Change Name of User Profile Folder in Windows 10  

lilyperrin said:

Hi Brink,
I followed the instructions above (I used the built-in Administrator account) but when I returned to my user account, I got a critical error saying that the Start Menu doesn't work! I tried to undo the steps hoping if I did that it'd be fine but that didn't do it either. Is this a known problem? Do you have any advice for me?
Thanks, Lily

Hello Lily, and welcome.

I haven't seen this happen before by just renaming the user profile folder.

Just to confirm, did you also do step 14 to create the symbolic link?

You can see if re-registering the Start Menu using an option below may fix it.

Re-register Start Menu in Windows 10

If not, then you could try the Start Menu troubleshooter below.

Start Menu Troubleshooter in Windows 10

If still not, then you could try doing a system restore below using a restore point dated before you made these changes.

System Restore Windows 10

lilyperrin said:

Hello,

Thank you for your speedy reply!
Yes I did follow Step 14 I think - I can see the shortcut in the Users folder although I think I may have done it in "standard" command prompt instead of elevated command prompt (I'm not sure if there's a difference when using the built-in admin account but I tried doing it again after intentionally going into the elevated command prompt and it hasn't resolved the Start menu issue)

I tried the re-registering the start menu thing and that didn't resolve the issue.

I then used the Start menu troubleshooter you suggested and found the following issues ""Microsoft.Windows.ShellExperienceHost" and "Microsoft.Windows.Cortana" applications need to be installed correctly." but the troubleshooter didn't resolve these for me.
Note: I did kill the Shell experience host thing in task manager when trying to re-register the start menu so I don't know if that may have caused that error.

Do you have a restore point available?

Oaklae said:

Hi, im glad to have found your guide, but everything except step 14 worked. It said something about not being able to find the folder, but i double and triple checked and looking at the folder on file explorer it's renamed and all the stuff in it looks correct. Also my user doesn't seem to have OneDrive, but i am signed in with a Microsoft account, not a local one. I'm thinking/hoping everything just worked out without needing to do step 14 and 15, but If you know why it was saying it couldn't find the folder when doing step 14, please reply and let me know. Also if i find issues with shortcuts with the folder from not being able to do step 14, then i will come back to further look into it.

Hello Oaklae, and welcome.

Step 14 is more of a safety step in case something still references the old profile name. It's not really needed unless you something is.

Double check to make sure you use the correct folder name and path in the correct order for the command.