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I have a local account on a Windows 10 Pro machine with User1 as the username. I went to control panel -> Users -> "Change your user name" and changed it to User then restarted the machine.

While the display name is now User I still have to use User1 to RDP and my home folder is C:\Users\User1

How do I fully change the username? When I Google it the hits I get seem so suggest using the "Change your user name" method which I already did.

Giacomo1968
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ventsyv
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1 Answers1

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There are two ways to go about this.

Editing an existing User folder (NOT recommended)

In direct answer to your question: it is technically possible to change your Users folder name by updating the Registry. However this is likely to cause all kinds of headaches. Renaming a User folder out from under the applications you already have installed can break things in ways that might not always be immediately obvious.

If you really want to go this route:

  1. Make a system restore point (scroll down to "Create a Restore Point" in linked page) because the following steps have a high chance of screwing your system up.
  2. Activate built-in administrator account by opening an elevated (i.e. as admin) command prompt and running net user administrator /active:yes.
  3. In the same prompt, run whoami /user to get your SID. Remember this number.
  4. Log out of your current profile, and log in as the admin account.
  5. Find the Users folder and change the User1 folder to the one you prefer, as you would rename any directory.
  6. Open the registry editor (Win+R and type regedit, or just search for Registry Editor via start menu).
  7. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList in the sidebar.
  8. Find your SID from step #3, right-click ProfileImagePath, select Modify, and update the path to match the new folder name.
  9. Reboot and log back into your account.
  10. Repeat step #1, but this time enter net user administrator /active:no to disable the built-in admin account. Reboot.

A safer alternative (recommended)

Windows User folders are not meant to be changed. A better option is to create a new account (with admin privileges) under your desired name and use that one instead.

If you have already been using this profile for some time, you will need to transfer your files and re-install any user-specific applications on the new, correctly-named profile. But you'll only have to do it once, as opposed to having to disentangle any issues that may crop up now and in the future as a result of changing a User folder name out from under your existing system.

Sources:

Rose Wills
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