Directory Username Problem

[Happyman7]

Hey all,

So I got my nice new Toshiba Laptop on Christmas and it is just wonderful to use, especially with Windows 7! But when I got it the first thing I did was change the user from "owner" to <my name>. And added one other user for the rest of the family (although their not going to get a look in ). And finally, I just left the already-activated guest account activated

So the the problem is that, even though the Start Menu, Log-In screen, and control panel say my name, in the C:\Users directory it still says "owner" like it did when I first got it. Here is a screenshot for a better understanding:

So how do I fix this so it is my displayed username?

 

[richc46]

Here is a link on how to make the change on the Professional version. I thought that the change you want cannot be made on Home Premium or lower versions., but I could be mistaken. Read this from MS, give it a try. If it does not work it means that the change cannot be made on your version.

How to change user name in windows 7 professional?

 

[iseeuu]

Hey all,

So I got my nice new Toshiba Laptop on Christmas and it is just wonderful to use, especially with Windows 7! But when I got it the first thing I did was change the user from "owner" to <my name>. And added one other user for the rest of the family (although their not going to get a look in ). And finally, I just left the already-activated guest account activated

So the the problem is that, even though the Start Menu, Log-In screen, and control panel say my name, in the C:\Users directory it still says "owner" like it did when I first got it. Here is a screenshot for a better understanding:
So how do I fix this so it is my displayed username?

Hello Happyman7, and welcome to Windows Seven Forums!

One way to get around this limitation is to create a new user account (now you will have to rename this one back to the original) and copy the user files into the new user account.

Cheers!
Robert

 

[Happyman7]

Can I just access the file system from Linux (Ubuntu to be exact) and change the folder name directly, or will this cause problems Windows? I really don't want to move all the files to another user. It's around 19 GB at least...

 

[richc46]

Was I correct, the method to make the change did not work for your edition?

 

[iseeuu]

Can I just access the file system from Linux (Ubuntu to be exact) and change the folder name directly, or will this cause problems Windows? I really don't want to move all the files to another user. It's around 19 GB at least...

I wouldn't choose to try to edit from Linux (I don't have anything against Linux, use Ubuntu). It is just a quick copy / paste. You are not actually moving anything. Just rearranging the file system on the same hard drive. Shouldn't take more than 10 minutes?

Cheers!
Robert

 

[Happyman7]

It's slower moving files for me. So that would be very tedious...
Wait...
I can only put this in an example:
Imagine that every user is an upside-down cup, and under those cups is the users' files. And what your trying to say is that the only thing that is being moved is the cu;: Lifting a cup one set of files and putting on a new cup? Is that what your trying to say? Kind of...

 

[iseeuu]

It's slower moving files for me. So that would be very tedious...
Wait...
I can only put this in an example:
Imagine that every user is an upside-down cup, and under those cups is the users' files. And what your trying to say is that the only thing that is being moved is the cu;: Lifting a cup one set of files and putting on a new cup? Is that what your trying to say? Kind of...

Your analogy is a good one.

Here is what I did on my test box:

Go to "User Accounts" in Control Panel



Clicked on "Manage another account"



"Create a new account" (You might need two new Administrator accounts. The new account you want to keep, and one to use to copy the files between the other two. You can't copy files that are in use!)



Create the Administrator account with the name you want to use. (You will have to rename the original account to free up the name you chose to use.)



Login to the new user account.



Then logout, and login to the neutral Administrator account. Use the Organize, Folder Options to show hidden files and untic "Hide protected files".



When you click on the user account folders, you will have to get permission to access them. Just click continue.



Highlight and copy the files here:



And paste them in the new user account you want to keep.



This is a slow machine ... 30 GB took about 30 minutes. Very little interaction, had to tell Windows to go ahead a couple of times. Not tedious at all, if you ask me.

Cheers!
Robert

 

[Happyman7]

Ok thanks! So I am guessing that I am sliding my files under another cup instead of just moving another cup over the files and removing the old "owner" cup?

I have 33 GB of files...

cup= User
italicized= Part of my previous analogy

 

[DarkStar GT]

I've just found this thread. . A friend of mine has just received his new PC - the supplier had created a User Account for him, but misspelled his name

Can I propose that iseeuu's reply is reposted as a "User Accounts" Tutorial?

One question - when the files from the old (wrongly-named) account are pasted into the new (correctly-named) account would the file access permissions need to be changed?

 

[severedsolo]

hi Darkstar, well, when i do this (in a wierd roundabout way as ill explain below) it works like this:

basically, all my files are on a sperate partition, labelled D:\Music, D:\Pictures etc.

when i had to reinstall technically it was a different user accessing those folders, so the first time i accessed them it asked for permission, after that everything worked fine.

to use the OP's analogy, i replaced the old cup with my own cup but had to give windows permission to do so first

generally, permissions are done on a per folder basis, not a per file, so if the original files are moved to a folder that you have permission to access there should be no issues, you may just need to provide permission to access the original (wrongly named) folder to start off with

hope thats clear enough....

 

[DarkStar GT]

"My cup runneth over"