User Profile Folder - Change User Account Folder Name

How to Change the User Folder Name of a User Profile in Windows 7​

   Information

Normally, you could change your account name in User Accounts from the Control Panel (icons view), but that still would not change your accoun's user profile folder name in C:\Users.

This will show you how to change your account name and change the user profile folder name of any user account, including the built-in Administrator account (if enabled), in Windows 7 without losing anything in that user account. This will affect the user account's name for the C:\Users\(user-name) folder, Start Menu, Log on screen, Welcome screen, security permissions, etc......

You must be logged in as an administrator, and is a different account than the account you are changing the name of to be able to do this tutorial.

   Warning

Since editing a user profile and the registry can mess up Windows 7 if a mistake is made, it is highly advisable to create a restore point before doing this tutorial. This way if you make a mistake, you will be able to simply do a system restore to select and go back to this restore point to undo the mistake.

Here's How:

1. Log on to the user account (ex: Old Name) that you want to change the name of.

2. Save the current theme (ex: Old Name) for this user account. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: This is so that you will be able to change the theme back to this current theme in step 21 below later if you like.

3. If you have any files or folders in your C:\Users\(user-name) profile folder that are set to be shared, then you will need to temporarily set them to not be shared for now. After you finish renaming the user profile folder name, you could set them to be shared again in step 23 below.

4. Log off the user account that you want to change the name of. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: If you do not have another administrator account to use, then create a new administrator account first, then log off. When finished with the tutorial, you can delete this newly created account.

5. Log on to an administrator account that is not the user account that you want to change the name of.

6. Open Windows Explorer, navigate to C:\Users, open the Users folder, right click on the user profile folder (ex: Old Name) that you want to change the name of, and click on Rename. (see screenshot below)

7. Type in the name (ex: New Name) that you want this user account's folder to have now and press Enter. Close the Windows Explorer window. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: If you are not able to rename the user folder for some reason (ex: in use), then boot into Safe Mode and try again.

8. If prompted, click on Continue and Yes (UAC) to approve renaming the user folder.

9. Open the Start Menu, and type regedit in the search box and press Enter.

10. If prompted by UAC, then click on Yes.

11. In regedit, navigate to the location below. (see screenshot below)

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList

12. In the left pane of regedit, expand Profilelist, and select each long number S-1-5-.... key one by one until your see the user account name (ex: Old Name) that you want to change the name of included in the Data column of ProfileImagePath in the right pane. (see screenshot above)

13. In the right pane of the long number S-1-5-.... key for the user account (ex: Old Name) that you want to change the name of, right click on ProfileImagePath, and click on Modify. (see screenshot below.

14. Change only the name (ex: Old Name) in the full path to the name (ex: New Name) that you want for the user account, and click on OK. (see screenshot below)

15. Close regedit.

16. Press the Windows + R keys to open the Run dialog, type netplwiz, and click on OK. (see screenshot below)

17. Check the Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer box, select the user account's old name (ex: Old Name), and click on the Properties button. (see screenshot below)

18. Change both the User name and Full name to the same new name (ex: New Name) from step 7 above, and click on OK. (see screenshot below)

19. Click on OK, and Restart the computer to apply. (see screenshot below step 17)

20. Log on to the now completely renamed user account (ex: New Name) from step 1 above.

21. When you log on to the renamed user account (ex: New Name) for the first time, you will notice that the desktop background wallpaper is now solid black. This is normal. Change the theme from the black Unsaved Theme to the theme (ex: Old Name) that you saved in step 2 above to restore the saved theme. (see screenshot below)

22. If you had to create a new administrator account at step 4 above to do this tutorial with, then you can now delete this newly created account if you like. This is not the New Name account.

23. If you had to set files to not be shared in step 3 above, then you can set them to be shared again if you like.

24. If you had Windows set to automatically log on to a user account at startup, then you can set that while logged on to an administrator account again if you like.




That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• Fix "The User Profile Service failed the logon. User profile cannot be loaded." Error in Windows 7
• How to Fix the Error "Your user profile was not loaded correctly! You have been logged on with a temporary profile."
• How to Rename the Windows 7 Guest Account
• How to Rename the Windows 7 Built-in Administrator Account
• How to Create a User Account in Windows 7​
• How to Change Your User Account Picture in Windows 7
• How to Create a Password for a Windows 7 User Account
• How to Change a User Account Type in Windows 7
• How to Change the Default Location of Windows 7 User Folders
• How to Restore the Default Location of Windows 7 User Folders
• How to Change the Windows 7 Default User Folder Icons
• How to Change the Default Location of a User Profile in Windows 7 and Vista
• How to Add or Remove "User Folder" from Desktop Context Menu
• How to Create User Accounts on another Partition or Disk During Windows 7 Installation

 

[Arc]

Great work Shawn ! It will help a lot of users .

 

[Brink]

Thank you Archie. I hope that it does.

 

[rogerwilker]

Change user account fold name

I can't change the user account folder name. When I attempt to I receive a warning message that the folder name can't be changed because it has files shared with other users.

 

[Brink]

Hello Roger, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Yeah, you will need to temporarily set any files/folders in the user profile folder that you have set to share to not be shared for now. After renaming the user profile folder name, you could set them to be shared again.

 

[rogerwilker]

OK, finally and successfully changed the old user name folder(Roger's) to new name(Rogers) per the instructions above. Now loads into correct desktop etc.
However,when I attempt to run Outlook or excel or word, I get the following error message:the path specified for the file(it is still showing the old users folder of Roger's\documents\outlook\files\[email protected] is not valid.

So Outlook and excel or still looking in the Roger's folder for app files. How do I change this?

 

[Brink]

Roger,

Reinstalling Outlook and Excel should be able to sort it.

 

[rogerwilker]

Thanks for the tip. I tried to do a repair in Outlook and the Windows 7 installer. Did not work. However, did go into the registry and make the changes to the user profile folders per the instructions above. That solved the problem.

 

[Brink]

That's great news Roger. Thank you for posting back with your results and solution.

 

[adi009]

Hi,
I tried following this tutorial, but when I got to Step 7 (renaming the user account folder from a different user account with administrator settings) an error message comes up saying that the action can't be completed because the folder or a file in it is open in another program. I restarted the computer and logged on directly into the new account, but I still get the same message.

 

[Brink]

Hi,
I tried following this tutorial, but when I got to Step 7 (renaming the user account folder from a different user account with administrator settings) an error message comes up saying that the action can't be completed because the folder or a file in it is open in another program. I restarted the computer and logged on directly into the new account, but I still get the same message.

Hello Adi009, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Double check to make sure that you do not have the folder opened in another window while you are trying to do step 7.

 

[eikaiwamax]

Hi,
I tried following this tutorial, but when I got to Step 7 (renaming the user account folder from a different user account with administrator settings) an error message comes up saying that the action can't be completed because the folder or a file in it is open in another program. I restarted the computer and logged on directly into the new account, but I still get the same message.

I had the same problem and finally figured out it was network related. Disconnecting my LAN cable allowed me to complete the change. Maybe my router had something open...?

(Edit) Forgot to say thanks to Brink! <salute>

 

[GalinAZ]

Thank you!!

This worked, now my user profile directory matches my login name.

I would suggest that if you've used Outlook under your old name, create a backup of your Outlook .pst folder by doing File:Export in Outlook before you change your user name.

When I opened Outlook, I just had to re-direct the path for the Outlook.pst folder to the backup I had created before changing the username.

 

[Brink]

Hello Galin, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Thank you for posting back with your results and tip.

 

[brentmeelker]

Brink,

1) Does this technique to rename the user profile folder work for the built-in administrator account? I want to rename the built-in administrator's user profile folder.

2) You say that the permissions page on the security tab will still show the old name as well as the new name. Is there any way to delete the old name from the permissions entries? I really would like that option. I only want to see the new name.

3) To confirm, after completing this procedure, will EVERY instance of the old name in Windows be updated to reflect the NEW name?

Thank you for your help!

 

[Brink]

Hello Brent, and welcome to Seven Forums.

For the built-in Administrator account, the tutorial below should be used instead.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/7417-built-administrator-account-change-name.html

 

[brentmeelker]

Brink,

Unfortunately, I already had read that tutorial. It doesn't allow me to accomplish the goal I am seeking, which is renaming the built-in administrator account AND the built-in administrator profile folder WITHOUT a clean reinstall. I had enabled it shortly after installing Windows and did not rename it prior to enabling it.

Are there no other options that would allow me to accomplish my goal without reinstalling Windows?

Thanks for the help. I appreciate it.


-BRENT

 

[Brink]

Brent,

I just tested it, and you will be able to use the tutorial on the first page to change the name and folder name of the built-in Administrator account after it has been enabled.

 

[brentmeelker]

Brink,

Thank you for checking into it! You are great. Can you also address question #2 and #3 that I originally posted?

Also, just to be sure, you are saying to follow this tutorial for renaming the built-in administrator account AND its user profile folder?:

How to Change the User Folder Name of a User Profile in Windows 7​

 

[Brink]

You're welcome Brent.

Yep, that's the correct one here.


Q2) Unless the built-in Administrator's name was changed here before enabling it, then the old Administrator name may still show for the permissions in the Security tab.

Q3) It will change the name everywhere except for where permissions where set at with the original name. This will always reflect the original name.