Renaming a system folder?

  • Thread starter Thread starter dkb
  • Start date Start date
D

dkb

My C drive has a folder " the Documents and settings". Clicking on this
folder showes me four folders namely: Administrator, All Users, Default
User and another with the name (xxx).
I would like to rename (xxx) to (yyy). How would I do it?
Please guide?
Thanks in advance.
 
Hello,

You will need to create a new user with the preferred name and transfer the
data from the old account to the new account.

After creating a new user from Start > Control Panel > User Accounts, follow
this guide to transfer the settings to the new account
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/811151

Once done, login to your new account and check if everything works out
normal. You may then delete the old account (using User Accounts) to free up
space, or leave it as it is.

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http://www.bootstrike.com/WinXP/faq.html
Windows XP FAQ
 
You will have to change the SID's ProfileImagePath at:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList

Open the Registry editor and navigate to the key and find the correct
SID (S-1-5-21-.... series of numbers) associated to the folder. Rename
the folder and change the ProfileImagePath value to reflect the changes.

John
 
dkb said:
My C drive has a folder " the Documents and settings". Clicking on this
folder showes me four folders namely: Administrator, All Users, Default
User and another with the name (xxx).
I would like to rename (xxx) to (yyy). How would I do it?
Please guide?
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...


The user profile folders (C:\Documents and Settings\Username)
_cannot_ be renamed, even if the associated user account has been.
So, your best course of action would be to log on using the built-in
Administrator account, create a new user account, with the username
desired. You can then delete the old user account(s).

HOW TO Create and Configure User Accounts in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;279783

How to Copy User Data to a New User Profile
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;811151


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. -Bertrand Russell
 
Bruce said:
The user profile folders (C:\Documents and Settings\Username)
_cannot_ be renamed, even if the associated user account has been.
So, your best course of action would be to log on using the built-in
Administrator account, create a new user account, with the username
desired. You can then delete the old user account(s).

HOW TO Create and Configure User Accounts in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;279783

How to Copy User Data to a New User Profile
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;811151
Click to expand...

I have not probably expressed my problem properly:

When my PC boots I have to click on (yyy) who is the Administrator to
log in.

My C:\Documents and settings has Administrator, All Users, Default
User,Local Services, Network Services and one more with the name (xxx).
Now (xxx) name has to be changed to the name (yyy).

User accounts window has (yyy),ASP.Net Machine, and Guest account off.


In classic view, when I click on My Documents folder and then to my
Scans, The address bar shows:
C:\Documents and Settings\(xxx)\My Documents\My Scans, while as I would
want to have C:\Documents and Settings\(yyy)\My Documents\My Scans.
 
dkb said:
I have not probably expressed my problem properly:

When my PC boots I have to click on (yyy) who is the Administrator to
log in.

My C:\Documents and settings has Administrator, All Users, Default
User,Local Services, Network Services and one more with the name (xxx).
Now (xxx) name has to be changed to the name (yyy).

User accounts window has (yyy),ASP.Net Machine, and Guest account off.


In classic view, when I click on My Documents folder and then to my
Scans, The address bar shows:
C:\Documents and Settings\(xxx)\My Documents\My Scans, while as I would
want to have C:\Documents and Settings\(yyy)\My Documents\My Scans.
Click to expand...

That's what I understood. As I said, the user profile folders,
C:\Documents and Settings\(xxx)\..., *cannot* be renamed.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. -Bertrand Russell
 
dkb said:
I have not probably expressed my problem properly:

When my PC boots I have to click on (yyy) who is the Administrator to
log in.

My C:\Documents and settings has Administrator, All Users, Default
User,Local Services, Network Services and one more with the name (xxx).
Now (xxx) name has to be changed to the name (yyy).

User accounts window has (yyy),ASP.Net Machine, and Guest account off.


In classic view, when I click on My Documents folder and then to my
Scans, The address bar shows:
C:\Documents and Settings\(xxx)\My Documents\My Scans, while as I would
want to have C:\Documents and Settings\(yyy)\My Documents\My Scans.
Click to expand...

So what you are saying is that yyy's profile folder is xxx. YYY
*cannot* rename his profile folder while he is logged on! To rename the
folder logon with the built-in Administrator account, (or another admin
account), rename the folder and then change the ProfileImagePath Value
data at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList. The ProfileImagePath *must* be changed
to reflect the new profile folder name.

John
 
dkb said:
My C drive has a folder " the Documents and settings". Clicking on this
folder showes me four folders namely: Administrator, All Users, Default
User and another with the name (xxx).
I would like to rename (xxx) to (yyy). How would I do it?
Please guide?
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Thanks every one who guided me in this endeavour. Though Bruce said that
it cannot be renamed, curiosity killed the cat, I went ahead with the
guidance that was given by John.
I made one more administrative account and did what John said above. In
the process I got altogether a new interface/profile on the desktop and
all the icons on the desktop of the then yyy were nowhere.
I went to the registry and saw that renaming had only added a period and
now it read xxx.yyy (though renaming was perfect but reboot made it
xxx.yyy ) . So I again renamed to xxx and rebooted to see all back and
then deleted the new administrative account.
 
dkb said:
Thanks every one who guided me in this endeavour. Though Bruce said that
it cannot be renamed, curiosity killed the cat, I went ahead with the
guidance that was given by John.
I made one more administrative account and did what John said above. In
the process I got altogether a new interface/profile on the desktop and
all the icons on the desktop of the then yyy were nowhere.
I went to the registry and saw that renaming had only added a period and
now it read xxx.yyy (though renaming was perfect but reboot made it
xxx.yyy ) . So I again renamed to xxx and rebooted to see all back and
then deleted the new administrative account.
Click to expand...

You're welcome. As I said, you can rename the folder but you *must*
manually make the changes to the ProfileImagePath in the registry,
renaming accounts or folders does not make the necessary changes at the
the key. Also keep in mind that some applications installed under the
old profile path may have "hard coded" pointers to the old name instead
of the %username% variable and they may have to be reinstalled to
properly use the newly renamed folder. Other than that there should be
no problems with the renamed profile folder.

John
 
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