Windows registered name incorrect

[Dick Ballard]

Brand new laptop with Windows XP Home. On first start up I goofed
while entering my name. Now under My Computer/Properties it has the
mis typed name for the Registered To: entry. How do I change this? It
is not the user name or the administrator or the computer name.

Dick Ballard
(e-mail address removed)

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

Dick;
Go here:
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm
Line 7 right column "Change Registered Owner..."

 

[Dick Ballard]

OK, I got the Registered To: Name entry changed under My
Computer/Properties/General tab, but the original erroneous name entry
appears all over the machine. It shows up in all of the Documents and
Settings paths and therefore is part of every programs data path.

If I search on that bad entry in the registry, it is all over the
place, usually as part of a Documents and Settings path. There must be
50 or more such entries. It even shows up as User Name entries in the
registry even though I never used that as a user name. I suppose I
might be able to change them all (is there a search/replace function
in Regedit?), but what does that do to all the applications that use
the data path with the phony entry? Will they be suitably notified of
the path change by the new registry entries?

This all resulted from a single flubbed key stroke at first turn on,
and now there seems to be no way to recover without major pain.

Dick Ballard
(e-mail address removed)

Dick;
Go here:
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm
Line 7 right column "Change Registered Owner..."

Jupiter Jones [MVP]
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

Dick;
The easiest way to change it under Documents and Settings is to create a new
profile and copy the data from old to new profile:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=811151
The old profile can be safely deleted from User Accounts once you are sure
all is OK in the new profile.

 

[Dick Ballard]

Just an update to this thread. I finally got around to trying the User
ID manipulation described below. In order to do this, I had to create
two new User ID's, one to receive the data from the original User ID,
and one to use for access to the old/new User ID's for the copy/delete
operation (I originally had only one User ID). After doing the copy to
the new User ID and then deleting the original User ID, the third User
ID could then be deleted, leaving me with a correctly functioning
single User ID.

The only issue that arose was that the copy function did not succeed
in replicating all of my settings. The desktop and task bar were
copied mostly correctly, but I still had to manually change a number
of items such as various Windows Explorer options and power scheme
settings. I also had to manually redirect Quicken to the new data
location and reset the sharing options.

Dick Ballard
(e-mail address removed)

Dick;
The easiest way to change it under Documents and Settings is to create a new
profile and copy the data from old to new profile:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=811151
The old profile can be safely deleted from User Accounts once you are sure
all is OK in the new profile.

OK, I got the Registered To: Name entry changed under My
Computer/Properties/General tab, but the original erroneous name entry
appears all over the machine. It shows up in all of the Documents and
Settings paths and therefore is part of every programs data path.

If I search on that bad entry in the registry, it is all over the
place, usually as part of a Documents and Settings path. There must be
50 or more such entries. It even shows up as User Name entries in the
registry even though I never used that as a user name. I suppose I
might be able to change them all (is there a search/replace function
in Regedit?), but what does that do to all the applications that use
the data path with the phony entry? Will they be suitably notified of
the path change by the new registry entries?

This all resulted from a single flubbed key stroke at first turn on,
and now there seems to be no way to recover without major pain.

Dick Ballard
(e-mail address removed)


Dick;
Go here:
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm
Line 7 right column "Change Registered Owner..."

Jupiter Jones [MVP]
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/

 

[Guest]

I bought a new computer which had been on display in the shop. I changed the
registered user (as it had the shop name) in the registry and created a user
account for myself. However, it still records the original shop's name in the
documents and settings file, which carries through all of the software
settings and shows up in my face every time I print (as the user). I
researched the Microsoft Knowledge base and they said it can't be changed in
Windows XP Home. I will now try to simply create a new user and transfer all
of my data over. You would think this would be a simple issue, however it is
not the case. Wish me luck. Thanks for the idea.

 

[Jack]

Take it back and tell them you want a new computer as the one they gave you
is a used computer. A new computer will allow you to place your name in
there and not the name of a shop somewhere.