Windows 10: Changing the user folder name created with MS account - efforts and pr

This is my 1st post so I hope is in the right section of the forum.

I’ve recently had to transfer from Windows 7 Professional to Windows 10 Professional (death of a hard drive) and am hoping that some on this forum may be able to help me with various issues. I am OK with computers and am prepared to put in the time to understand as much as I can, but am certainly not a technician. Anything I do I have to research many times and carefully follow instructions. It’s taken me over a week so far to try and set things up in Windows 10 but despite trying constantly throughout that time there’s one fundamental thing I haven’t been able to fix.

When setting up Windows 10 I very foolishly followed the prompts and set it up with my Microsoft account. This has created a user folder for me with a name that doesn’t match the name I have on CrashPlan, Dropbox or a major database containing 15+ years of work. I had no idea until days later what a nightmare this would create, or how difficult it would be to fix.

Since discovering this problem my user account name on this computer has been changed to the one I want (just my first name, Ann … and both the account and the user folder did have a capital A in win 7). Also that account has been changed from a Microsoft account to a Local/Administrator account - but the user folder name doesn’t change to match this.

I want to change the name on my user folder and ultimately get rid of my Microsoft account – I don’t need the MS account for cloud storage and I don’t buy MS products (although I did buy MS Office Professional for this laptop, and I’m sad to say probably set it up using my MS account.)

I did try one online solution which was to edit the ProfileImagePath in the registry but this created an account without access to anything I’d set up and I became afraid to use it as there are warnings in online forums about it messing up too many other things in Win 10. I just restored to my restore point.

From what I can see the recommended solution to this user folder name problem is to create a local account with Admin privileges then delete the MS account. I've tried but I’m having a number of problems with this:

1. I can’t set up a local account with the user name I want (Ann) – I get the message “Please type a different user name”. I tried renaming (yet again) my first (previously MS, now local/admin) user account in case this was the reason I couldn't create a new one with the same name - but that makes no difference.
2. The only solution I've found to this problem is a suggestion to a) create a local/admin account with a totally different name, then b) delete the Microsoft user account, and next c) using my totally different user create the local/admin account and folder name I want, and finally d) delete the totally different user account.
3. This sounds fine but my understanding is that if I just switch users like this my new user will lose access to everything in the first user’s account (my unwanted MS account). Before realising my user name folder problem, and also since then, I’ve done masses of work to try and set things up and manage Windows 10 – hiding and trying to deactivate OneDrive, forcing saves to my PC not OneDrive (though this is still a problem), setting default apps, setting up emails (3 addresses), preferences in Office programs, disabling QuickAccess recent docs, setting up jump lists for Office apps, getting rid of the tiled section near the Start button, etc and on and on. So of course I don’t want to have to do this all over again

My drive is partitioned and ultimately if I can change this user folder name to what I want I’ll move my data on C to the D drive.

So my primary question here is:

** How can I change the user folder name I have now – originally created as an MS account but now a local/admin account - and still retain my access to everything I’ve set up for that user account. **

Any tips, advice or directions to other instructions will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Ann

:)

 

How to change User file names for local account?

I got a new computer and unfortunately created a Windows Account on it. I've since created a local account and deleted the Windows account. However, the User folder name is annoyingly obtuse, with the temp name and part of the email from the MS account thrown
in.

The original MS named account is gone but the Users folder is still there and that's name I want, eg C:\Users\goodname.

The local user is in C:\Users\badname

First, is it ok to just delete the goodname directory because the account's no longer there?

Second, how do I change the local account so that I can rename it's folder to goodname?

[Moved from Windows / Windows 10 / Files, folders, & storage / PC]

 

User directory have name after MS Account mail address - how to change?

Hello,

I want to ask, if is possible to change the name of User directory, because apparently its name is somehow bound to the e-mail address I have on MS Account.

I will explain:

For example, I have MS account with e-mail address *** Email address is removed for privacy ***

When I install Win10 and log in with this MS account, Windows will create user folder named johnsmith in C:\Users\ folder.

Apparently it takes first portion from e-mail address (before @) and creates user directory with that name.

Now, it is somehow possible to change the name johnsmith of my user directory in C:\Users\ to something else?

Like, I will have MS Account with e-mail adress *** Email address is removed for privacy *** like I said before. But in C:\Users\, the user directory will be for example "peterpan" and not "johnsmith".

So i just want to know, if directory C:\users\johnsmith can be renamed or somehow changed to C:\users\peterpan when I am logged in the same MS Account. I want just change the name of my user directory.

I know that simply renaming the user in Control panel-user account will not change the name of user's directory.

Or is there any way to change this in settings of MS account on the web?

Thanks for answers

 

Hi, I'm just going to address that aspect. This has been asked a good number of times- the answer is no. Why? Although some methods are posted, in the end these are superficial- so many things deep in the registry need to be changed.

Your only option would be to create a new account, and move all to it as you've commented.

I read recently of an idea that Laplink PC Mover Express here can help- there used to be an MS special offer for free, but this has expired.
PCmover - Windows Migration from Laplink | Microsoft Recommended | Windows Easy Transfer

Now $14-95 I think.

Example discussion here - which illustrates the difficulty and risk in trying to change the user profile folder name :
onedrive - How to rename the User folder in Windows 10? - Super User

 

Thank you very much for this dalchina, and for the link to the discussion. Yes, that's the discussion I found that caused me to undo my effort to change my user name via the registry and revert to a restore point.

I've been reading about the drastic option which is to uninstall and reinstall Windows 10 completely. But people seem to be having trouble with reinstalls and I've invested so much time in setting this up that it would be an absolute last resort for me.

Thanks also for the advice about PC Mover express. I'm happy to pay for this if I can get it to do what I need. I've looked at the info page for it and I guess I'd need the professional version as the Express one doesn't move software? Or maybe I can work out how to backup and transfer all the settings for the programs I've installed - Office 2016 Pro, Google Chrome, Dragon NS, etc etc then reinstall them all + all my settings.

So it seems now that my only option is to create a new local/admin user account and transfer everything I've installed and set up, plus all my data etc, to that user. Which brings me back to the problem of how to do that since I can't for some reason get to step 1. create a user with the name I want. (I can change my existing MS user account to that name but cannot create a new account with it?) Does anyone know why it won't let me create this user on my system, even though there is no account with that name?

If I can eventually create a local user with the name and user folder name I want ... am wondering about a new possible problem that I hadn't thought of before. If I transfer everything from my MS user to that new local user using PC Mover Express or similar (assuming I can eventually set it up with the name I want) won't that also transfer all the hidden Microsoft settings and gumph I'm trying to escape? My 1st priority is to have a user account with the name I want and access to everything I've set up so far, the 2nd priority is to get rid of everything associated with my Microsoft account including the account itself if I can.

Thanks in advance for any advice or tips

Ann