Accounts Change Name of User Profile Folder in Windows 11

Brink · Nov 11, 2023

geoear said:
Brink, I'm having the same inability to rename my username as @jamesmevans in his Dec 16, 2021 post. I tried the suggestion posted by @Archigos on Jan 20, 2022 without success. I'm following the steps to the letter, but it simply won't work. No matter what I'm told the "Folder In Use" message comes up. I had shut all my programs down, logged out and rebooted to an admin account, made the changes, but still am not allowed to rename. I looked at Task Manager and the only programs were Explorer and Task Manager. Also, until I returned to the original name in RegEdit, I couldn't log back in under the old name, which makes sense. I'm running Windows 11 v23H2 build 22631.2506 if that makes any difference. Any suggestions you could provide would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Hello geoear, and welcome.

You could try booting into Safe Mode to the admin account to rename the profile folder of the other account.

Boot to Safe Mode in Windows 11 Tutorial

This tutorial will show you how to boot Windows 11 into normal mode, Safe Mode, Safe Mode with Networking, or Safe Mode with Command Prompt. Safe mode starts Windows in a basic state, using a limited set of files and drivers. If a problem doesn't happen in safe mode, this means that default...

www.elevenforum.com

geoear · Nov 11, 2023

Brink said:
Hello geoear, and welcome.

You could try booting into Safe Mode to the admin account to rename the profile folder of the other account.

Boot to Safe Mode in Windows 11 Tutorial

This tutorial will show you how to boot Windows 11 into normal mode, Safe Mode, Safe Mode with Networking, or Safe Mode with Command Prompt. Safe mode starts Windows in a basic state, using a limited set of files and drivers. If a problem doesn't happen in safe mode, this means that default...

www.elevenforum.com

Thank you Brink, I found another solution to the Folder In Use. That was to use resmon.exe, click the CPU tab, select Associated Handles, enter the folder name C:\Users\[name], and then right click and end any running processes. This didn't seem to make them disappear (although the option to end the process was greyed out for them), and I wasn't able to rename the folder until I refreshed the entry in resmon. After that I was able to rename my user folder. I expect this will work for any folder, or even file that Windows won't allow renaming or deleting.

Brink · Nov 12, 2023

geoear said:
Thank you Brink, I found another solution to the Folder In Use. That was to use resmon.exe, click the CPU tab, select Associated Handles, enter the folder name C:\Users\[name], and then right click and end any running processes. This didn't seem to make them disappear (although the option to end the process was greyed out for them), and I wasn't able to rename the folder until I refreshed the entry in resmon. After that I was able to rename my user folder. I expect this will work for any folder, or even file that Windows won't allow renaming or deleting.

Great news. :shawn:

philip · Dec 6, 2023

I now log on but lost previous settings. Can you help? How Do I go back?

philip · Dec 6, 2023

How do we go back?

Brink · Dec 6, 2023

philip said:
How do we go back?

Hello Philip, and welcome.

You would just need to repeat the steps, but this time rename it back to the original name. No need to do step14 since it'll be back to the original name.

dawn · Dec 16, 2023

I've done all the steps, but there's still a file under C:\Users with the old username. I seem to be able to rename this, am I safe to rename/delete this now or do I need to leave it?

Brink · Dec 16, 2023

dawn said:
I've done all the steps, but there's still a file under C:\Users with the old username. I seem to be able to rename this, am I safe to rename/delete this now or do I need to leave it?

Hello Dawn, and welcome.

This is normal. It's the symbolic link created in step 14. This symbolic link will show as a folder shortcut with the old profile name so anything that still references the old user profile folder name will be automatically redirected to the new user profile folder name.

You can delete it if you like. If you get any "not found" type errors from anything still looking for the old profile folder name, then you can just repeat step 14 to add it back to stop the errors.

maldeboar · Dec 19, 2023

Sorry if this has been asked before, but does this work on Windows 10 Pro also? Local account.

How about if I have Bitlocker enabled on my Windows 10 Pro?

And if I do this on Windows 10 Pro and update to Windows 11 Pro at some point (probably in late 2024), should everything go smooth or will it be likely that something will go broken after update, because of the user profile name change?

pseymour · Dec 19, 2023

Yes, these are identical steps to what you would do on Windows 10. Totally fine to do.

Factor1092 · Dec 20, 2023

HI, thanks for helping us all with this.
Do you have any way to help me delete leftover remnants of the old username:

1. This cannot be deleted: C:\System Volume Information\WinAppsStagingOLDUSERNAME

2. This can be deleted, but despite disabling the 2 related Services for 'Connected Devices Platform', the directory and its files return on reboot: C:\Users\NEWUSERNAME\AppData\Local\ConnectedDevicesPlatform\L.OLDUSERNAME

3. Task Manager User account shows old name, but in the official user account settings, user account is only the new one.

4. SearchCast entries in Registry, cannot be deleted, despite disabling and re-enabling Windows Search Indexing.

Brink · Dec 20, 2023

Factor1092 said:
HI, thanks for helping us all with this.
Do you have any way to help me delete leftover remnants of the old username:

1. This cannot be deleted: C:\System Volume Information\WinAppsStagingOLDUSERNAME

2. This can be deleted, but despite disabling the 2 related Services for 'Connected Devices Platform', the directory and its files return on reboot: C:\Users\NEWUSERNAME\AppData\Local\ConnectedDevicesPlatform\L.OLDUSERNAME

3. Task Manager User account shows old name, but in the official user account settings, user account is only the new one.

4. SearchCast entries in Registry, cannot be deleted, despite disabling and re-enabling Windows Search Indexing.

Hello, and welcome.

Other than creating a new local account with the name you wanted for the profile folder, switching it to a Microsoft account afterwards if wanted, and deleting the old account, there's really no safe way to remove all traces of the old profile folder name.

This is one of the main reasons for step 14 with the symbolic link in case anything still looks for or references the old profile folder name.

Factor1092 · Dec 20, 2023

Is there any way to mask my old username, in future when hacks are more AI-based and robust?

Brink · Dec 20, 2023

Factor1092 said:
Is there any way to mask my old username, in future when hacks are more AI-based and robust?

Not really unless you create a new account to use instead.

Factor1092 · Dec 20, 2023

Brink said:
Not really unless you create a new account to use instead.

Is there any way to duplicate with a new name, or copy every single setting and configuration of the profile verbatim, the same way that Macrium does with Drive backups?

Brink · Dec 20, 2023

Factor1092 said:
Is there any way to duplicate with a new name, or copy every single setting and configuration of the profile verbatim, the same way that Macrium does with Drive backups?

I'm not aware of a way without some unknown 3rd party app.

Factor1092 · Dec 20, 2023

Brink said:
I'm not aware of a way without some unknown 3rd party app.

Such a shame MS make it so hard to do something to simple.

rexz3ro · Jan 10, 2024

Thank you for the tutorial Brink!

I used something similar last year to change my user folder name on windows 10, but for some reason, it isn't working just right.

Everything actually works well, the folder name changes, the name in the registry, everything.

But I keep having one small problems, and here is a bit of lore. Last week, I got a new laptop with Windows 11. During the setup, I opted for signing in using my Microsoft account because local sign in wasn't available. I completed all customizations, including downloading games from Steam and Epic and relocating my files.

Today, I discovered that my user folder's name is essentially the first 5 letters of my email used for the Microsoft account sign-in. This minor inconvenience bothered me, prompting me to attempt changing the folder name by following tis tutorial, through registry edits and renaming the folder itself. Although the folder name changed, Windows couldn't read my files within it due to references to the old directory name, I kept getting a "Location is not available" error message and all the files on my desktop disappear, although they exist In another desktop file in the user folder with the new name. I cannot move them to the desktop as I also get another error message.

To resolve this, I created a symbolic link between the old and new folder paths, enabling Windows to read the files correctly. However, folder properties still show the old path even though the folder itself is in the new user directory.
like if click a file on the desktop and check it's general property, the path still shows example. C:\Users\"oldname"\desktop,

I think the reason I can't change this is because I am on a Microsoft account? I don't know, but after grappling with this, I decided to abandon the idea of changing the user folder name. Now, I'm contemplating switching to a local account, wondering if it would provide a new user folder with a name of my choice. Additionally, I'm curious if transitioning to a local account would allow me to retain my files and applications from the Microsoft account. Is there a way to automatically move all apps, files, and settings to the new local account?

Brink · Jan 10, 2024

rexz3ro said:
Thank you for the tutorial Brink!

I used something similar last year to change my user folder name on windows 10, but for some reason, it isn't working just right.

Everything actually works well, the folder name changes, the name in the registry, everything.

But I keep having one small problems, and here is a bit of lore. Last week, I got a new laptop with Windows 11. During the setup, I opted for signing in using my Microsoft account because local sign in wasn't available. I completed all customizations, including downloading games from Steam and Epic and relocating my files.

Today, I discovered that my user folder's name is essentially the first 5 letters of my email used for the Microsoft account sign-in. This minor inconvenience bothered me, prompting me to attempt changing the folder name by following tis tutorial, through registry edits and renaming the folder itself. Although the folder name changed, Windows couldn't read my files within it due to references to the old directory name, I kept getting a "Location is not available" error message and all the files on my desktop disappear, although they exist In another desktop file in the user folder with the new name. I cannot move them to the desktop as I also get another error message.

To resolve this, I created a symbolic link between the old and new folder paths, enabling Windows to read the files correctly. However, folder properties still show the old path even though the folder itself is in the new user directory.
like if click a file on the desktop and check it's general property, the path still shows example. C:\Users\"oldname"\desktop,

I think the reason I can't change this is because I am on a Microsoft account? I don't know, but after grappling with this, I decided to abandon the idea of changing the user folder name. Now, I'm contemplating switching to a local account, wondering if it would provide a new user folder with a name of my choice. Additionally, I'm curious if transitioning to a local account would allow me to retain my files and applications from the Microsoft account. Is there a way to automatically move all apps, files, and settings to the new local account?

Hello, and welcome.

I'm afraid it's normal for the old profile folder name to still get referenced even after changing its name.

You could create a new local account with the name you want that its name will also be used for the account's profile folder name. Be sure to also make it an administrator.

KAZAN · Jan 16, 2024

Hey Brink,

thanks for your great work!
I followed all your steps and everything went perfectly fine at this point.

Still got a question: I want my User folder as clean as possible. I deactivated the built-in-admin with

Code:

net user Administrator /active:no

in the command prompt.
Now i still got the Admin folder there. Can I delete that one?
And whats about the other ones? Should I leave them or is anything save to delete.
If I delete the sys link for the old user folder(MMPMe) whats the worst case that can happen?

Thanks a lot mate!