How do I change "UserName"

[Guest]

A software manufacturer looked over some diagnostic files I submitted, and
said that the lethal installation errror was that I had chosen a user name
(upon WinXP reinstallation) that contained an ampersand & . Yes, I
had. So, I went to Control Panel/user accounts/change an account/pick an
account to change. I changed the ampersand & to the alpha And. But a
specific diagnostic supplied by the manufacturer shows that the "UserName"
contains the offending &, while the ComputerName is "LYNNANDKATHY". I do
forget just exactly what I did at reinstallation in terms of spelling,
capitalization, etc.

The Manufacturer diagnostic shows

UserName = Lynn&Kathy
ComputerName = LYNNANDKATHY

For a reason unknown to me, a C++ routine "msihelper" screws up when
presented with a UserName containing an ampersand.

Via the Control Panel path, I intended to change the UserName to get rid of
the offending &. I failed.

How do I do so?

 

[Patrick Keenan]

A software manufacturer looked over some diagnostic files I submitted, and
said that the lethal installation errror was that I had chosen a user name
(upon WinXP reinstallation) that contained an ampersand & . Yes, I
had. So, I went to Control Panel/user accounts/change an account/pick an
account to change. I changed the ampersand & to the alpha And.

Which would be OK except that you mention that this is also the computer
name, and that won't work either.

But a specific diagnostic supplied by the manufacturer shows that the
"UserName" contains the offending &, while the ComputerName is
"LYNNANDKATHY". I do forget just exactly what I did at reinstallation in
terms of spelling, capitalization, etc.

Capitalization doesn't matter for this.

The Manufacturer diagnostic shows

UserName = Lynn&Kathy
ComputerName = LYNNANDKATHY

The user name and computer name can *not* be the same.

So you cannot change the ampersand to an "and".

For a reason unknown to me,

The reason is that you've used an invalid character and may be trying to
change to an invalid name.

a C++ routine "msihelper" screws up when presented with a UserName
containing an ampersand.

Because it's an invalid character.

Via the Control Panel path, I intended to change the UserName to get rid
of the offending &. I failed.

How do I do so?

Try creating a new account with a valid name that doesn't contatin invalid
characters and is not the system name.

Then migrate the data, if there is any.

HTH
-pk

 

[Allan]

A software manufacturer looked over some diagnostic files I submitted, and
said that the lethal installation errror was that I had chosen a user name
(upon WinXP reinstallation) that contained an ampersand & . Yes, I
had. So, I went to Control Panel/user accounts/change an account/pick an
account to change. I changed the ampersand & to the alpha And. But a
specific diagnostic supplied by the manufacturer shows that the "UserName"
contains the offending &, while the ComputerName is "LYNNANDKATHY". I do
forget just exactly what I did at reinstallation in terms of spelling,
capitalization, etc.

The Manufacturer diagnostic shows

UserName = Lynn&Kathy
ComputerName = LYNNANDKATHY

For a reason unknown to me, a C++ routine "msihelper" screws up when
presented with a UserName containing an ampersand.

Via the Control Panel path, I intended to change the UserName to get rid
of the offending &. I failed.

How do I do so?

Changing the name with the Control Panel applet will not fix this
unfortunately. The old directory names will remain on your Windows XP
system. You should not have been allowed to name the User account using an
"&" character in the first place; this may be a parsing error in Windows. As
another poster suggested, create a new account, migrate using Files and
Settings Transfer Wizard or any other method you like and delete or disable
the old account with '&" in the name.