problem with user name

[A Night King]

My laptop came pre-configured from the manufacturer (Digital Storm, though that isn't relevant) and they assumed that the name of the default, admin account would be the name of the purchaser (my Brother). Since it's -my- computer, I would prefer to have it in my name.

The name of the account I've changed to my name from Control Panel.
but the path to my documents is still C:\Users\***
there is no option to change the name of the folder there is no (RENAME) in the list
I have already changed the name of the user account as appropriate

 

[Brink]

Hello Fazza,

Unfortunately you cannot change the name of the actual C:\Users\(user-name) folder. Only the name that appears for the account at log on and in the Start Menu.

A workaround for this is to create a new administrator account with the name you want. Next copy the contents of all of the folders (including contents in hidden AppData subfolders) in the old account's C:\Users\(user-name) folder into the corresponding new account's C:\Users\(user-name) folder. After everything checks out ok, you can delete the old account from within the new one.

Hope this help,
Shawn

 

[CommonTater]

My laptop came pre-configured from the manufacturer (Digital Storm, though that isn't relevant) and they assumed that the name of the default, admin account would be the name of the purchaser (my Brother). Since it's -my- computer, I would prefer to have it in my name.

The name of the account I've changed to my name from Control Panel.
but the path to my documents is still C:\Users\***
there is no option to change the name of the folder there is no (RENAME) in the list
I have already changed the name of the user account as appropriate

Create a new admin level account for yourself, copy the files out of the old account and then destroy it...

Control Panel -> User Accounts.

 

[Ztruker]

When copying data to a new account, it looks like there are no longer any files you have to avoid copying like there was in XP:

NTUSER.DAT
NTUSER.DAT.LOG
ntuser.ini

Is this true? Sure would make this easier.

 

[CommonTater]

When copying data to a new account, it looks like there are no longer any files you have to avoid copying like there was in XP:

NTUSER.DAT
NTUSER.DAT.LOG
ntuser.ini

Is this true? Sure would make this easier.

Yeah, they're still there...
but you're not going to copy from one user account to another ....
you're going to copy "Documents" to "Documents", "Music" to "Music" etc.

The setup in win7 is different enough that I strongly advise against just grabbing all the files in one home folder and dumping them into another... too many things to go broken doing that.

 

[squall leonhart]

Hello Fazza,

Unfortunately you cannot change the name of the actual C:\Users\(user-name) folder. Only the name that appears for the account at log on and in the Start Menu.

Actually you can, but the process is painful, and im not about to type for an hour explaining it.

lets just say it has alot to do with modifying registry values and editing the .dat files themselves.

 

[Ztruker]

Very long path names using dir in Command Prompt

I use the dir command from a Command Prompt a lot to locate files. When ever I do from my account folder, I get dozens of the following:

The directory name C:\Users\xxxxxxxx\AppData\Local\Application Data\Application Data\Application Data\Application Data\Application Data\Application Data\App
pplication Data\Application Data\Application Data\Application Data\Application Data\Adobe\Acrobat\9.0\Updater is too long.

What causes this? Is it something to do with Junction Points that are now used in your account directory tree?

Reduces the usefulness of the dir command.

When I look at the same path in Windows Explorer, it doesn't show unless I uncheck Hide protected operating system files in Folder Options, View tab. Then, I can click on Application Data till the cows come home and it just keeps opening up another level identical to the existing level.

 

[CommonTater]

I use the dir command from a Command Prompt a lot to locate files. When ever I do from my account folder, I get dozens of the following:

The directory name C:\Users\xxxxxxxx\AppData\Local\Application Data\Application Data\Application Data\Application Data\Application Data\Application Data\App
pplication Data\Application Data\Application Data\Application Data\Application Data\Adobe\Acrobat\9.0\Updater is too long.

What causes this? Is it something to do with Junction Points that are now used in your account directory tree?

Nope... it's an NTFS limitation that's been there since Win2000. The Directory Records only have space for a 255 character filename. To ensure that path names don't exceed the NTFS limit Windows limits them to 260 characters ( D:\ + <pathname> + NULL) If you're looking in the windows documentation it's defined in the MAX_PATH constant.

 

[Ztruker]

I don't think that's the case here. I know about the 255 path limit.

Use Windows Explorer to look at the path I showed. It isn't that the path is too long, it's a never ending repetition, which is why I think it has something to do with Junction Points which Win 7 (and probably Vista) use in the user directory tree. Here is a picture of what I mean.

 

[CommonTater]

I don't think that's the case here. I know about the 255 path limit.

Use Windows Explorer to look at the path I showed. It isn't that the path is too long, it's a never ending repetition, which is why I think it has something to do with Junction Points which Win 7 (and probably Vista) use in the user directory tree. Here is a picture of what I mean.

View attachment 67654

If you delete that... does it come back?

Also there are shortcuts to folders in the folder tree.... generally that's a no-no.

I wouldn't think this is a windows7 problem... more likely it's an adobe problem...

 

[Ztruker]

No, nothing to do with Adobe. Application Data is a Junction Point or Symbolic Link (not sure which) that points to AppData, so clicking on it just takes you round in circles. From what I just read, it's there for legacy apps that expect to see a Application Data directory. See here:

detect junction point xp - Google Search

My question was, and still is, is there any way to bypass or negate this when using the dir command from a Command Prompt?

 

[Ztruker]

Apparently no way to bypass Junction Point problem

Looks like I'll have to give up on using the dir command if I want to search the Users directory tree. I found this post by Raymond Chen which is pretty clear:

Windows Confidential - Junction Dysfunction

Darn shame MS crippled a very useful tool, at least in this one instance. I understand why they did it though.