This only changes the display name it does not change the account name behind the scenes.

Superficial solution at best. Doesn’t change he underlying login account so you’d have to ask “what’s the point”.

For example …
In Documents and Settings there is directory with the name JDoe (Documents and Settings\JDoe\ with all subdirectories).
If I wish to change the user name from JDoe to DonaldDuck I can do it through the Control Pannel-UserAccounts but thats only cosmetics.
Documents and Settings\JDoe\ will still remain unchanged.
The question is:
how to change Documents and Settings\JDoe\ into Documents and Settings\DonaldDuck\ - when I wish to change the user I wish to change the name of the directory as well.

I have the same problem. Does anyone know a solution?

Follow these instructions…

http://www.pcanswers.co.uk/tips/default.asp?pagetypeid=2&articleid=38320&subsectionid=616

Tom,
How do you start you window in safe mode?

Robbie, shutdown and then press F8 during computer restart. That will give you access to the safe mode option.

And Tom: thanks!

I followed the instructions for changing the original User name in Windows XP but when I started Windows in Safe Mode I did not have the option to COPY TO on the account that I won’t to remove.

I just wanted to point this out. For some reason when I tried to rename my account, no “Change my name” option would appear. There is another way to change the displayed name. Go to Start, Run, enter “control userpasswords2″, hit OK. Click the Advanced button in the Advanced tab, select Users, find your account, right-click, select Properties, and enter anything under Full Name. You can even put things like backslashes here which you can’t do with the “real” account names. After a reboot this name is displayed in place of the account’s actual name. The actual account name isn’t changed, though, so you still have to use it for accessing things in Documents and Settings and logging in with the “classic” username/password prompt. The change is purely visual.

This works at least on WinXP SP2. Don’t know about any others.

i really received exactly the information i needed. this was most helplful, and answered my question to the tee!

Warm Regards,
cisco..

The method in the link Tom gave works fine. But watch out if your My Documents folder is huge (e.g. full of music in My Music and videos in My Videos) because they are all copied to a new folder in the process. If you have lots of media files it might be best moving them somewhere else before copying your profile.

Now can’t get to the TOM link. Any suggestions or does someone have a clear outline on how to change the User Name (beyond cosmetic) for XP Pro? Thanks.

Thanks to HyperHacker, I couldn’t see the Change Name option either and this was really helpful.

Thumbs up! HyperHacker. That’s what i was wondering for days.
Now its solved by you.
Thanks

Hi,
Link given by Tom now is dead now. Can anybody give a correct one?

Hi

(im not sure if this has been answered but no 1 can give a straight forward answer so im asking again plz help)

When you go to control pannel and that and then you go to change the name ive changed it but when you go to like command prompt and that it still says the lod name to the account which is really annoying so plz can someone help how do i change the name to the entire account so that it doesnt say the name to the old account on command prompt and that?

Plz Help

Go to this address, about 1/3rd of the way down:
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweak_bookmarks.htm

Jim that website u gave me i very confusing im not sure about it

WHY CANT SOME ONE JUST PUT THE STEPS ONLINE IN STEAD OF GIVING LINKS JUST WRITE IT DOWN PLZ

Thanks Jim, his link works fine, look at the “How to change user name in Windows XP”. It’s, as jim says, 1/3rd the way down. You have to use regedit.

I no longer see “How to change user name in Windows XP” on that link…anyone have an updated description?

I’m having a hard time finding how to do this. I know all about changing the name itself, I want to change the path that all my info is stored under…

I found a very useful page here http://forums.cnet.com/5208-4_102-0.html?threadID=112201 that discussed exactly what I was looking for. Hope this helps others looking for the same solution i.e. change name located in c:/documents and settings.

thanks hyperhacker….that’s what i’m looking for….

now i finally changed the user name to my name…coz it was named to previous user of the computer…
God bless

Best instructions at:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;283111

In Windows XP Home Edition, you cannot change the actual name of a user account, only the name that is displayed on the Welcome screen. In all other versions of Windows XP, you can change the account name:

Right-click My Computer, and then click Manage.
Click Local Users and Groups to expand it.
Click Users.
Right-click the account that you want to change, and then click Rename.
At a command prompt, run the set command; the %HomePath% variable still points to the old user name.
NOTE: This does not change the name of the folder that appears under the Documents and Settings folder for the user.

It seems that there is a partial solution but no real solution. Is it true that we cannot change the account name or is it that no one outside Microsoft knows how ..yet ?

i changed the user name of my account with windows xp pro but is seems not to work completely
becasue the old user name still works to log in and when i shut down the screen pops up saying log off with the old user name.
when i am log in how ever it show the new name or user. when i am on a network it shows the old name
is there any reason for this

Create a new user account. Copy your files to the new account’s folders. Delete the old user account.

Thanks. The link to microsoft site works perfectly, also the solution. When I typed net user, my formerly account name, H, has changed to another name, Jim. It’s solve my problem that occurs for months. Thanks, again.

I’m sorry for my bad english.

Jim

I was setting up a computer given to me. I did the following: in XP Home

Control Panel / User Accounts / Create new user John - Administrator
Log out
Log In - John
Control Panel / User Accounts / Change an Account / Valued Customer / Delete Account / Save Data

After a few minutes of my laptop churning and grinding at the drive, I had a new desktop with the old user’s data in a folder. I saved the data to a cd and deleted the folder.

Then I set up the computer with my preferred settings and proceeded to install desired software, etc.