Windows 10: User Account Actual Name in "%Sysroot%\Users": It Matters

Hello,

I have a large home office data store synched betweendevices using Offline Files and standard Windows user account based sharing andUAC. As a result, all user’s personal data folders have a very specific namingsystem maintained for years. The new “sign-in using Microsoft account option,”which is very attractive for synchronizing less data intensive user data, ledme to try that, but the resulting user account name was not customizable, andwas totally incompatible with our network shares. I did a full “reset” andchanged to local accounts matching our existing directory structure. But wehave lost the ability to sync settings between the office machines as well as mobile devices.

I read the tutorial about changing from a local to Microsoftaccount sign-in route with hope that it might help.

Would changing to Microsoft account sign-in also change thenaming of the established user profile personal folders, which are the same asthe legacy ones? I am hoping, since Windows will not allow me to rename these folders,that they will also be unaffected by the change to a Microsoft account sign-in.

Please advise ASAP.

:)

 

Windows 10 guest account constantly restarts

Why?

The Guest account is not designed for general use, no matter what certain websites may say.

If you want to grant casual access to other users then set up a Local Standard User account and call it "Visitor" or some such name...

 

How to recover from a user account misname?

I've just bought a new laptop and gone through the installation process. My previous Win 10 laptop wanted to use my MSN account name and somehow this became associated with the user folder "c:\users\Richard?. This time, the user's folder name is a subset
of my own last name, "c:\users\Hagga". Is it possible to change things so that my "haggard (at) msn.com" account is associated with the user folder c:\users\Haggard?

 

No. Changing from a local account to a Microsoft account will not change the \User\ folder for the user. When installing Windows 10, I always sign in with a local account first, "John". My user data folder gets named "John" and does not change when I switch the account to a Microsoft account.

You might also get away with changing the username to what you need if you run netplwiz. Click on the account under "users for this computer" to highlight a user, then click on properties:

 

"...You might also get away with changing the username to what you need if you run netplwiz. Click on the account under "users for this computer" to highlight a user, then click on properties:..."
(Haven't got the hang of "quoting")

I tried that; the account name one sees in the user account setting, Control Panel, and in Computer Management, BUT it does NOT change the folder names. That's why I "reset". If you're sure that changing "after the fact" from local to Microsoft account type will not change the User directory, that's good enough for me!!!

 

Well, it doesn't change mine

 

Navy Lcdr,


Thanks for confirming what I was only mostly sure was the case. I could find nothing documtenting the particular process by which MS effects the change from "local" to MS Account logins. Although I could see that the assigned password is changed at the outset, no one discussed what changes, if any, are made to the structure and contents of the affected user profile. As I said originally:

"... Would changing to Microsoft account sign-in also change the naming of the established user profile personal folders, which are the same as the legacy network ones? I am hoping, since Windows will not allow me to rename these folders, that they will also be unaffected by the change to a Microsoft account sign-in..."

I've been in the situation of "buyer's regret" after prior user account naming choices that I wanted to correct, and, although the user account display name changes, the profile folders never did for me, but then, I'm not Microsoft wanting everyone to play in their Outlook.com/OneDrive universal sandbox!

Glad to hear from someone who has done what I was hesitant to do that MS is subject to the same constraints, as changing the names of those folders wreaks havoc in an established traditional network share universe!. The accrued benefits of the change are significant, but I could not tolerate the directory changes. In this case, it took me 2 hours of waiting through the reset to get back the foldernames I wanted. And, I took the "local folder" route on all of the other home-office machines even before reading your and others' replies, but I would not have the courage to change the logins until hearing from others.

Thanks again for confirming that!*Wink

Ken