Change the name of a user profile in Documents and Settings

[stubenn]

Deos anyone know how to change the name of a user profile in Documents
and Settings? I often need to change users' names when they get
married, divorced, etc. and wondered if anyone knows an easy way or
knows of a utility that would do this. At this point, I just set up a
completely new user account with the name change and start copying all
of their files from the old account into the new one.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Deos anyone know how to change the name of a user profile in Documents
and Settings? I often need to change users' names when they get
married, divorced, etc. and wondered if anyone knows an easy way or
knows of a utility that would do this. At this point, I just set up a
completely new user account with the name change and start copying all
of their files from the old account into the new one.

Changing the name of the profile folder is easy but
the user will still have his/her old logon name. You
did not mention this in your post - is this what you
want?

 

[Malke]

Deos anyone know how to change the name of a user profile in Documents
and Settings? I often need to change users' names when they get
married, divorced, etc. and wondered if anyone knows an easy way or
knows of a utility that would do this. At this point, I just set up a
completely new user account with the name change and start copying all
of their files from the old account into the new one.

No, there is no "easy way". You need to create a new account and copy
the data/settings to the new account.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=811151

This isn't terribly hard, though. It only takes a few minutes.

Malke

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Deos anyone know how to change the name of a user profile in Documents
and Settings? I often need to change users' names when they get
married, divorced, etc. and wondered if anyone knows an easy way or
knows of a utility that would do this. At this point, I just set up a
completely new user account with the name change and start copying all
of their files from the old account into the new one.

That's the only way to do it.

The user profile folders (C:\Documents and Settings\Username)
_cannot_ be renamed, even if the associated user account has been. So,
your best course of action would be to log on using the built-in
Administrator account, create a new user account, with the username
desired. You can then delete the old user account(s).

HOW TO Create and Configure User Accounts in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;279783

How to Copy User Data to a New User Profile
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;811151


--

Bruce Chambers

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[Guest]

I have done this without deleting the old account because the Local Settings
folder didn't copy over. After I delete the old account, how does windows
know to access the new account?