Renaming accounts on New HP Pavilion

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When I set up this computer it asked for a name and I named it Pavilion. It
has a default account that it boots directly into called HP_Administrator. I
like that it boots directly into this account and want to keep it that way,
even though the machine is shared with my wife. It has a lot of preloaded
software that I plan to try out. I have also added office 2003, Photoshop
Elements, Vegas Video + DVD and TiVo Desktop to it, plus a bunch of small
audio and video utility programs. It seems great, but I don't like the
account name. When I access the computer from my TiVo it shows as
"Pavilion(HP_Administrator)" which is long and ugly. I would like to change
the account name, but continue to boot into and have all the exisitng
software continue to work. I fear changing the name might break something.
I asked HP and they said don't change it, things will break. They suggested
creating a new user account. However if I do that, I fear I will get a login
screen instead of direct boot to the desktop and that some or all of the
pre-installed software, or some or all of my post installed software will not
work from the new account.

What is the best way to approach this?

1. Create new account and then find a way to direct boot to it. Live with
broken pre-installed software (if any) and simply remove and re-install all
post installed software to make sure it will work.

2. Use whatever tool renames the user to something short like "Us" instead
of "HP_administrator", and hope that nothing breaks. I can re-install any of
my apps if I need to. I know this approach will leave the profile name as
HP_Administrator, in Documents and settings, and that is fine. I am hoping
Tivo Desktop picks the name up from login name and not the profile folder
name. I won't know until I try.

3. Same as 2, but also rename the profile and try to figure out what will
get broken and how to fix it.

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

CuriousMark
 
CuriousMark said:
When I set up this computer it asked for a name and I named it Pavilion. It
has a default account that it boots directly into called HP_Administrator. I
like that it boots directly into this account and want to keep it that way,
even though the machine is shared with my wife. It has a lot of preloaded
software that I plan to try out. I have also added office 2003, Photoshop
Elements, Vegas Video + DVD and TiVo Desktop to it, plus a bunch of small
audio and video utility programs. It seems great, but I don't like the
account name. When I access the computer from my TiVo it shows as
"Pavilion(HP_Administrator)" which is long and ugly. I would like to change
the account name, but continue to boot into and have all the exisitng
software continue to work. I fear changing the name might break something.
I asked HP and they said don't change it, things will break. They suggested
creating a new user account. However if I do that, I fear I will get a login
screen instead of direct boot to the desktop and that some or all of the
pre-installed software, or some or all of my post installed software will not
work from the new account.

What is the best way to approach this?

1. Create new account and then find a way to direct boot to it. Live with
broken pre-installed software (if any) and simply remove and re-install all
post installed software to make sure it will work.

2. Use whatever tool renames the user to something short like "Us" instead
of "HP_administrator", and hope that nothing breaks. I can re-install any of
my apps if I need to. I know this approach will leave the profile name as
HP_Administrator, in Documents and settings, and that is fine. I am hoping
Tivo Desktop picks the name up from login name and not the profile folder
name. I won't know until I try.

3. Same as 2, but also rename the profile and try to figure out what will
get broken and how to fix it.

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

CuriousMark
Click to expand...

Having found system restore, I decided to go ahead and experiment. It seems
safe enough if I can go back.

I chose option 2 and renamed the user. Things look much better from the
TiVo so that part works fine. I will spend the next day or two verifying
that all the software still runs correctly, and trying out some of this
pre-installed stuff to see if I even want to keep it or not.

Next I need to figure out how to access it from my W2k laptop using terminal
server client. That will save lots of trips up and down the stairs.

curious as ever.
 
You may want to test by creating a new ADMIN user, installing the XP Power
Toys, changing the default user to the new ADMIN you created, restart and
test all your app with the new name, It worked for me.
 
New Orleans Louisiana said:
You may want to test by creating a new ADMIN user, installing the XP Power
Toys, changing the default user to the new ADMIN you created, restart and
test all your app with the new name, It worked for me.
Click to expand...
New Orleans Luisiana,

Won't creating a new user force Windows to show me the Login window instead
of going directly to the desktop on bootup? If there is a way to get around
that I would be willing to try this, but without knowing how, I would be
relying on system restore to take me back to the way it is now if that
happens. I am not sure that gets me anywhere I want to go. When you say
change the default user, is that how you keep it direct booting? If so, were
do I do that change, so far I haven't seen it, but wasn't looking for it
specifically.

CuriousMark
 
Google on using the XP Power Toys to change the default user auto logon


1) You may want to test by creating a new ADMIN user

2) installing the XP Power Toys, Use the 'XP Power Toys' to change the
default user to the new ADMIN you created

3) restart and test all your app with the new name

It worked for me.
 
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