User Account from Computer Name?

New laptop Windows 10 Home setup resulted in C:\Users\Public and C:\Users\<Hydra> folder - Where <Hydra> was the Computer Name assigned during config process. Logon is via "John Doe" Microsoft ID and the only User appearing under Control Panel -> User Accounts is "John Doe", john.doe@gmail.com, Administrator, Password Protected. Net User lists - Administrator, John, DefaultAccount, Guest and WDAGUtilityAccount as User Accounts for \\Hydra.

Prior machines setup typically resulted in User folder(s) with names representative of login account(s) - For instance, in the above case, a "John" User folder. When attempting to add a "John" Local User, Windows complains with "Please try another name..." or some such.

What occurred during the setup process to create the only User Folder with Computer Name?

And how do I create a User with "John" Login Name?

Or how can I login with Computer Name to coincide with User Folder?

Ideally, what might work best is Administrator account same as Computer Name along with Daily logon "John" Standard User account.(Didn't attempt creation of "Hydra" User for fear of screwing something up even more...)

Sounds like you need to create a temporary local account, such as tempadmin. Make it an administrator. Log in to it. Then delete the other user account(s) and start over. Once you get your real user accounts set up the way you want, then delete the tempadmin user account.

NavyLCDR said:

Sounds like you need to create a temporary local account, such as tempadmin. Make it an administrator. Log in to it. Then delete the other user account(s) and start over. Once you get your real user accounts set up the way you want, then delete the tempadmin user account.

Thanks for the feedback.

Thought of the additional Admin "temp" account approach - Problem is that there is NO <Hydra> account listed that corresponds to the mystery \User\Folder with same name... And conversely, trying to create the wanted "John" account that would correspond to MS logon first name fails with Windows message mentioned.

rljames said:

Thanks for the feedback.

Thought of the additional Admin "temp" account approach - Problem is that there is NO <Hydra> account listed that corresponds to the mystery \User\Folder with same name... And conversely, trying to create the wanted "John" account that would correspond to MS logon first name fails with Windows message mentioned.

Make sure to delete all other user accounts before trying to create what you want.

NavyLCDR said:

Make sure to delete all other user accounts before trying to create what you want.

Reluctant to go down the "Delete ALL Users" path - Can you explain how this will "fix" the issues outlined?

(Generally everything on this new machine appears to be working as expected - Only anomaly is John.Doe MS ID (john.doe@gmail.com) User Login where documents are stored in <MachineName> (Hydra) folder... Manageable BUT would like to better understand how/why this occurred and what, if any, impact it might have going forward...)

Thanks again for continuing to offer help.

If you want the user folder under C:\Users to match the actual username, the safest way to do that is to delete the user account the user folder is attached to and then recreate it as a local account. For example, I create a local account with my name, John, and the folder under C:\Users gets created as John. Then I convert that local account to a MS Account and I log in with my email address, but my user folder retains it's original name of John.

If I created my user account as a MS account first, then the user folder would be created as johnm and not what I want. In your case, when you delete the user accounts, the folders under C:\Users will also get deleted. When you recreate your user accounts, especially if you start with local accounts, user folders that match the user names should get created.

NavyLCDR said:

If you want the user folder under C:\Users to match the actual username, the safest way to do that is to delete the user account the user folder is attached to and then recreate it as a local account. For example, I create a local account with my name, John, and the folder under C:\Users gets created as John. Then I convert that local account to a MS Account and I log in with my email address, but my user folder retains it's original name of John.

If I created my user account as a MS account first, then the user folder would be created as johnm and not what I want. In your case, when you delete the user accounts, the folders under C:\Users will also get deleted. When you recreate your user accounts, especially if you start with local accounts, user folders that match the user names should get created.

Sorry for hijacking the thread, I assume the contents in the old user folder name will not be transferred to the new user folder in the new account and this means starting all over again . Maybe then it best to keep the old user folder name and its contents and not delete it . Can the info be copied over to the new folder name?

I assume the contents in the old user folder name will not be transferred to the new user folder in the new account

Correct, they are separate users with their own folders and contents.

Maybe then it best to keep the old user folder name and its contents and not delete it . Can the info be copied over to the new folder name?

This is the easiest thing to do, if all you want is to change the User name under C:/Users. Just open This PC for each user in side by side windows, then Copy all the folder contents to the corresponding New User's folders; eg, Pictures to Pictures, Music to Music, etc. Once you're satisfied, the original, undesired User can be deleted, as long as the New User is an Admin.