You can. It's simply go into control panel to use settings and manage other users. You can change the name from there easily. Followed one of these tutorials though and corrupted the entire profile leading to me having to copy over what I know I need to save it like throwing what i want out of a burning house.
You guys better watch out, there are too many register files, and also if you wanna go back you need to revert every single one, exporting and importing a backup did nothing in my computer
It worked perfectly, I used a registry editor called Advanced Registry because it has a Search and replace feature and it did everything in no time. Just logged back on my account and everything is fine :)
Worked! Took forever to rename everything, but this tutorial was very clear through each step! Only do this if you have a lot of patience and a lot of time on your hands.
I couldn't change the user file name, it's giving me the error (The action can’t be completed because the folder or a file in it is open in another program), file is not open anyhow. I'm using Win 10 Pro
Protip before you do this. What isn't shown in the video is how many references to the old user name there are. Go into regedit first, search for and see how many references there are and decide if you are willing to go in and change every single one of them. If not, reinstall Windows and do it that way.
@@jeffreypritchard6102 I have the same problem with my username in Windows 11 Home. The problem with renaming is not that I had to rename hundreds of entries in the Registry, but that many items were not allowed to be renamed. For this reason, there was a lot of chaos in the laptop and there was no way back. Therefore, a complete reinstallation of the system was necessary, but I could not choose my own Username.
2 Things 1. Use an advanced registry editor so you can search & replace 2. Also find & replace the escaped version of your path i.e "C:\\Users\\{YourUserName}
I have Windows 10 Home and i'm pretty sure I could have reset Windows to default and reinstalled everything in the time it took me to change all the file paths in the registry... my eyes are bleeding! But it did work, thanks!
Worked PERFECTLY for me. Thank you very much. Mine is Windows Home new installation, and if someone follows ALL the steps mentioned in this tutorial correctly, I think it should work properly. All the best! You may have to re-set up a few online accounts (like OneDrive and other cloud services) because they won't be able to trace the old path. This should not be a problem. Files won't be lost, the service will just have to update its logs which can take sometime depending on how many files are there. I don't know why Microsoft didn't make this a simple process.
Content: 00:00 - Intro; 0:24 - First Step How to Rename Windows 10 User Folder; 1:07- Second step; 1:46 - Third step; 2:14 - Fourth step; 3:26 - Note; Watch how to rename the user’s folder in Windows 10. Did you like the video? Click Like button and subscribe to Hetman Software channel. We will be glad to answer any questions in comments.
When I opened computer management the "Local Users and Groups" folder was not there. So alternatively I navigated to the users via the file explorer. When I tried to change the username I wanted to, an error appeared stating there was a file or folder that was open in another program. When I checked my task manager under that user nothing appeared to be open. I would appreciate some help because I am having difficulties downloading programs.
hey just letting you know you may want to put a space after "Administrator" in your first step in the description, incase anyone copies it from there, its a different command.
how this is the same mine huhuhu please help how can i turn it back same as before.. tyers somthing wrong with my pc all change gow xanni turn it back as before please help
At 1:55 I get a "The action can't be completed because the file or folder is open in another program" when trying to change the folder name in Drive C. I've tried everything i can think of (?)
Well This Video Plus the Last Video i watched Messed up my Computer so i just thought it would be better off if i factory reset my computer... Thanks Anyways... Glad to see this worked on a selected few...
I followed the steps on Windows 10 home, after making the changes I can't log in to my previous account. Keeps saying there was some problem in logging in. Please help
@@param3105 so you know the first step he did right??? When he changes the name. change it back to the previous name *THE SAME CAPS AND SAME LOWER CASES*
@@cincaila Yes, I had to system restore my PC. Fortunately the restore point was only one week earlier. I had to update Chrome but apart from that everything was back to normal, all my files were accessible.
Thank You so much! I'm pretty much a novice, but I was able to correct user name folder. At first I couldn't rename the folder, but after I completely shut down a couple of times it worked. It took a VERY long time to get through the registry and I was very careful doing so. The only entry I wasn't able to change or rename was the OemPath. Thanks again.
I managed to rename my user folder only with login in Safe mode. Also, log out doesn't help, in this video, all the time when the author did logout/login I rebooted my system to see changes and to avoid the blue screen windows error.
Renaming in safe mode worked for me as well. I kept getting the "folder is open in another program" error while trying to do it in the administrator account
PLEASE HELP I skipped half of the video and started doing the fourth step (without being in the administrator account) I changed every search result but some of them where in the "value name" tab so i couldn't edit them! it finished searching through registry but it didn't work, my user still has it's old name. I'm afraid I ruined my laptop should I revert the changes I made or is there another way to fix things up?
It really bugs me that even after a clean install my C:/users is still 'samue' (apparently a clumsy typo I made at some point when building my computer - I'd hoped a clean install would give me the option to change it!). However, I think I'm just going to live with it. At some point in the future I'll upgrade and do it again. Judging by some of the comments below this process can cause problems and I'm not confident enough not to mess it up somehow.
lol mine said "johnn" instead of John, but there's a way easier way to do this! Regularly there is no rename option when you right-click the user folder but for some reason if you go into the C drive/OS drive >Users folder, then use the top right search bar and search the folder you want to rename and right-click it in the search window the rename feature is there! It worked for me. I'm sure that the path is still the same but I'm happy if the folder is just renamed. I Hope this helps.
@@Ilikecodzombies Haha thanks - weirdly enough this works! You're right that the path is still the same, but it no longer annoys me when I see it there in the folder!
I also used this video to mess up my computer. My fault, but you should have suggested exporting the registry before making the changes. That way, when it fails, you can at least import your registry values and get your machine back to the way it was before.
Thanks a lot! Seems to be working. Hopefully didn't do any mistakes 🙄😅 P.s. After posting this comment, I saw other ones and am glad that I didn't read any of those before just doing it "step-by-step"! You can't skip anything unless told. It's not enough to sign in as Administrator and simply rename the target folder, e g. Maxim > Max. You MUST do the sh*t with registry part, otherwise your computer won't simply understand where all old paths are leading to. Btw I have Windows Home 10 and it worked well! 🔥🔥🔥
I need you help how can I undo everything i did because I skip the first part and went straight to regedit and started changing the file names. And now my windows says “We can’t sign in to your account” please I need your help
Well, this is a good tutorial but needs a little improvement. For me it worked perfectly but before you do all these steps, clean up your temp files because you will need to do a lot of changes specially if you have your windows installed a long time ago. In this video, seems to be a fresh install.
This broke my user. I did everything according to instructions. Used RegEditX to rename all occurances of the user in one go and now the user is corrupt. Windows keep saying "Preparing windows" followed by "We were unable to sign in to your account" upon login.
Worked great. I have window 10 home so had to change about 50 items in registry. But your instructions were clear and easy to follow. Thank you very much.
My eyes are bleeding changing a plathora of file names...there should have a shorter method...no wonder why windows failed in mobile market...any change is so complex...now I am wishing I should not have opted to do this...
@Hetman Recovery Thank you for this video. I have one question: There are several hundred instances of my current user folder name in the registry, it would take forever to change them all with regedit. In your video you suggest that this step is not necessary if you have Windows 10 Pro (which I do), is that my correct understanding? Do these entries all get changed when you rename in the Computer Management/Local Usersand Groups?
I'm trying to use Python in VS Code and Python path didn't like that there was a space in my User Folder name. Keep in mind my laptop is about 5 years old, but has plenty of RAM, processing power and space. BUT, that means that I have a LOT of files and paths there. After investigating the potential issues with changing your User folder name, I made a back-up of my files and created a system image so I could restore my laptop to its original state. I proceeded to change the folder name according to these instructions. While these instructions work, because Python doesn't install in the Programs folder, and installs into the Users folder, it was a big mess because none of the Python paths updated to the new User folder. In fact, my system keeps creating a new User folder with my old name in spite of the fact that I renamed my folder in the Admin account. So, later I went in through the Admin account again to delete the User folder that had reappeared AND to double-check again for any paths with the old Users name. Those related to Python that needed to be changed were HUNDREDS!! Ugh! I just can't make all of those changes and keep up with my web development course. So, I'm going to install all of my course software and files to a desktop that I have (the User folder name doesn't have a space, thank goodness) and wait for some advice on what to do about my laptop. I suspect that the solution will be to use the system image to restore the laptop to its original state and continue my development work on the desktop.
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Hi. Would that affect my computer in anyway? I only need to change my C:\users name as on Android SDK, my SDK path has whitespaces that I need to get rid of.
Go to the user folder Put the name of your user folder in the search bar Once your folder appears, rename it as you'd like Note that this does not change the path to this folder, but only the shown name of it.
I am getting error message on the action shown on time lapse 2:15. The message was that the folder 'Action can't be completed because the folder in it is opened by another program'. Can you please suggest ? I verified that nothing is opened from that folder.
@@HetmanRecovery i skip some file which shoe error and finish it Now when I use the laptop many file showing not found what should I do now how to reverse the changes
Well, there's what feels like a year of my life gone... Don't know who to hate more. This guy for leading me down this path, or myself for doing it. Jesus H Christ.
It worked almost 100% fine for me, the only thing I had to do afterwards was to remove my browser extensions and add them again. Thanks for this tutorial!
Don't do this if your not sure what your changing. I was renaming the shit for like half an hour then restarted my pc and ended up with most of my setting reconfigured. Had to restore my pc to the last restore point. Not worth the time and effort. Congrats to those of you who managed to get it working.
Never do this! There are entries in the registry in the video did not hit. There are also numerous entries wherein it does not have the drive letter. Also, they’re not editable. I ended up messing my search functionality in system.
Seems to work just fine for me. Windows 10 Pro. I did the final step where he said to search for files carrying the old name and managed to change a couple. I didn’t change the ones that say something like "waiting for a rename". Works fine.
If you are doing this DELETE "Microsoft OneDrive" Because when you go to do the "Regedit" and check that your Old Name is Gone It will make this a PAIN IN THE ASS!!! Thanks for the Video! Worked Great!!!
its working, thank you, but theres is 1 question. in C:\Users\ there is new folder named "Administrator". Is that folder will last forever ? or i can delete it, because before i do step at the video, that folder doesn't exist. is that folder consume memory ? Thank you.
Is This In Answer To The Problem? A person gets a new second hand computer. Then puts the old drive (for storage) in the said W10 desktop and then can't access the said hard drive's files and folders. Is The Answer Yes?
I know this might be a bit of a late post on this, but in case someone runs across this, here's what I did (b/c I had run into the same issue at first--not saying this will work for everyone, maybe I fluked into it, but it fixed it for me): + In the video he says make sure to sign out of the account you're trying to change--which I would assume is true. But for me, strangely even though I did that, I don't think it 'fully signed out'--hence the denial prompt. + So in my frustration of contantly wondering why it kept telling me the folder was being used elsewhere, I did this: COMPLETELY RESTART/SHUTDOWN (if you don't get the result w/ mere 'restart' then 'shutdown' should give the desired result). Don't just 'sign out' or 'log out', completely free/close any of your computers running process (those you know and don't know are going on) by shutting the bish down. + When you cut your computer back on go directly into Admin profile---DON'T TOUCH signing into the one you're trying to change (yet) b/c the moment you do you're gonna get a whole bunch of unknown processes starting in the background and you're going be right back where you start w/ not being able to change the name b/c of 'another program' using it. + Once back in the Admin profile, proceed to trying step 3, again. At that point you should be able to change the name. Then once you do so just proceed w/ the rest of the steps.
THIS IS NOT WORKING FOR ME!!! I cant find the user and groups option in computer management and now I am stuck with an administrator account that i cant delete
@@HetmanRecovery I have two laptops on each one the user's folder name was entered in a way that causes problems installing specific software ( i.e. Anaconda). On one laptop the user's folder name was entered with non-ascii characters, and on the other laptop the user's folder name uses a space character between two words. Anaconda refuses to be installed in these folders because of this and also doesn't allow me to install it anywhere else. I'm new at using computers professionally and programming and only now I'm beginning to understand things about how Windows works with folders. I activated an administrator account where everything works just great but I want to see if I can fix this problem. I started renaming the files with the former name but there are just too many of them. This is why I thought of using an automated script. So, I've just begun learning about scripting. What do you think?
I did this step by step as shown and it stuffed up my computer, made the loose desktop items and files also made the other user start loading in as a temp user . It was hard getting it back to normal but still lost alot of files which I'm still trying to get back.
@All OfCanada this worked for me! thankyou so much for that tip, after seeing how much stuff i would have had to go through i was losing motivation, but this totally changed everything across the board!
When i i type "net user Administrator/active:yes" in the command prompt it says The syntax of this command is: NET USER [username [password | *] [options]] [/DOMAIN] username {password | *} /ADD [options] [/DOMAIN] username [/DELETE] [/DOMAIN] username [/TIMES:{times | ALL}] username [/ACTIVE: {YES | NO}]
I changed the names from regedit and I get errors. Also, I can not restore the computer (probably due to regedit) how do i restore regedit as it was before?
@@HetmanRecovery i did it, but problm not solved, my window got crashed after doing this, and i have to restore my window and my important data got lost. I will never follow your videos. You should tell your subscribe it can damage your pc after doing this. Do it at your own risk. If you give this lable line, I never did it.
Great video. Worked perfectly other than one problem... the original named folder reappears on startup even when it's been deleted. It is empty other than 'Appdata' Folder Can you help?
Okay, so question 1: What if I don't have "Local Users and Groups" listed? How do I tell what version I have? I just bought a new Acer Nitro 5 Laptop and it came with Windows 10 on it. I have been very reluctant and defiant to use Windows 10 after the horrible experience I had with Windows 8. Question 2: What to do when it won't let you rename it? I don't even know how it named it in the first place, but the user folder is named dalki. What the heck is that? I never typed that in anywhere when the system first booted up for the first time.
After renaming user folder I signd out from my administrator account and signd into the actual account I entered my password and pressed enter after now showing Preparing windows what want to do now
It became so annoying that I reinstalled windows 10 in the end. After the reinstallation, I made a user account with the right name and then I made the account to a Microsoft account.
Here's the solution for that: www.howtogeek.com/262464/how-to-gain-full-permissions-to-edit-protected-registry-keys/ You have to change permissions for that key to include the user doing the reg edits.
There is another way you can do it. Press Windows key + R, type: netplwiz or control userpasswords2 then hit Enter. Select the account, then click Properties
This did not work for me. I signed into the Administrator account and tried to rename the user, but a dialog box popped up saying, "The action can't be completed because the folder or a file in it is open in another program. Close the folder or file and try again." I can't get past this point, no matter what I do... And upon going into Registry Editor and attempting to edit strings, a dialog box pops up saying, "Cannot edit: [string name here]: Error writing the value's new contents." Don't know what I did wrong here. I cannot rename the user account the traditional way through settings or the control panel. I have tried everything out there. Basically I have two user accounts which are both set up as administrators - I never wanted this! I just want one administrator account and I also want to rename this, but cannot.
Ok, so after installing an update on my computer and starting it back up, then logging into the Administrator account and trying again - it let me change my user folder name. Woohoo! I then repeated the steps where I made sure that all the files in the directory under the old folder name were updated. Held my breath. Logged back into my account - success! Was able to follow the steps in the video to deactivate the other administrator account which I had no use for. Success! My suggestion to people would be to install any updates at which point you're automatically logged out of any accounts that were running in the background, and therefore no message pops up saying that the user folder is open when it isn't- because you are logged out. I just got this surface pro 7 earlier this month and so I am still learning how to do pretty basic actions like this still, but the video all in all was helpful. It just bugged me how my name on the user folder was cut off. Annoying but if you follow his steps and take my advice you will likely be successful as well.
Thank you so, so much. I can't even begin to express to you the sincerity with which I type this. I bought my PC used from someone on Ebay five years ago. Ever since then, I have been installing new programs, games, etc. and have also changed out nearly every single piece of hardware inside of it. It's almost not even the same computer anymore. And yet, one thing persisted. One measly little insignificant detail that irked me more and more each day I was forced to acknowledge it. That detail was simple- everything was done under C:/Users/Nick. I guess that was the name of the guy who owned it before. Either way, I have tried here and there over the years to change the name, but to no avail. But today. Today that changed. Today, I have exterminated the seemingly interminable vermin that was C:/Users/Nick. There were also some unforeseen issues, such as the fact that I had to end almost every process in task manager before I could edit the file. But today... today, this PC belongs to C:/Users/Connor. FINALLY, I PREVAIL. This video was the one that finally walked me through it. Thank you so much for making it. Sincerely, Connor
DO WE NEED TO CHANGE THE OLD NAME TO THE NEW ONES IN ANOTHER REGISTRY ? I FOUND ALMOST 500 REGISTRY WITH THE SAME FORMAT C:\Users\xxxx, please tell me if you know about it..
I'm a techy and after watching half of this even I don't want to do it but there's too much at sake and I can't just reinstall easily Linux. Thumbs up to the video for confirming what's involved it sucks that it's not easier
I have successfully changed the user name. Now, my task bar is not working anymore. I cant click the windows icon and other buttons like wifi and sound. Any help?
System File Checker is a utility in Windows 10 that checks for problems with files on your computer. To run it, follow these steps: - In the search box on the taskbar, type Command Prompt, and right-click or press and hold Command Prompt (Desktop app) from the list of results. Select Run as administrator, and then select Yes. - Type DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth (note the space before each "/"), and then press Enter. (Note: This step may take a few minutes to start and up to 30 minutes to complete.) - After you see a message that says "The operation completed successfully," type sfc /scannow (note the space between "sfc" and "/") and press Enter.
Is there no easy way to change my windows local account? I miss typed my username ,and when I open command prompt cmd.exe it always shows my miss typed username, it's really annoying.
There is another way you can do it. Press Windows key + R, type: netplwiz or control userpasswords2 then hit Enter. Select the account, then click Properties
I am not an expert user but I do need to change my user name and I have no one to turn to. What would you recommend me to do as I dare not save anything on my computer that bears a name that I do not want it to appear.
I had to undo everything because my "quick access" in folders wasn't working after i followed your steps. Can you please help because i would still like to change my name
My go I owe you a beer. Could not figure out for the life of me why I could NEVER install MSI files. Tried everything I could find on the web about the windows installer. Didn't work. Suddenly today I noticed my Users folder had a space in front of it's name somehow. Used this guide and everything so far is great. TY!
Hi I changed my username thanks to your video. When installing a package (dependencies: intl) through visual studio code I get an error saying that the wizard setup was unable to create the directory "C:\Users\{old username}". Do you know why?
This doesn't work for me... neither ways... I tried going back after changing all the files to the name I want, and it says that I will lose things if I continue, so I have to log out... And the folder inside the file itself still never changed names... Is that is what screwing me over? If so... How do I fix this?
@@HetmanRecovery For some reason, I just couldn't get it to work. I did everything, word for word, and I couldn't get anywhere... Not saying this doesn't work. I see that lots of other people got it to work lol. But I just couldn't for some reason. So after a point, I just dedided to Reboot my computer, clearing most stuff, but not files and such, which then allowed me to change my name (Since I changed it before the reboot, it saved the name) But thank you for the guide!
It should not be this hard.
Word. Like why can’t I simply just fucking rename the shit?
You can. It's simply go into control panel to use settings and manage other users. You can change the name from there easily. Followed one of these tutorials though and corrupted the entire profile leading to me having to copy over what I know I need to save it like throwing what i want out of a burning house.
@@randomcommenter3819 that's not what they are talking about here.
fucking microsoft
Not hard, but fucking exhausting.
You guys better watch out, there are too many register files, and also if you wanna go back you need to revert every single one, exporting and importing a backup did nothing in my computer
It worked perfectly, I used a registry editor called Advanced Registry because it has a Search and replace feature and it did everything in no time. Just logged back on my account and everything is fine :)
Worked! Took forever to rename everything, but this tutorial was very clear through each step! Only do this if you have a lot of patience and a lot of time on your hands.
I agree, worked for me as well
Did you rename anything else apart from the registry files? Cuz I can't make it work.. And I did it with cope/paste so no typos..
@@GeekyMischief I did, and I searched only the user name without the whole path.. No luck I am going for a fresh install I think...
Doesn't work, Cant rename folder @ 2:05. It says "the action cannot be completed because the folder or a file in it is open in another program"
I couldn't change the user file name, it's giving me the error (The action can’t be completed because the folder or a file in it is open in another program), file is not open anyhow. I'm using Win 10 Pro
Protip before you do this. What isn't shown in the video is how many references to the old user name there are. Go into regedit first, search for and see how many references there are and decide if you are willing to go in and change every single one of them. If not, reinstall Windows and do it that way.
I just reinstalled Windows but never came across a way to pick my own user name.
@@jeffreypritchard6102 I have the same problem with my username in Windows 11 Home.
The problem with renaming is not that I had to rename hundreds of entries in the Registry, but that many items were not allowed to be renamed. For this reason, there was a lot of chaos in the laptop and there was no way back. Therefore, a complete reinstallation of the system was necessary, but I could not choose my own Username.
2 Things
1. Use an advanced registry editor so you can search & replace
2. Also find & replace the escaped version of your path i.e "C:\\Users\\{YourUserName}
I have Windows 10 Home and i'm pretty sure I could have reset Windows to default and reinstalled everything in the time it took me to change all the file paths in the registry... my eyes are bleeding! But it did work, thanks!
I highly recommend not doing this, unless you would like to start an entirely new profile on your computer. Which I highly doubt.
Worked PERFECTLY for me. Thank you very much. Mine is Windows Home new installation, and if someone follows ALL the steps mentioned in this tutorial correctly, I think it should work properly. All the best!
You may have to re-set up a few online accounts (like OneDrive and other cloud services) because they won't be able to trace the old path. This should not be a problem. Files won't be lost, the service will just have to update its logs which can take sometime depending on how many files are there.
I don't know why Microsoft didn't make this a simple process.
We are glad that our video was helpful for you. If you have any questions, we will gladly answer them.
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Content:
00:00 - Intro;
0:24 - First Step How to Rename Windows 10 User Folder;
1:07- Second step;
1:46 - Third step;
2:14 - Fourth step;
3:26 - Note;
Watch how to rename the user’s folder in Windows 10. Did you like the video? Click Like button and subscribe to Hetman Software channel. We will be glad to answer any questions in comments.
When I opened computer management the "Local Users and Groups" folder was not there. So alternatively I navigated to the users via the file explorer. When I tried to change the username I wanted to, an error appeared stating there was a file or folder that was open in another program. When I checked my task manager under that user nothing appeared to be open. I would appreciate some help because I am having difficulties downloading programs.
can I apply same settings (safely) on windows 7 ?
Please answer
Cannot rename user folder name step 3 after step 2
@@iantempleton8026 same here
i disliked the video ;-(
hey just letting you know you may want to put a space after "Administrator" in your first step in the description, incase anyone copies it from there, its a different command.
Thanks
No. Is not working. After all this steps, Windows is in endless login loop.
try entering safe mode and redo all these steps back to the original name.
how this is the same mine huhuhu please help how can i turn it back same as before.. tyers somthing wrong with my pc all change gow xanni turn it back as before please help
Same as me huhuj
Thanks. But, what if you have only one account "the administrator account".. What are the steps please?
Save all needed data, all steps are the same
At 1:55 I get a "The action can't be completed because the file or folder is open in another program" when trying to change the folder name in Drive C. I've tried everything i can think of (?)
Well This Video Plus the Last Video i watched Messed up my Computer so i just thought it would be better off if i factory reset my computer... Thanks Anyways... Glad to see this worked on a selected few...
I dont have local users and groups
proly cause you have windows 10 home
I followed the steps on Windows 10 home, after making the changes I can't log in to my previous account. Keeps saying there was some problem in logging in. Please help
same error bruh i got the fix lemme know if you need it sense this was 9 months ago lol
Bro same problem
@@Clearthestreet How did you fix it?
@@param3105 so you know the first step he did right??? When he changes the name. change it back to the previous name *THE SAME CAPS AND SAME LOWER CASES*
@@Clearthestreet where you change it in regedit or run (netpwliz)
*DO NOT TRY THIS! I had to do a system restore. Create a restore point first just in case!!!!!!*
does it work?
@@cincaila Yes, I had to system restore my PC. Fortunately the restore point was only one week earlier. I had to update Chrome but apart from that everything was back to normal, all my files were accessible.
Same here
I lost everything because of this video. Could you help me to restore please...
@@maxrogers1617 You can't do much without backup because it messes with registry and files
Thank You so much! I'm pretty much a novice, but I was able to correct user name folder. At first I couldn't rename the folder, but after I completely shut down a couple of times it worked. It took a VERY long time to get through the registry and I was very careful doing so. The only entry I wasn't able to change or rename was the OemPath. Thanks again.
We are glad that our video was helpful for you. If you have any questions, we will gladly answer them.
I managed to rename my user folder only with login in Safe mode. Also, log out doesn't help, in this video, all the time when the author did logout/login I rebooted my system to see changes and to avoid the blue screen windows error.
Renaming in safe mode worked for me as well. I kept getting the "folder is open in another program" error while trying to do it in the administrator account
Thank you for your education. I have a question, when we make administrator account, Does it take up volume of drive C and not erase later?
The account itself doesn't take up much space.
PLEASE HELP I skipped half of the video and started doing the fourth step (without being in the administrator account) I changed every search result but some of them where in the "value name" tab so i couldn't edit them! it finished searching through registry but it didn't work, my user still has it's old name. I'm afraid I ruined my laptop should I revert the changes I made or is there another way to fix things up?
I know i'm dumb i'm probably gonna rename it all back when I find some patience, hope my computer doesn't crash until then T.T
Please, watch the video
I think I may have messed up because my PC is making multiple temp folders.
kkkkkkk
It really bugs me that even after a clean install my C:/users is still 'samue' (apparently a clumsy typo I made at some point when building my computer - I'd hoped a clean install would give me the option to change it!). However, I think I'm just going to live with it. At some point in the future I'll upgrade and do it again. Judging by some of the comments below this process can cause problems and I'm not confident enough not to mess it up somehow.
lol mine said "johnn" instead of John, but there's a way easier way to do this! Regularly there is no rename option when you right-click the user folder but for some reason if you go into the C drive/OS drive >Users folder, then use the top right search bar and search the folder you want to rename and right-click it in the search window the rename feature is there! It worked for me. I'm sure that the path is still the same but I'm happy if the folder is just renamed. I Hope this helps.
@@Ilikecodzombies Haha thanks - weirdly enough this works! You're right that the path is still the same, but it no longer annoys me when I see it there in the folder!
I also used this video to mess up my computer. My fault, but you should have suggested exporting the registry before making the changes. That way, when it fails, you can at least import your registry values and get your machine back to the way it was before.
please helo how can i restore huhuhu
Thanks a lot! Seems to be working. Hopefully didn't do any mistakes 🙄😅
P.s. After posting this comment, I saw other ones and am glad that I didn't read any of those before just doing it "step-by-step"! You can't skip anything unless told. It's not enough to sign in as Administrator and simply rename the target folder, e g. Maxim > Max. You MUST do the sh*t with registry part, otherwise your computer won't simply understand where all old paths are leading to. Btw I have Windows Home 10 and it worked well! 🔥🔥🔥
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I need you help how can I undo everything i did because I skip the first part and went straight to regedit and started changing the file names. And now my windows says “We can’t sign in to your account” please I need your help
Why would you skip a step in changing pc data???
Well, this is a good tutorial but needs a little improvement.
For me it worked perfectly but before you do all these steps, clean up your temp files because you will need to do a lot of changes specially if you have your windows installed a long time ago. In this video, seems to be a fresh install.
This broke my user. I did everything according to instructions. Used RegEditX to rename all occurances of the user in one go and now the user is corrupt. Windows keep saying "Preparing windows" followed by "We were unable to sign in to your account" upon login.
Reset OS
@@HetmanRecovery How please? Why did this happen? No warning😒.
Did you fix it? I just followed the video step by step with Windows 10 Home, and I ran into the same problem.
Worked great. I have window 10 home so had to change about 50 items in registry. But your instructions were clear and easy to follow. Thank you very much.
We are glad that our video was helpful for you. If you have any questions, we will gladly answer them.
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My eyes are bleeding changing a plathora of file names...there should have a shorter method...no wonder why windows failed in mobile market...any change is so complex...now I am wishing I should not have opted to do this...
@@HetmanRecovery hello can you help me? when i press rename folder and rename it it will say the folder is in use
@Hetman Recovery Thank you for this video. I have one question: There are several hundred instances of my current user folder name in the registry, it would take forever to change them all with regedit. In your video you suggest that this step is not necessary if you have Windows 10 Pro (which I do), is that my correct understanding? Do these entries all get changed when you rename in the Computer Management/Local Usersand Groups?
No, but you can use the software linked to this several hundred instances
I'm trying to use Python in VS Code and Python path didn't like that there was a space in my User Folder name. Keep in mind my laptop is about 5 years old, but has plenty of RAM, processing power and space. BUT, that means that I have a LOT of files and paths there. After investigating the potential issues with changing your User folder name, I made a back-up of my files and created a system image so I could restore my laptop to its original state. I proceeded to change the folder name according to these instructions. While these instructions work, because Python doesn't install in the Programs folder, and installs into the Users folder, it was a big mess because none of the Python paths updated to the new User folder. In fact, my system keeps creating a new User folder with my old name in spite of the fact that I renamed my folder in the Admin account. So, later I went in through the Admin account again to delete the User folder that had reappeared AND to double-check again for any paths with the old Users name. Those related to Python that needed to be changed were HUNDREDS!! Ugh! I just can't make all of those changes and keep up with my web development course. So, I'm going to install all of my course software and files to a desktop that I have (the User folder name doesn't have a space, thank goodness) and wait for some advice on what to do about my laptop. I suspect that the solution will be to use the system image to restore the laptop to its original state and continue my development work on the desktop.
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In computer management , I am not getting the option "Local users and groups", kindly help me with it..
That is beacuse you are using a "Home" Version of windows. This option only appears in advanced versions such as pro or enterprise.
Hi. Would that affect my computer in anyway? I only need to change my C:\users name as on Android SDK, my SDK path has whitespaces that I need to get rid of.
I got to the folder after I clicked on local disk C but there wasn't a rename option.
Make sure you have an administrator rights on this PC
Go to the user folder
Put the name of your user folder in the search bar
Once your folder appears, rename it as you'd like
Note that this does not change the path to this folder, but only the shown name of it.
Alternative Video Title: How to destroy your computer in 5:58 minutes.
it actually worked for me so I mean.
Não
"net user Administrator/active:yes" is wrong "net user Administrator /active:yes" is correct.
Thanks!
I am getting error message on the action shown on time lapse 2:15. The message was that the folder 'Action can't be completed because the folder in it is opened by another program'. Can you please suggest ? I verified that nothing is opened from that folder.
Had the same problem,
Just restart pc
Reconnect Microsoft account
4:24 showing
error writing the value's new contents
What to do next?
The video is quite old, maybe some ways don't work anymore :(
@@HetmanRecovery i skip some file which shoe error and finish it
Now when I use the laptop many file showing not found what should I do now how to reverse the changes
Well, there's what feels like a year of my life gone...
Don't know who to hate more. This guy for leading me down this path, or myself for doing it.
Jesus H Christ.
It worked almost 100% fine for me, the only thing I had to do afterwards was to remove my browser extensions and add them again. Thanks for this tutorial!
We are glad that our video was helpful for you. If you have any questions, we will gladly answer them.
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YOU THE MAN! Thank you so much. Clear, concise, and professional.
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TIP for the last step use the advanced regedit instead it hase find and replace way quicker
Don't do this if your not sure what your changing. I was renaming the shit for like half an hour then restarted my pc and ended up with most of my setting reconfigured. Had to restore my pc to the last restore point. Not worth the time and effort. Congrats to those of you who managed to get it working.
Never do this! There are entries in the registry in the video did not hit. There are also numerous entries wherein it does not have the drive letter. Also, they’re not editable. I ended up messing my search functionality in system.
I’m reading this after I’m 90% done lmao.
It’s so hot in here all of a sudden!
Seems to work just fine for me. Windows 10 Pro. I did the final step where he said to search for files carrying the old name and managed to change a couple. I didn’t change the ones that say something like "waiting for a rename". Works fine.
If you are doing this DELETE "Microsoft OneDrive" Because when you go to do the "Regedit" and check that your Old Name is Gone It will make this a PAIN IN THE ASS!!! Thanks for the Video! Worked Great!!!
Okay, so I did the Regedit without removing onedrive. Is there a workaround for it that you did?
Is it okay to delete the Users/Administrator folder after completing this process?
its working, thank you, but theres is 1 question. in C:\Users\ there is new folder named "Administrator". Is that folder will last forever ? or i can delete it, because before i do step at the video, that folder doesn't exist. is that folder consume memory ? Thank you.
Try entering into command prompt: “net user Administrator /active:no”
or through the Control Panel - Administration - Security Policy
during rename in C drive it tells, another program is using it and so couldn't rename it
Is This In Answer To The Problem?
A person gets a new second hand computer. Then puts the old drive (for storage) in the said W10 desktop and then can't access the said hard drive's files and folders. Is The Answer Yes?
When I try to rename the folder in step 3, it denies the action saying the file is open in anotuer another program
gta4everrr me to I’m afraid that I damaged my pc 😭
gta4everrr
Were able to solve this?
Nikesh Mewada No don’t ever try to perform what is in the video
F 505 Thanks :)
I know this might be a bit of a late post on this, but in case someone runs across this, here's what I did (b/c I had run into the same issue at first--not saying this will work for everyone, maybe I fluked into it, but it fixed it for me):
+ In the video he says make sure to sign out of the account you're trying to change--which I would assume is true. But for me, strangely even though I did that, I don't think it 'fully signed out'--hence the denial prompt.
+ So in my frustration of contantly wondering why it kept telling me the folder was being used elsewhere, I did this: COMPLETELY RESTART/SHUTDOWN (if you don't get the result w/ mere 'restart' then 'shutdown' should give the desired result). Don't just 'sign out' or 'log out', completely free/close any of your computers running process (those you know and don't know are going on) by shutting the bish down.
+ When you cut your computer back on go directly into Admin profile---DON'T TOUCH signing into the one you're trying to change (yet) b/c the moment you do you're gonna get a whole bunch of unknown processes starting in the background and you're going be right back where you start w/ not being able to change the name b/c of 'another program' using it.
+ Once back in the Admin profile, proceed to trying step 3, again. At that point you should be able to change the name. Then once you do so just proceed w/ the rest of the steps.
To turn off the administrator account just type in " net user Administrator /active:no " back in the admin command prompt
Cal eightsevenfive thank you so much
I was so paranoid and couldn’t think of what to do
THIS IS NOT WORKING FOR ME!!! I cant find the user and groups option in computer management and now I am stuck with an administrator account that i cant delete
What do I do when I get a registry error after following the instructions? Did system restore but now it looks like I’m screwed. Can you help?
Find a video on our channel: How to restore Windows OS
I'm stuck at the main folder renaming, it says "the folder is open in another program" I HATE MY COMPUTER
Hello,
Is it possible to automate the process of renaming the user's folder in hundreds of file paths by writing a script?
what for?...
@@HetmanRecovery I have two laptops on each one the user's folder name was entered in a way that causes problems installing specific software ( i.e. Anaconda). On one laptop the user's folder name was entered with non-ascii characters, and on the other laptop the user's folder name uses a space character between two words. Anaconda refuses to be installed in these folders because of this and also doesn't allow me to install it anywhere else. I'm new at using computers professionally and programming and only now I'm beginning to understand things about how Windows works with folders.
I activated an administrator account where everything works just great but I want to see if I can fix this problem. I started renaming the files with the former name but there are just too many of them. This is why I thought of using an automated script. So, I've just begun learning about scripting. What do you think?
I did this step by step as shown and it stuffed up my computer, made the loose desktop items and files also made the other user start loading in as a temp user . It was hard getting it back to normal but still lost alot of files which I'm still trying to get back.
ohh brother my users folder have got crashed and the complete user account also, I have lost all my files.
Watch video, did You make a backup
@All OfCanada this worked for me! thankyou so much for that tip, after seeing how much stuff i would have had to go through i was losing motivation, but this totally changed everything across the board!
Kudos. This worked for me but I had to rename folder paths for like 40 minutes or so. Thanks!
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When i i type "net user Administrator/active:yes" in the command prompt it says
The syntax of this command is:
NET USER
[username [password | *] [options]] [/DOMAIN]
username {password | *} /ADD [options] [/DOMAIN]
username [/DELETE] [/DOMAIN]
username [/TIMES:{times | ALL}]
username [/ACTIVE: {YES | NO}]
Nevermind it works now
Bossburnz how did you sort this?
@@TOMMYGUN1 there has to be a space between Administrator and the slash
I changed the names from regedit and I get errors. Also, I can not restore the computer (probably due to regedit) how do i restore regedit as it was before?
monte voutsas change name old one which you use last... you will be restore
Thanks.
I’m using windows 10 home. I need to change too many file name. I spend too much time to do this.
It´s not working after regedit step, windows completely set new profile.....!!
After doing this my window search not working same as yours not working at the last in this video, please tell me how to get it resolved.
Reconnect Microsoft account
@@HetmanRecovery i did it, but problm not solved, my window got crashed after doing this, and i have to restore my window and my important data got lost. I will never follow your videos. You should tell your subscribe it can damage your pc after doing this. Do it at your own risk. If you give this lable line, I never did it.
Great video. Worked perfectly other than one problem... the original named folder reappears on startup even when it's been deleted. It is empty other than 'Appdata' Folder
Can you help?
No, leave it, or reinstall Windows
Okay, so question 1: What if I don't have "Local Users and Groups" listed?
How do I tell what version I have? I just bought a new Acer Nitro 5 Laptop and it came with Windows 10 on it. I have been very reluctant and defiant to use Windows 10 after the horrible experience I had with Windows 8.
Question 2: What to do when it won't let you rename it? I don't even know how it named it in the first place, but the user folder is named dalki. What the heck is that? I never typed that in anywhere when the system first booted up for the first time.
I have the same laptop and same issue. It named itself "camde" and annoys the hell out of me.
Make a "factory reset"
After renaming user folder I signd out from my administrator account and signd into the actual account I entered my password and pressed enter after now showing Preparing windows what want to do now
I just ended up deleting the user and making another one. It's much better this way
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I couldn't change these following registry values: CALLINGBINARY, EXEPATH and NAMESPACE. Can you help me fix it?
Same thing happened to me. What did you do?
It became so annoying that I reinstalled windows 10 in the end. After the reinstallation, I made a user account with the right name and then I made the account to a Microsoft account.
@@axedyson Ah okay. Thank you for the info. I guess i too will have to do the same now. :(
I uninstalled OneDrive, after a reboot (as administrator) the entries disappeared
Here's the solution for that: www.howtogeek.com/262464/how-to-gain-full-permissions-to-edit-protected-registry-keys/
You have to change permissions for that key to include the user doing the reg edits.
thank you sir i subbed to your channel also the people who are spreading hate comments of it should not be so hard dont pay attention to them
I HV windows 10 pro but when I try to rename user Forder name in computer drive c it does not allow me to do it
It saying access denied in my command prompt pls someone help🙂😑
I think it doesn't work for administrator users...
There is another way you can do it.
Press Windows key + R, type: netplwiz or control userpasswords2 then hit Enter.
Select the account, then click Properties
This did not work for me. I signed into the Administrator account and tried to rename the user, but a dialog box popped up saying, "The action can't be completed because the folder or a file in it is open in another program. Close the folder or file and try again." I can't get past this point, no matter what I do... And upon going into Registry Editor and attempting to edit strings, a dialog box pops up saying, "Cannot edit: [string name here]: Error writing the value's new contents." Don't know what I did wrong here. I cannot rename the user account the traditional way through settings or the control panel. I have tried everything out there. Basically I have two user accounts which are both set up as administrators - I never wanted this! I just want one administrator account and I also want to rename this, but cannot.
Ok, so after installing an update on my computer and starting it back up, then logging into the Administrator account and trying again - it let me change my user folder name. Woohoo!
I then repeated the steps where I made sure that all the files in the directory under the old folder name were updated. Held my breath. Logged back into my account - success!
Was able to follow the steps in the video to deactivate the other administrator account which I had no use for. Success! My suggestion to people would be to install any updates at which point you're automatically logged out of any accounts that were running in the background, and therefore no message pops up saying that the user folder is open when it isn't- because you are logged out.
I just got this surface pro 7 earlier this month and so I am still learning how to do pretty basic actions like this still, but the video all in all was helpful. It just bugged me how my name on the user folder was cut off. Annoying but if you follow his steps and take my advice you will likely be successful as well.
Is there a shortcut to replace old name with new name once for all, rather than find next externally?
No
Stuck at computer management, should increate 2 user in my laptop?
Thank you. It worked for me.
I don't have the Local Users and Groups, What do I do
Thank you so, so much. I can't even begin to express to you the sincerity with which I type this. I bought my PC used from someone on Ebay five years ago. Ever since then, I have been installing new programs, games, etc. and have also changed out nearly every single piece of hardware inside of it. It's almost not even the same computer anymore.
And yet, one thing persisted. One measly little insignificant detail that irked me more and more each day I was forced to acknowledge it. That detail was simple- everything was done under C:/Users/Nick. I guess that was the name of the guy who owned it before. Either way, I have tried here and there over the years to change the name, but to no avail.
But today. Today that changed. Today, I have exterminated the seemingly interminable vermin that was C:/Users/Nick. There were also some unforeseen issues, such as the fact that I had to end almost every process in task manager before I could edit the file. But today... today, this PC belongs to C:/Users/Connor. FINALLY, I PREVAIL.
This video was the one that finally walked me through it. Thank you so much for making it.
Sincerely, Connor
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DO WE NEED TO CHANGE THE OLD NAME TO THE NEW ONES IN ANOTHER REGISTRY ? I FOUND ALMOST 500 REGISTRY WITH THE SAME FORMAT C:\Users\xxxx, please tell me if you know about it..
I can't find the local users and groups :/
I'm a techy and after watching half of this even I don't want to do it but there's too much at sake and I can't just reinstall easily Linux. Thumbs up to the video for confirming what's involved it sucks that it's not easier
It's very simple
i followed all the steps and now i cant sign back in
name all the folders u changed back to the way they were before
After this windows search option is not working. I didn't edit one registry named oem because it said it cannot be edited. How can I solve this?
edit like admininstrator
I have successfully changed the user name. Now, my task bar is not working anymore. I cant click the windows icon and other buttons like wifi and sound. Any help?
System File Checker is a utility in Windows 10 that checks for problems with files on your computer. To run it, follow these steps:
- In the search box on the taskbar, type Command Prompt, and right-click or press and hold Command Prompt (Desktop app) from the list of results. Select Run as administrator, and then select Yes.
- Type DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth (note the space before each "/"), and then press Enter. (Note: This step may take a few minutes to start and up to 30 minutes to complete.)
- After you see a message that says "The operation completed successfully," type sfc /scannow (note the space between "sfc" and "/") and press Enter.
Is there no easy way to change my windows local account? I miss typed my username ,and when I open command prompt cmd.exe it always shows my miss typed username, it's really annoying.
no easy way
I tried this but it didn’t work. The user’s name didn’t change then it just created temp folders. Why is that?
There is another way you can do it.
Press Windows key + R, type: netplwiz or control userpasswords2 then hit Enter.
Select the account, then click Properties
I am not an expert user but I do need to change my user name and I have no one to turn to. What would you recommend me to do as I dare not save anything on my computer that bears a name that I do not want it to appear.
I had to undo everything because my "quick access" in folders wasn't working after i followed your steps. Can you please help because i would still like to change my name
Watch video and run all "as administrator"
@@HetmanRecovery I had watched the entire video and did every step, including activating the administrator account
Don't forget Make a backup
You might also want to mention that the user PATH vars needs to be changed as well. But thanks man!
My go I owe you a beer. Could not figure out for the life of me why I could NEVER install MSI files. Tried everything I could find on the web about the windows installer. Didn't work. Suddenly today I noticed my Users folder had a space in front of it's name somehow. Used this guide and everything so far is great. TY!
I can’t find the rename button in fourth steps
Worked for me. I recommend you follow his steps.
olasunkanmi its messed up
You're a lifesaver thanks a bunch!
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Sir in my laptop
In computer Management..
Threre is no option of #Local users and groups
Please help to another way..
it`s because you have win 10 home not pro, you can just skip the step
Hi I changed my username thanks to your video. When installing a package (dependencies: intl) through visual studio code I get an error saying that the wizard setup was unable to create the directory "C:\Users\{old username}". Do you know why?
start setup like administrator
Hey can you help me? The name was changed from nisth to nistha but now it's showing location c:
isth\onedrive\desktop not found
Watch the video
Tedious as heck, but it worked on my clean w10 install
This doesn't work for me... neither ways... I tried going back after changing all the files to the name I want, and it says that I will lose things if I continue, so I have to log out... And the folder inside the file itself still never changed names... Is that is what screwing me over? If so... How do I fix this?
hi , have you solved your problem?
@@HetmanRecovery For some reason, I just couldn't get it to work. I did everything, word for word, and I couldn't get anywhere... Not saying this doesn't work. I see that lots of other people got it to work lol. But I just couldn't for some reason. So after a point, I just dedided to Reboot my computer, clearing most stuff, but not files and such, which then allowed me to change my name (Since I changed it before the reboot, it saved the name) But thank you for the guide!