How do I rename an XP Pro user name connected to a Domain without renaming the account on the server

[Nate Goulet]

How do I rename an XP Pro user name connected to a Domain without
renaming the account on the server?

I need to rename an existing user account on a Windows XP Professional
machine, which logs into a domain.

I know how do this on Windows 98, but for XP it seems to force me to
create a new profile which I end up wasting a lot of time setting up
icons and configurations.

I know how to rename the accounts on the Windows 2000 server, but that
is not what I want to do. I need to rename the profile saved on the
XP Professional machine. Sometimes I need to re-assign a machine or
have the ability to use more than one machine setup for the same
domain account.

Each account in XP is setup with administrator privileges.

The account shows up in the XP Control panel in User Accounts.

User Name Domain Group

johndoe mydomainname Administrators



Seemed like there weren't any options available to rename from here on
the machine I needed to do this, so I ended up making a new profile
and then copied my settings over manually.

Interestingly when I just looked at this on this pc and clicked on
properties, it shows my user name, full name and descriptions which
are not greyed out and it looks like I could change them. This
didn't happen on the other pc.

Thanks for any help.

 

[Guest]

Any user can change their own 'display name', but I think you mean the name
of the folder in docs and settings folders. This is given the first chosen
display name, after that, in spite of changes, it remains the original folder
name. The way you did it is how you do it. Perhaps you didn't know that the
System app in Control Panel will do it.
Here is the run down:
Sign on as any 'third party' user with admin rights. Press Winkey-Break (or
run 'sysdm.cpl'), Advanced Tab, "User Profile" area, Settings button. Click
the "User Accounts" link to create a 'new' user ID, (if necessary).
You must log on to a new profile before it is available Highlight the 'old'
user, click the "Copy To" button, click the "Change" button, click the
"Advanced" button, click the "Find Now" button. Highlight the 'new' user. OK,
and OK one more time.
Note the 'permitted to use' item indicates the 'new' user. Use the Browse
button to go to the "Documents and Settings" subfolder for the 'new' user.
OK. Delete the 'old' user, after a restart, in the "User Accounts" applet

 

[Nate Goulet]

Thanks for the reply.

What i'm saying is the accounts show up in the XP Control panel in
User Accounts like this:

User Name Domain Group

johndoe johndoepcname Administrators
johndoe mydomainname Administrators


First, I only need one account per machine, but XP Pro seems to
automatically create a domain by itself before I setup the user for
our domain. It usually pics the user's name followed by the pc name
like the example above.

If I right click on the first username above (the domain is
johndoepcname), then click on Properties, I get the Tabs for General &
Group Membership. In the General Tab it seems I can rename the user's
account.

If I right click the 2nd user in my example (the domain is
mydomainname), only the Group Membership Tab is displayed. The only
choices are: Standard User, Restricted User, Other: Administrator

I don't get the option to rename the person's account to another name.


Can you follow what i'm trying to say above? Is there some other way
I can rename that mydomainname account? Again, I don't want to
rename it at the Server level, just on the pc.

Thanks again for trying to help.

 

[Guest]

The only other utility I am aware of for accounts is opened by going to start
/ run, to type:
control userpasswords2

 

[John John]

JohnDoe\MachineName is a local account, JohnDoe\DomainName is a domain
account. The local administrator can rename local accounts but you need
Domain Administrator credentials to modify domain accounts. The account
has to be changed in AD.

John

 

[Nate Goulet]

I have Domain Administrative credentials. Just so happens it's my
spare computer I want to change the user account so I can assign it to
someone else.

I have Admin access to the domain using the existing login.