Nmae of Profile in XP Home

[Daave]

I just performed a Clean Install onto a Dell with a Dell-branded XP Home
Installation CD.

The default name of the initial User profile is "Owner." I later changed
it to Daave.

However, when I look at the folder under C:\Documents and Settings, its
name is not Daave, but rather it is still Owner.

What is the *correct* (and complete) way to change this from Owner to
Daave? TIA.

 

[John John - MVP]

I just performed a Clean Install onto a Dell with a Dell-branded XP Home
Installation CD.

The default name of the initial User profile is "Owner." I later changed
it to Daave.

However, when I look at the folder under C:\Documents and Settings, its
name is not Daave, but rather it is still Owner.

What is the *correct* (and complete) way to change this from Owner to
Daave? TIA.

The correct way really is to immediately abandon the Owner profile as
soon as Windows XP is installed and to create a new one with your
desired name.

The other way is to modify your ProfileImagePath value at your SID:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\S-.....

To change the name of your Documents and Settings\UserName folder:

1- Log on to your account and use the SET USERPROFILE command to
positively identify your profile folder.

2- Log off your account and log on with another account with
administrative privileges.

3- Rename your user profile folder as you want it.

4- Open regedit and navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList

5- Find the SID key that holds the ProfileImagePath which points to the
old %SystemDrive%\Documents and Settings\Owner path and modify the value
to reflect the change that you made to the folder name. The SID is the
long series of numbers like: S-1-5-21-1060343844-4005415036-....

so find the SID with the ProfileImagePath pointing to:

%SystemDrive%\Documents and Settings\Owner

and change the value so that it points to the now newly renamed folder:

%SystemDrive%\Documents and Settings\Daave


6- Changing the name of your profile folder is not a recommended
procedure because there may (almost certainly will) be other hard links
in the registry that will point to the old profile folder name. Again
using Regedit do a search for the old folder name and replace them with
the new folder name, as you did above with the ProfileImagePath. So you
will search for "Documents and Settings\Owner" and replace every
instance with "Documents and Settings\Daave", this should ensure that
you don't run into problems with hard links to the old profile folder name.

See here for more information:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314843
An error message informs you that you cannot move or rename the
Documents and Settings folder

http://windowsxp.mvps.org/userpath.htm
How to rename or move a User Profile folder?

John

 

[Don Phillipson]

The correct way really is to immediately abandon the Owner profile as
soon as Windows XP is installed and to create a new one with your
desired name.

In more detail:
1. Export all Owner material via the Documents & Settings Wizard
2. Create a new user called Daave (with administrator privileges.)
3. Log on as Daave and
4. Import (via Wizard) all Owner material.
5. Verify that all documents and settings are present as you want.
6. (Optional: Log on as Admin and reset Dave's privileges.)
7. Delete the user Owner and the exported Dox & Settings.

 

[Daave]

The correct way really is to immediately abandon the Owner profile as
soon as Windows XP is installed and to create a new one with your
desired name.

The other way is to modify your ProfileImagePath value at your SID:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\S-.....

To change the name of your Documents and Settings\UserName folder:

1- Log on to your account and use the SET USERPROFILE command to
positively identify your profile folder.

2- Log off your account and log on with another account with
administrative privileges.

3- Rename your user profile folder as you want it.

4- Open regedit and navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList
5- Find the SID key that holds the ProfileImagePath which points to
the old %SystemDrive%\Documents and Settings\Owner path and modify
the value to reflect the change that you made to the folder name. The
SID is the long series of numbers like:
S-1-5-21-1060343844-4005415036-....
so find the SID with the ProfileImagePath pointing to:

%SystemDrive%\Documents and Settings\Owner

and change the value so that it points to the now newly renamed
folder:
%SystemDrive%\Documents and Settings\Daave


6- Changing the name of your profile folder is not a recommended
procedure because there may (almost certainly will) be other hard
links in the registry that will point to the old profile folder name.
Again
using Regedit do a search for the old folder name and replace them
with the new folder name, as you did above with the ProfileImagePath.
So you will search for "Documents and Settings\Owner" and replace
every instance with "Documents and Settings\Daave", this should ensure
that
you don't run into problems with hard links to the old profile folder
name.
See here for more information:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314843
An error message informs you that you cannot move or rename the
Documents and Settings folder

http://windowsxp.mvps.org/userpath.htm
How to rename or move a User Profile folder?

John

Thanks for the very detailed answer, John.

Regarding your line:

The correct way really is to immediately abandon the Owner profile as
soon as Windows XP is installed and to create a new one with your
desired name.

.... that is where I am. I *just* installed XP Home. Apparently, there
was no option during Setup (at least with this Dell-branded XP
installation CD -- it's been a while since I used the generic OEM type,
so I don't recall if there is a difference or not...) to specify the
name of the default user profile; it seems like you're stuck with
"Owner" until you later change it. I do know that when installing XP
Pro, you are given an opportunity during setup to specify a number of
user accounts.

When you say that the method above is "not recommended," what is the
normal course of action? Perhaps I should create a new profile named
Daave and delete the profile named Owner?

 

[John John - MVP]

Thanks for the very detailed answer, John.

Regarding your line:


... that is where I am. I *just* installed XP Home. Apparently, there
was no option during Setup (at least with this Dell-branded XP
installation CD -- it's been a while since I used the generic OEM type,
so I don't recall if there is a difference or not...) to specify the
name of the default user profile; it seems like you're stuck with
"Owner" until you later change it. I do know that when installing XP
Pro, you are given an opportunity during setup to specify a number of
user accounts.

When you say that the method above is "not recommended," what is the
normal course of action? Perhaps I should create a new profile named
Daave and delete the profile named Owner?

Yes, instead of wasting any time configuring and using the default
"Owner" account the recommended thing to do is to create a new user
account for your own use and name the account to your liking. You can
keep the Default user account as another emergency account or you can
even keep it as a "test" account. Sometimes it's better to test certain
things on a dummy account, that way you do don't damage your good
profile with "silly" or doubtful experiments!

There are many of these OEM CDs that automatically create and assign a
default "Owner" account, we see reference to it all the time in these
groups. It's usually a lot easier and safer to simply create a new
account for yourself than it is to configure the default "Owner" account
and then attempt to change its name later on. But with these OEMs
sometimes a bunch of "stuff" is automatically preinstalled and
configured for the "Owner" account, and some people like to use that
stuff, so it may be easier for them to keep on using the default account
and just rename it as you did and live with the "Owner" name of the
profile folder.

John

 

[Daave]

Yes, instead of wasting any time configuring and using the default
"Owner" account the recommended thing to do is to create a new user
account for your own use and name the account to your liking. You can
keep the Default user account as another emergency account or you can
even keep it as a "test" account. Sometimes it's better to test
certain things on a dummy account, that way you do don't damage your
good profile with "silly" or doubtful experiments!

There are many of these OEM CDs that automatically create and assign a
default "Owner" account, we see reference to it all the time in these
groups. It's usually a lot easier and safer to simply create a new
account for yourself than it is to configure the default "Owner"
account and then attempt to change its name later on. But with these
OEMs sometimes a bunch of "stuff" is automatically preinstalled and
configured for the "Owner" account, and some people like to use that
stuff, so it may be easier for them to keep on using the default
account and just rename it as you did and live with the "Owner" name
of the profile folder.

Thanks once more for a great answer.

If keeping the user name Daave and the "Owner" name of the profile
folder is not problematic, I'll do just that! Thanks again, John.

 

[John John - MVP]

Thanks once more for a great answer.

If keeping the user name Daave and the "Owner" name of the profile
folder is not problematic, I'll do just that!

There will be no problems creating a new user account for Daave while
keeping the "Owner" account, the Owner account is just another user
account and you can have many user accounts on your system.

Please note that there is a user folder named "C:\Documents and
Settings\Default User", this is not an OEM account, do not delete or
rename this folder! This "Default User" account is part of your Windows
installation, this is the template for all new accounts that you create,
new accounts copy their profiles from the "Default User".

Thanks again, John.

You're welcome.

John

 

[Daave]

There will be no problems creating a new user account for Daave while
keeping the "Owner" account, the Owner account is just another user
account and you can have many user accounts on your system.

Please note that there is a user folder named "C:\Documents and
Settings\Default User", this is not an OEM account, do not delete or
rename this folder! This "Default User" account is part of your
Windows installation, this is the template for all new accounts that
you create, new accounts copy their profiles from the "Default User".


You're welcome.

I think you misunderstood. What I did was go into Control Panel | User
Accounts and selected the Owner profile. Then I selected "Change my
name." So even though my login is Daave, there is no Daave folder; it is
still called "Owner." Is this okay?

 

[John John - MVP]

I think you misunderstood. What I did was go into Control Panel | User
Accounts and selected the Owner profile. Then I selected "Change my
name." So even though my login is Daave, there is no Daave folder; it is
still called "Owner." Is this okay?

Yes, I understood what you did. You didn't create a new account for
yourself, you are still using the 'Owner' account, you simply renamed
it, that's perfectly fine.

John

 

[Daave]

Yes, I understood what you did. You didn't create a new account for
yourself, you are still using the 'Owner' account, you simply renamed
it, that's perfectly fine.

Just making sure. Thanks, again.

 

[Patrick Keenan]

Thanks for the very detailed answer, John.

Regarding your line:


... that is where I am. I *just* installed XP Home.

Then make yourself a new account with the correct name. You may have to
rename the stock one you just renamed.

Apparently, there was no option during Setup (at least with this
Dell-branded XP installation CD -- it's been a while since I used the
generic OEM type, so I don't recall if there is a difference or not...)

There is.

to specify the name of the default user profile; it seems like you're
stuck with "Owner" until you later change it.

IIRC, this is not a characteristic of "generic" OEM installs, it is specific
to modified-setup CDs from companies like Dell and HP.

I do know that when installing XP Pro, you are given an opportunity during
setup to specify a number of user accounts.

When you say that the method above is "not recommended," what is the
normal course of action? Perhaps I should create a new profile named Daave
and delete the profile named Owner?

Yes.

HTH
-pk