Windows 10: How to change the Windows 10 truncated local account username without losing all the...

It has been asked before, but I'm asking again.


My name is Stephen, a male name in the UK, Microsoft, without consent, changed my name to Steph, a femal name three years ago when I first had the misfortune to encounter Windows 10.


I just bought a new PC, and thought this time I will be super carefull to spot at what stage I get asked for the information for user account name, but ARRRRGGHHHHHHHH three years on, and my new machine also has me called "Steph".


It really is rubbish that a user is given no control over the user name, and as soon as it is the "admin account" it is almost impossible to change.


Why?


Oh, Why?


Oh, Why?

:)

 

How to change the Windows 10 truncated local account username without losing all the associated account information?

When Windows 10 creates the local user, it uses the first 5 characters of the Microsoft Account's email address.

It also uses it to name the directory where the users information is kept.

If the Microsoft Account email address is myusername@gmail.com ...

then the local account username will be myuse

and the directory path will be ...

C:\users\myuse

This is bad for many reasons we can discuss later.

The problem is that there is no one at Microsoft Support that understands the issue.

There are hundreds of posts here and elsewhere on the net about this.

Below I pasted one suggestion from a Microsoft Support Engineer.

It is wrong.

One can only "Change the account type" in Control Panel using this method.

It cannot "rename the local user account."

Even if you create another administrator user the option to Change the account name

is not available if that user has a Microsoft Account.

So my question: is there a way to correctly change the truncated local username from myuse to myusername without
losing all the associated Microsoft Account information?

I have seen many convoluted solutions on the net.

Please... NO guessing and NO "point-and-click-and-pray" solutions.

Just an honest discussion from Microsoft or the community.

Thank you,

Robert Lorbeer

*** Email address is removed for privacy ***

_________________________________________________________________

Parth P Patel replied on

• Microsoft
• Support Engineer

Hi,

Thank you for showing your interest in Windows 10.

I understand that you want to rename the local user account. I will certainly help you with this. I suggest you to try the below given steps to rename the local account name and check if it helps:

• Press Windows key + X key.
• Click on Control Panel and search and click to User Account.
• Click on Manage another account.
• Select the User Account which you want to rename.
• Click on Change the account name and provide desired name.

_______________________________________________________________

 

How to change the Windows 10 truncated local account username without losing all the associated account information?

Does creating a local account at initial login then changing to a linked Microsoft account remedy this issue? There are some pretty annoying issues with this: for instance, network authentication requires using the 5 character truncated name to login.

 

Creating a MS account without losing Local account


Go to https://account.microsoft.com, click Create account and fill the form:





With a Microsoft account you can then use OneDrive and Office Online apps for free. You can also use built-in native Windows apps which require a Microsoft account like Mail, Skype Preview, People, Calendar and download apps from Windows Store.

See steps 3 to 5 in this tutorial to continue using local account as Windows sign-in account even when / if you download apps from store and / or use Windows apps requiring a Microsoft account, to avoid Windows user account converting to Microsoft account: Store - Use when Signing in to Windows 10 with Local Account - Windows 10 Forums

Other tutorials you might be interested in when you have created a Microsoft account:

• Microsoft Account Two-step Verification - Turn On or Off - Windows 10 Forums
• Microsoft Account - Link to Digital License on Windows 10 PC - Windows 10 Forums