceived issue with Windows 7, and continues to work in Windows 10.

Notes

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:

Administrative login

You may find you have to restart instead of just logging out and logging back in. Otherwise, when you try to rename the folder, Windows may report that it is being used by another program.

Environment variables (info)

Some applications create env vars with the user profile path fully expanded, so it’s advisable to check for these and reboot if any needed fixing.

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.

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

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

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!

How to Change User Folder Name in Windows 10 – 2 Ways [MiniTool Tips]

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 10. FYI, MiniTool software provides some useful software to help you better manage your Windows computer incl. data recovery software, disk partition manager, etc.

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.

How to Change User Folder Name in Windows 10 – 2 Ways

Way 1. Use the Top-right Search Bar in File Explorer

It’s tricky that you will find the Rename option to rename the user folder in Windows 10 if you follow the operation below.

If you are wondering how to change c/users/username in Windows 10, you may try this way.

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 make a backup of your Windows OS and important data with free backup tool like MiniTool ShadowMaker. You can also create a system restore point to easily restore Windows 10 OS if something bad happens.

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Way 2. Change User Folder Name in Windows 10 with Registry Editor

This way is a little bit complicated, but you can try if you really want to rename a Windows 10 user folder.

Step 1. Create a new local user account.

You can press Windows + R, type cmd, and press Ctrl + Shift + Enter to open elevated Command Prompt in Windows 10.

Type net user Administrator /active:yes command, and press Enter to execute the command to create a new Administrator account.

Step 2. Log in the Administrator account.

Step 3. Rename the user folder in OS drive.

Then you can open C drive on your computer and open Users folder. Right-click the target user folder and rename it.

Step 4. Change c/users/username in Registry Editor.

Now you can press Windows + R, type regedit, and press Enter to open Registry Editor in Windows 10.

In Registry Editor window, you can expand the folder in the left panel as the following path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\ \.

If you find several User SIDs and don’t know which one to change, you can click each User SID and check its values in the right window to find the right one with the target user folder name you want to change.

Click the User SID and double-click ProfileImagePath key in the right window. Then you can input the new user folder name at the end of the directory under Value data. Click OK to save the changes. Restart your computer to make the changes take effect.

Attention: Before you edit the registry, it’s highly advised you back up Windows 10 Registry first in case something goes wrong. Check: How to backup and restore Registry.

Step 5. Change user profile folder name in User Accounts window.

Next you press Windows + R, type netplwiz in Run dialog, and press Enter to open User Accounts window.

Select the target user account, and click Properties to open its properties window. Change your user name. You can copy the new user name in File Explorer and paste it into the box to avoid wrong input. Click Apply and click OK to save the setting.

Step 6. Sign in with the new user account.

Step 7. Delete the Administrator account.

At last, you can press Windows + R, type cmd, and press Ctrl + Shift + Enter to run Command Prompt as administrator again. Type the command net user Administrator /active:no in Command Prompt, and press Enter to delete the Administrator account you created in Step 1.

Bottom Line

Please be noted that we do not advise you to change user folder name in Windows 10 or edit the registry. If you really want, Way 1 lets you change the c/users/username folder name in Windows 10 but not change the user account name. If you want to change both, you may try Way 2, but be careful, do not mess up, or you may be unable to log into your account and cause computer malfunction.

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How to Rename User and User Folder in Windows 7, 8, 8.1 or 10 OS.

If you ‘re using a Windows 10/8 or 7 personal computer (not part of a Domain) and you want to rename the user account name and the related User Profile folder name then this tutorial may be useful for you. As you may know when you change the username of a user in Windows, the related user folder remain unchanged and you must perform some additional steps to accomplish this. In this tutorial you ‘ll learn how to rename a user in Windows and how to rename the user folder in order to match the name of the user.

How to Rename User and User Profile Folder in Windows 10/8/7 *

* Important: To apply the steps below you must sign into Windows, by using an account with Administrative privileges.

Assumption: Let’s suppose that the current username and the related profile folder is named «Josh» and you want to change the account name and the profile folder name to «Joshua».

Step 1. Rename the User from User Account Properties.

To change the username of a local account in Windows:

1. Press simultaneously the Windows + R keys to open the run command box.

2. Type netplwiz & Press Enter.

3. Highlight the user that you want to rename and select Properties.

4. Then change the current User name (e.g. «Josh) with the new one (e.g «Joshua»)
5. When done click Apply and OK twice to close all open windows.

Step 2. Change the User Profile Folder Path in Registry.

1. Open Registry Editor: To do that:

2. Navigate to the following key at the left pane:

3. Click at any “S-1-5-21-xxx…” registry key, until you find which one contains the path for your profile folder at the «ProfileImagePath» REG_DWORD value.

* e.g. If your Username is “Josh” then see which S-1-5-21-xxx…” registry key, contains the “C:\Users\Josh” value at ProfileImagePath.

4. When you find that key, double click at ProfileImagePath and rename the current path (profile folder name) to the new one. *

* e.g. At this example we proceed to change the «C:\Users\Josh» folder name, with the new folder name «C:\Users\Joshua».

5. When done, click OK.

6. Close Registry Editor and Restart your computer.

Step 3. Rename the User Profile Folder.

1. After restart you ‘ll be sign to a temporary profile (empty profile) with the message «We can’t sign in to your account». (Click Close at this message and continue below).

2. Open Windows Explorer and explore the contents of the «C:\Users» folder.
3. Right click on the user profile folder (e.g. «Josh» in this example) and choose Rename.
4. Type the new name for the profile folder (e.g. «Joshua» in this example) and press Enter.
5. Click Continue when asked to provide administrator permission to rename the folder. *

* Note: If you receive an «Access denied» error, when you try to rename the user folder, then try to rename the folder in Safe Mode or try the following:

1. Open Command Prompt as Administrator.
2. Type the following command and press enter: net user administrator /active:yes
3. Restart the computer and login as Administrator
4. Rename the user profile folder.
5. Restart again and login to the (renamed) user.
6. If everything is OK, then disable the administrator account by typing this command (in Command Prompt Admin): net user administrator /active:no

6. Restart your computer to login to your profile with all files and settings untouched!

Step 4. FIX Invalid Registry References.

The next step, is to fix in the Registry, the references to the old profile folder. To do that:

1. Download the Registry Finder utility in an archive format, according your Windows version (32 or 64Bit) and extract the download file (RegistryFinder.zip).
2. From the extracted folder, double click to run the RegistryFinder application.

3. In Registry Finder, click the Edit menu and choose Find.
4. Type the old folder name (e.g. Josh») and click Find.

5. When the search is completed, click Edit and choose Replace in Find Results.

6. At ‘Find what’ field type the old name (e.g. Josh») and in the ‘Replace with’ field type the new name (e.g. Joshua). When done, click Replace.

7. When the operation is completed, you should receive an error message that says «error encountered». Just ignore the error message and click No to close the window.

8. Close the Registry Finder and restart your PC.

Step 5. Rebuild the Search Index.

The final step is to rebuild the search index. To do that:

1. Navigate to Windows Control Panel and open Indexing Options.*

* If you don’t see the Indexing Options, set the View (View by) to Small icons.

2. At Indexing Options click Advanced.

3. At Troubleshooting section, click the Rebuild button.

4. Press OK to rebuild the Index.
5. Wait until the index rebuilding is completed and then restart your computer again.

That’s all folks! Did it work for you?
Please leave a comment in the comment section below or even better: like and share this blog post in the social networks to help spread the word about this problem.

How to Change Your Account Name on Windows 10

Renaming your Windows 10 account seems like a simple task, but there’s more to it than you’d think.

When you set up a new Windows 10 PC, the part where you choose your username may catch you off guard. If that’s the case, you may choose the first thing that pops into your head or something random and temporary that you intend to change later. But surprisingly enough, changing your account name in Windows 10 isn’t exactly a straightforward process. It can be done, but there are a few important things to consider as you go about it. Read on for the details.

Change Account Name and Rename User Account Folder in Windows 10

Your username is part of your identity used to sign in to Windows 10. Mistakes can sometimes happen when creating a username. There are several ways you can fix that.

Currently, the Settings app doesn’t offer an option to edit usernames. There are two ways to work around this limitation.

Method 1: Classic Control Panel

Find and open the classic Control Panel. One way to do this is to press Windows + R and then type Control, then hit Enter.

Open the User Accounts control panel, then click Manage another account.

Click the account you want to edit.

Click Change the account name.

Enter the correct username for the account, then click Change Name.

Method 2: User Accounts Advanced Control Panel

There is another way you can do it.

Press Windows key + R, type: netplwiz or control userpasswords2, then hit Enter.

Select the account, then click Properties.

Select the General tab, then enter the user name you want to use. Click Apply then OK, click Apply then OK again to confirm the change.

What about Your User Folder Name?

Changing the username is pretty basic, but this change is not reflected in the User folder located within the C: drive. Renaming it can be risky—sometimes sticking with it or just creating a new user account then copying your files to the new account is a better option. Yes, it’s annoying, but it’s better than ending up with a corrupt user profile.

If you must change it to hush your OCD, there is an advanced option available. This involves using the command line to access the security identifier (SID) then making the necessary change in the Registry. Before you go any further, enable then log into the built-in Administrator account. As a precaution, create a system restore point in advance.

To access all the information within the SID requires using the Windows Management Instrumentation Command-line to reveal the value needed to find and change it in the Registry. Open the command prompt with Administrator privileges, type: wmic useraccount list full, then hit Enter. Scroll down, then take note of the SID values for the account you want to change.

The next step is to rename the account. Doing this from the command line is just as easy.

For example, rename “Angry Dah Cosof” “Angela Brown.”

Open Start, type: regedit

Right-click Regedit.

Click Run as administrator.

Remember that SID value we accessed earlier? Now is the time to reference it.

Once you find it, select it, then double-click the value ProfileImagePath. You will see the old name we had earlier is still there. Change it to the new name you want to use.

There you have it, the name you actually intended. Mistakes like this can happen, but there is always a way to fix them.