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General discussion

Changing User Account Name

Jun 21, 2007 4:43AM PDT

I changed my user account name in Vista, and it seemed to work fine (login screen reflects new name) but the only place the name shows as changed (looking in Windows Explorer) is the "user" folder directly under the desktop. The user name under the path 'desktop/my computer/OS(C)/users' still has the old name. (I tried rebooting.)

Why would this be? When I initially created the user name, Vista gave the same name to both folders, but it only changed one. I suppose it's not really a problem, but the only reason I changed the name was for network sharing purposes, and the shared folder is still the old name.

Does anybody have a fix or explanation for this? Thanks.
(BTW, I searched the forum and didn't find anything.)

Discussion is locked

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That's a topic called "Profiles." Here's a link about it.
Jun 21, 2007 5:37AM PDT
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Vista?
Jun 21, 2007 7:26AM PDT

Thanks a lot for the reply and link, but I'm not sure it applies? That Tech overview was for Win XP and I'm not sure it is valid for Vista.

Thanks again.

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Same basic concept...
Jun 21, 2007 7:44AM PDT

The directions aren't exactly the same under Vista as the Control Panel options have been rearranged, but the basic concept remains the same. When you rename an account it updates your user settings. The icon on the desktop is just a shortcut, and so it's automatically updated. However, Windows cannot easily change the directories because most shortcuts and references are hard-coded, meaning it would have to search for every shortcut and reference to each file present in the User directory and correct it, an exhaustive process. Thus, it leaves the folder names alone for simplicity.

One solution is to create a new account with the desired username and then copy all of the files over. However, I believe this tool will also work under Vista, one which would certainly make life a little easier.

Good luck.
John

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It's a primer on what's going on.
Jun 21, 2007 8:21AM PDT

Read the other reply with a tool noted and see if that helps. I feel the links are good to read so you know what's happening under the hood.

Bob