How to change your user account name in Windows 10

When you first install Windows 10, you either create a local user account or Microsoft account. For local accounts, you must specify a name whereas for Microsoft accounts, it takes the name from your online profile which you can manage by going to account.microsoft.com. Your user name also becomes your logon name. Also, a separate display name is generated based on the name you typed. Usually, your first name becomes the logon name and your full name is stored as the display name. You can easily change both - your display name as well as your logon name without creating a new user account. Let me show you how it's done.

In Windows XP, the Welcome screen was introduced for the first time with display pictures and a display name. It was a more friendly user interface compared to the classic logon dialog, which did not allow you sign in by clicking on your name or picture.

The Welcome screen still exists in Windows 10. It shows the user's display name, which is different from the logon name. The display name can be anything. It supports special characters like " / \ [ ] : ; | = , + * ? < >. The logon name can't include these special characters.

The display name can be changed from User Accounts Control Panel for local accounts. But there are several cases where you might need to view or change your logon name. For example, in an enterprise network, you need to know it to sign in to Active Directory. Depending on the devices you have and your home network setup, the logon name may be required to access various network shares or administrative resources on another PC. If you need to change it, follow these simple instructions.

1. Press Win + R shortcut keys together on the keyboard to open the Run dialog. In the Run box, type the following and press Enter to open the Local Users and Groups tool:

lusrmgr.msc

Tip: See the ultimate list of all Windows keyboard shortcuts with Win keys.

1. Click the "Users" folder in the left pane.
2. In the screenshot below, you can see that my actual logon name (user account name) is st, but the logon screen of Windows 10 shows the display name, which is 'Sergey Tkachenko'.
3. To change the logon name, select the user from the list in the right pane, right click it and choose Rename.
4. The first column of the user list will become editable, so you can specify a new logon name:
   Press Enter. Now you can close Local Users and Groups.

That's all. This method of changing your logon name works since Windows 2000. But ever since Windows XP, the User Accounts Control Panel only lets you change the user name, not the logon name. Also, ever since Microsoft Accounts were introduced, you need to go to account.microsoft.com using your internet browser to change your display name.

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