OK to change user directory name?

[Guest]

When I setup XP I somehow wound up with two simillar user directory names.
For example I have two users - Joe and Sue. Joe's account uses C:\Documents
and Settings\Sue and Sue's account uses C:\Documents and Settings\Sue_2. I
don't remember specifying a dir name. I assume XP added the "_2" to the
second dir name because Sue had already been used.

This affects the names seen on my home network, WE etc. It's a pain.

I'm tempted to go to the DOS prompt and change the directory names. But
will the account manager know what happened? I could use the account manager
to remove and then re-create the users. Then I would have to copy all of the
folders and files from the old dirs to the new dirs? What's the best way to
do that?

Any other ideas?

 

[Shenan Stanley]

When I setup XP I somehow wound up with two simillar user directory
names. For example I have two users - Joe and Sue. Joe's account
uses C:\Documents and Settings\Sue and Sue's account uses
C:\Documents and Settings\Sue_2. I don't remember specifying a dir
name. I assume XP added the "_2" to the second dir name because
Sue had already been used.

This affects the names seen on my home network, WE etc. It's a
pain.

I'm tempted to go to the DOS prompt and change the directory names.
But will the account manager know what happened? I could use the
account manager to remove and then re-create the users. Then I
would have to copy all of the folders and files from the old dirs
to the new dirs? What's the best way to do that?

Any other ideas?

Do not just 'change the names'...
The only thing it is hurting/bothering right now is your sense of 'that just
doesn't look right...'
Everything else is working as it should be and the computer in question
knows the paths in dozens of registry and possibly other files.

If you REALLY must have the change happen - you should create two new users
with the names you want (JoeBob and SueBob) and then use the Files and
Settings Transfer Wizard to export the profile settings from Joe to JoeBob
and Sue to SueBob. Then delete all the accounts you don't want. You could
go further and create Joe and Sue again and transfer the settings back to
them as Windows XP (If you deleted the old users completely and properly)
would create the properly names paths for Joe and Sue this round and then
you woulod be where you wanted using built in tools and methods and with
little chance of data or settings loss.

 

[Guest]

This happened because the folder already existed when the user logged-on for
the first time. Probably the account was removed then re-created.

In a word, NO. Some programs make absolute-references (C:\...\filename) to
files inside the user's folder (which is Bad Practice, but try telling
programmers that!) and thus if you change the foldername you'll likely end up
with trouble.