Windows 10: After I renamed the main administrator user account, I cannot install software

My Windows 10 installation had a single user account administrator. After a while I decided to 1: rename this account to my own personal name "fernan", to avoid reinstalling software and copy data elsewhere; 2: create another administrative account.While mostly everything works OK, there are some glitches every now and then. Recently: tried to update VS Code https://code.visualstudio.com/, which failed as it could not find the old folder C:\Users/administrator. Even after 1 uninstalling VS Code; 2 deleting the Code.exe keys and subkeys from the registry, the newly downloaded u

:)

 

I can't rename my user account

Hello Owen,

Welcome to the Microsoft Community.

• 
  Are you using a Microsoft account or local account?
  

If you are using local account, I suggest you to follow the below steps to change the user name.

Please follow the steps to rename the user account in Windows 10.

a. In the search box, type user accounts and click on User Accounts.

b. Click on “Change your account name”

c. If it’s prompting for password please enter and click on Yes. If you do not have password click on Yes.

d. Enter the new user name.

e. Click on change name.

If you face any more issues while working with Windows do post on Microsoft Community Forum.

 

How to delete and rename users

Hi Mark,

Before we can help you rename the new user account on your computer, please answer these questions for us to get a better understanding of the situation since you performed a clean installation of Windows 10:

• When you boot up your computer, do you see the original user account available for you to sign in to?
• Is the new user account an administrator?

Doing a clean installation of Windows 10 involves formatting your hard drive. Therefore, your files in the old user account, including the user account itself, would be wiped clean. It may not be a clean installation if the files are still on your computer.

To proceed with renaming the new user account, let's first make sure it is set as an administrator on your computer. Follow these steps to check if it is:

• Sign in to the old user account (Mark).
  
• Go to Control Panel.
• Open User Accounts.
• Click on Manage another account.
• Check whether it says the new user account (Mark_2) is an
  Administrator.
• If it's not yet an administrator, click on the account and select Change the account type.
• Choose Administrator then apply the changes.

Once the account is already an administrator, we can now delete the old user account. Here's how:

• Sign in to the new user account (Mark_2).
• Go to Control Panel.
• Open User Accounts.
• Click on Manage another account.
• Select the old user account (Mark).
• Click on Delete the account.
• You can opt to Delete Files for the old user account.
• Restart your computer.

To rename the new user account, follow these steps:

• Right-click on the Windows icon on your home screen.
• Select Command Prompt (Admin).
• Click Yes if you get a prompt window.
• Type wmic useraccount where "name='Mark_2' " rename Mark then press
  Enter.

Let us know if you need more help.

 

How to delete and rename users

Hi Ruz. You said:

"To proceed with renaming the new user account, let's first make sure it is set as an administrator on your computer. Follow these steps to check if it is:

• Sign in to the old user account (Mark).
  
• Go to Control Panel.
• Open User Accounts.
• Click on Manage another account.
• Check whether it says the new user account (Mark_2) is an Administrator. Mark_2 doesn't show, only administrator Mark. Now what do I do? Thanks.
• If it's not yet an administrator, click on the account and select Change the account type.
• Choose Administrator then apply the changes."

See my reply above in BOLD. Thanks, Mark.