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27 thoughts on “How to Rename User Profile Folder in Windows 10”

  1. This is amazing! I have the worst profile folder name because when I installed windows and use my outlook account, Windows decided the first 5 letters of my first name was enough for the folder name. :/

    Now I can finally change it to what I want! I thought it was impossible. Thanks!

  2. Is it possible that WinAero Tweaker could ask for the new name and warn the user that everything will be shutdown and rebooted, then with the user’s approval set up the rename to run at next boot, update the registry, and reboot immediately? That would be cool.

  3. Thank you very much for this guide, I was in the same situation as Sojiro84 after doing a clean install of Windows.

  4. I tried this but Win 10 wouldn’t let me rename the user folder.

    I’m guessing this might be because I moved some Libraries to D: (e.g. `Documents`, `Downloads`, `Music`, `Pictures`, `Videos` and `Contacts`.

    Is there any way to rename the folder given the above ???

    Thanks, Brendan.

  5. I was able to rename the user folder, but whenever I open the newly named folder, I get a “Location is unavailable” error. My PC seems to be searching for the old folder name. This error doesn’t prevent me from accessing my files, but it’s annoying to get this error message every time I open my Documents folder.

  6. Brilliant!

    At the folder-rename stage I got a message that the folder couldn’t renamed because it was in use (“close the application and try again”). Restarted and signed in as the temporary local account, and all was well.

  7. It worked , thank you very much, for the people that get an error when trying to change the name of the old user folder, make sure that all the user accounts are logged out.

  8. Awesome! Microsoft’s “official” experts say that it can’t be done, but your article is quite efficient. The only trouble I had was that even though I logged out of my target profile, it still said that the folder couldn’t be renamed because the folder or files in it were open in another program. A restart and direct login to an admin account resolved it.

    Effective solutions such as this one makes me think that Microsoft’s community support team members are just a bunch of flunkies who only know how to post unrelated canned responses… (maybe it’s actually their “AI” that’s posting the unhelpful, irritating comments? (In Microsoft’s case, “AI” = “Artificial Ignorance”, or “Artificial Idiot”…)

      1. When will the rename user folder feature be added to winareo tweaker? Will it do all the edits, registry and file system to ensure everything still points to the new path? Including outlook………..

  9. It worked rather seamlessly, however I noticed nothing appears when I search in Settings. (Ie, “No results found for ____”)

    Any way to fix that?

  10. I used this method and lost everything that was on my desktop and i had lots of things there. I reset to the original folder name but all is gone. IS there a way to actually recover the original folder content?

  11. Сергей, thank you so much for this amazing trick. My user profile folder name was driving me crazy for a while(idk, Windows decided to name it 5 first letters if my email). All the apps and programs run fine.

  12. I did this exactly, and yes, my user folder and path now says the correct name.

    BUT… there is an issue. When I run \net user to see the list, the old name still shows as the name for the account in Windows cmd. If I try to take control of a file or folder, the old name comes up and not the one that shows in the path.

    So this may change the username folder path, but it does not change the issue for recognized account names where it matters.

    How can I fix this?

  13. OK, so I went into Properties in the user account thumbnail for my OneDrive, and the account name was still the old one. I changed that, and then when I went back into the cmd and typed net user, there it was, correct.

    I am going to move the Windows.old folder into the Recycle Bin for a bit to see how everything works for a few days.

    Sergey, i would recommend adding this step to the article for the future, as if someone wants to assume ownership of folders or files, this step helps smooth out any incongruities.

    Thank you for the article, and have a good weekend!

  14. PLEASE HELP! I have followed everything now my main account is blank, there is nothing… Can I do it bakc?

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