User Account Folder has Wrong Name

HoggyDog · 21 Mar 2017

Just got a new Tablet PC. As it took me through the initial setup process, it truncated my User Name to the first letter. For example, for my username I entered 'Fred' but when I hit Enter the name was shown as 'f' and no way to get back to that screen to change it.

After setup, I used the Accounts name change function in Control Panel to change my account name to Fred, and the change seemed to reverberate correctly throughout the machine... until I had occasion to manually navigate to my Downloads folder to make a shortcut to it- whereupon I found that my path was shown as 'C:\Users\f\Downloads.'

After an hour of research, all I can determine is that the machine still has my username as 'f' and the name change to 'Fred' was purely cosmetic- like an alias, for display purposes only. The Registry shows DefaultUserName=f and the system will not allow me to change the Users\ folder name from 'f' to 'Fred.'

I did a search here and everything I found revolved around my 'Microsoft Account Name," or my "OneDrive Name," neither one of which is something I want or need, and the posts on it were out of date since it claimed that there was no way to change my User Account Name- which I have already (kinda-sorta) done.

I would very much appreciate someone posting or linking a way for me to correct the user FOLDER name to match the alias or whatever it is that correctly shows my Username as 'Fred.' My objective is to find every instance of 'f' and change it to 'Fred.'

Bree · 21 Mar 2017

Welcome to Tenforums,

Yes, this is what happens if you set up the account using your Microsoft account. Windows used a truncated first part of your Microsoft account as the basis for the user folder and account name. If you had set up a local account first the folder name would match the account name you chose. While you can change the account name whenever you wish, as you have found the user folder retains its initial name and cannot be changed.

Local Account or Microsoft Account - How to Tell in Windows 10

Your only remedy is to create a second Local account in the name you wish to use (renaming the first account to something else if it currently has your preferred name). You should make this new account an administrator. Once you have an account and user folder with the name you want, copy any personal files or documents from the original user folder to the new one.
User Account - Add in Windows 10
Account Type - Change in Windows 10

Then you can switch your original 'F' account to a Local account, sign in to the new account and then you will be able to switch that to use your Microsoft account. Then you can use the new account as your main one.
Switch to Local Account in Windows 10
Microsoft Account - Switch to in Windows 10

When you are done, you could delete the old account if you wish. Whatever you do, make sure you have made the new account an administrator before you do that. You must have at least one administrator account on the PC at all times. If you delete the only admin account on the PC you won't be able to install software of make changes to the machine.

If you didn't use a Microsoft account to set up the PC and actually created a local account, but just had a typo problem with the name, then you'll still have to make a new local account to get the user folder name you wish.

NavyLCDR · 21 Mar 2017

HoggyDog said:

I would very much appreciate someone posting or linking a way for me to correct the user FOLDER name to match the alias or whatever it is that correctly shows my Username as 'Fred.' My objective is to find every instance of 'f' and change it to 'Fred.'

The safest way to do what you want to do is go back and change the original account back to "F" the same way you changed it to Fred. Then make a new local user account and name it Fred. Make sure to change it to administrator. Login in to the new account, Fred, and move all your data files from "f" under \users to "Fred" under \users. Then delete the "F" account.

If you try to change all the "F"s to "Fred" you are likely going to end up locked out of your computer completely.

djbillyd · 27 Mar 2019

Look for Brink's tutorial on that. It's the only one that really works. Change Name of User Profile Folder in Windows 10.....