Rename user profile directory in Windows 10

Various changes to the Windows Operating System, also for the Intranet

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Rename user profile directory in Windows 10

Post by sjj1805 » Sat Feb 18, 2017 12:46 am

how to manually rename user profile directory in Windows 10, 8 and 7, if the name of your user account folder is not what you want.
  1. Log on to another Administrator account that is not the account being renamed.
  2. Open the Windows Explorer and browse to the C:\Users folder. Right-click on the user account folder and rename it to whatever you like.
  3. Press the Windows key + R to open the Run box. Type regedit and hit Enter.
  4. When the Registry Editor opens, navigate to the following registry location:

    Code: Select all

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\
  5. Under the ProfileList subkey you will find a few subfolders (starting with ‘S-1-5-‘) that are named with the SID of Windows user accounts. Find the SID for the user account whose profile folder you just renamed. You can simply open each subfolder and check the ProfileImagePath path for the correct one.
  6. In the right-pane, double-click the ProfileImagePath value and change the user profile path to your desired name. Example, I renamed the account folder from C:\Users\sjj1805 to C:\Users\Gail
  7. Close the Registry Editor window. Logout of the Administrator account and log in with your user account. Everything should work fine – all your apps and files should be intact and your user folder should have been renamed.

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