User Profile Folder - Change User Account Folder Name

I was having problems connecting a new computer to my network - it worked perfectly from the new computer, but none of the others could connect to it!

Searching Google I got the idea that maybe it was due to the fact that I had ascribed a different username to Admin on the new computer!

So I thought I'd revert to the old Admin username, which Windows 7 happily did for me, but kept the old username as a kind of alias. in all folder related issues.
The upshot of it all was that it did not solve my network connection problems!

So then I happened across your tutorial and followed it to the letter, but still no network joy.
Consequently I did a registry search for my old Admin username, and found hundreds of entries that had not been changed!!
I laboriously renamed all the relevant entries (I couldn't just do a search and replace on a copy of the registry because I had given my new computer the same name, although thinking about it now, perhaps I should have renamed the Computer first!).

Anyway, doing all this renaming in regedit solved all the problems attendant with your method (eg Task Manager Username, bad path messages, etc.) but it did not fix my Network Issue!

It was then that I got the idea to check Administrative Events for errors and happened across EventID 30013 (The DHCP Allocator has disabled itself on IP address 192.168.2.8, since the IP address is outside the 192.168.137.0/255.255.255.0 scope from which addresses are being allocated to DHCP clients. Etc., etc.)

It recommends to change either the scope or the IP address, but no-one seems to know how to do change the scope, which was my only option!

I searched Google for ages, and, although EventID 30013 was a very common complaint, nobody had the solution!

Then I had a stroke of lucky ingenuity!
My new computer has a wireless connection, (nothing new in that because I have another one which functions perfectly on a WIRELESS CONNECTION) but it worried me that the Local Area Connection was disabled - network cable unplugged (after all it was a Local Area Connection Problem).

So I right-clicked on my Wireless Network Connection, and soon realised that if I selected the 2 Connections with a box (hold down left mouse-button and select both Network Connections) then I could bridge them!

At first it complained of an error, then thought better of it, and realised the Bridge.
Eureka!
No more Network Connection Problems, no more EventID 30013!

If anyone else wants to Bridge their Network Connections I should point out that the Network Connection Control Panel is not directly accessible, even from the expanded Control Panel, but if you go to the Control Panel> Network and Sharing Center and select the 3rd item down on the left Sidebar (Change Adapter Settings) you will arrive at the Network Connections Control Panel.

Otherwise go to Start and type ncpa.cpl in the search box and it will appear at the top!

:)

Hello, I followed the instructions to the letter, but instead of getting the expected outcome I have now got my Old Account linked to a folder called "TEMP," instead of the folder called "Harry"(Originally called "John"), which still exists and contains all my files, should I just copy the folders across to the TEMP folder and try again?

Your tutorial on how to change the user account folder name was great and it worked.
But now I can't open up Outlook 2010 to set it up. I get the message "Cannot open your default
email folders. The path specified for the file C:\Users\(Old Name)\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook\(old last name).ost is not valid.

Some history. I purchased this Sony Vaio used - craigslist. But the original owners name was still on the user account and I didn't want that. so that's changed so now it's C:\Users\Teresa\etc.

I even uninstalled and reinstalled Microsoft Office 2010 thinking that would fix this problem. But I get the same message. How do I change the path so that Outlook will open and I can set up my email accounts?

Help! Thanks to anyone who can!

Hey Brink...

Thanks for your reply. I actually figured it out by reading some of the posts below..
And searching other threads and other websites.

I found a back way to get into Outlook to set up my email accounts (I think it was through
Parental Controls? - I don't remember since my head was spinning by then). And once I set up
a new default email then I could delete the old one and then Outlook opened.

I have discovered that the previous owner's name is still the User Profile in a lot of the registries
for other programs. So far haven't had any problems... do you think I need to go in and edit all the
registries or only if problems occur?

Sure appreciate this forum... you all have helped this non-techy get a little moreso!