How do I change the name for myfolder in the USERS folder.

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I am setting up a new desktop and for whatever reason, Windows 10 (2004) has grabbed part of my e-mail address for the name of my USER folder.  I want to change that name so it reflects my name.  Is there a way to do that, that isn’t to complicated and will not muck things up on my new computer?

 

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[mn--]

The least complicated way is probably to just set up another user account.

That also leaves the current one untouched so no risk of permanent damage… (can always delete the old account later if the new one has been thoroughly tested to work for everything.)

On the command line, I believe the “net user” command lets you fully control that process even with Windows 10 Home. You can either make the new home directory beforehand with the name of your choosing, or let the system do that with the folder name being the same as the “short” username.

So, in command prompt as administrator,

net user shortname password /add /fullname:"Your Full Name Here"

net localgroup Administrators shortname /add

(assuming English language version of Windows, and skip the latter command if not creating an admin account)

See also https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/it-pro/windows-server-2012-R2-and-2012/cc771865(v=ws.11)?redirectedfrom=MSDN
and https://superuser.com/questions/515175/create-admin-user-from-command-line

While it’s possible to change the folder of an already existing user account, this is somewhat complicated and does carry some risk if you mistype something – and even so, can’t change an account that is logged in. (So either from another admin account, or a custom boot like recovery media, or…)

• This reply was modified 3 years ago by mn--. Reason: Code tags mess with line breaks?

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Thanks mn-.  I will give it a try and see what happens.

 

Ron M

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mn- question  – Do I enter both those commands one after the other into the command line, or just one of them?  Can I enter the line(s) into the panel I get using the <Windows> <R> key sequence?  This is all new stuff to me, so I am still learning – a lot.  Thanks.

Ron M

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Run both commands, one after the other – assuming the first was successful.

cheers, Paul

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And you have to use an “AS ADMINISTRATOR” command prompt. (Either plain old cmd or the newer PowerShell will do for this one.)

The base “run (single) command” field won’t do, and I don’t think you can get a “run command as administrator” all that easily in modern Windows 10. (Though they do exist, mostly seen on corporate centralized management consoles and the like…)

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