Renaming User Account

  • Thread starter Thread starter steve k
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steve k

I have a stand-alone PC running Windows XP Professional
SP1. The hard drive is of the basic drive type (not
dynamic) formatted with the NTFS file system. Besides the
built-in Administrator account, there is a second account,
which I'll call "A2" granted Administrator privilege.

To rename A2, I do the following:
1) Enter the built-in Administrator account.
2) Start > Run: control userpasswords2.
3) Select user name > Properties > rename User Name > Apply
OK.
Click to expand...

Upon executing the above procedure, much to my surprise
Windows creates an additional user profile in the
%SystemDrive%\Documents And Settings folder, titles that
user profile with A2's new name, and ties access to A2 via
the new profile. In fact, my custom toolbar folder created
in the original A2 profile is transferred automatically to
the new profile, but most, if not all other data
(Application Data, Cookies, My Documents, etc.) is left in
the old profile which retains the old name.

It follows that while I must enter the new name in the
classic logon dialog box presented at startup, which is
standard procedure, I now have an additional user profile
that adds needless complexity and clutter to folder
management within XP.

What I would like to know, is whether or not I can safely
eliminate one of these profiles (presumably the old one) by
transferring data from one to the other, and then how best
to do this. For instance, can I just copy all the folders
under the old user profile to the new profile, and then
delete the old profile? Please advise!

Thank you for your kind help.
 
Steve,
I have experienced the same type of situation - initially
when I wanted to "update" a Win XP Home laptop to a Win XP
Pro platform.
After the installation of XP Pro on my machine, I had
an "OWNER" id that was no longer active, but owned a lot
of documents and software I wanted to transfer to my XP
Pro admin. user.
Please note: The following process has not been reviewed
or approved by official Microsoft representatives - user
beware!!!

I did =
START [rt-mouse-click] -> Explore [left-mouse-click]
and examined the files under the "Owner" id.
Since the Microsoft fine print indicates that renaming or
copying ownership can result in lost files, or orphaned
directories, I used the "Take Object Ownership" proces to
transfer ownership of the Owner id to a newly created
Admin. ID under XP Pro. Since my new id (let's call it
Admin2) needed to replace the Owner id, I figured to copy
the Owner id directories to the Admin2 id. Some of the
files internal to the directories - such as desktop.ini
will replace the same named files in the Admin2 id.
After that was done, my Owner shortcuts no longer worked,
as they now referred to software owned by Owner and not
Admin2. I had the option of un-publishing the software
and re-publishing under Admin2 or just re-installing the
software I needed -- letting Win XP Pro worry about
cleanup. Then I ran a registry cleanup program to tidy
the registry up, and everything has worked fine since then.

I'm sure what I did was not the authorized method, and
formalists probably shudder to think about the smash and
bash technique I used, but it worked for me.

As usual, proceed at your own risk, and be sure to make a
backup of everything you are going to mess with.

Of course, you have to disable and enable system restore
for this activity...

And, in the future, expect to find some directories that
don't appear to belong to anyone... but I like fun
puzzles, don't you?

Good luck,
rob
 
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