This post shows students and new users how to rename a user home profile folder to match the new username of an account in Windows 11.
In Windows, when you create a new user, a home folder in the C:\Users directory is created to match the name of the user account. This has always been the case.
If you rename a user account to something different and unique, the user home directory unfortunately, will not be renamed to match the new username of the account. So, you will end up with a different name for the account and home folder in Windows.
The steps below will show you how to rename a user home folder to match the new name of a user account. To do this, we’ll have to go through Windows Registry Editor and make some changes.
How to rename a user account in Windows 11
If you haven’t already renamed a user account in Windows, then the post below should help you do that. Renaming Windows accounts requires few simple clicks.
Click on the link below to learn how to rename a user account in Windows.
How to Change Username in Windows 11
The above post shows you how to change or rename a user account in Windows 11.
How to rename user home folder to match username
Now that you’ve learned how to rename an account in Windows, continue below to also learn how to rename a user home folder to match the account new name.
Before going forward, one thing you’ll need to understand. You can not be logged in with the account that you want to rename. You have to login with a different administrator account, before you can rename the user home folder.
In some cases, you’ll create a new account, make it an administrator, login as that new account, and rename the targeted user home folder.
Or you can enable Windows built-in administrator account, login as the built-in administrator account, then change then rename the account home folder you’re working with.
If you want to learn how to enable the built-in administrator account, click on the link below:
How to Enable the Administrator in Windows 11 – Website for Students
After you have logged as the administrator, go to Start and search for Command Prompt, then select the Command Prompt app to open.
When the command prompt app opens, type the commands below to list all the account SID on the machane.
wmic useraccount get name,SID
This will output similar lines with all the account SID on the system.
Output: Name SID DefaultAccount S-1-5-21-2007855691-582224021-1368697043-503 defaultuser0 S-1-5-21-2007855691-582224021-1368697043-1000 LocalAdmin S-1-5-21-2007855691-582224021-1368697043-500 JaneDoe S-1-5-21-2007855691-582224021-1368697043-504 Richard S-1-5-21-3044698505-590223214-3122486089-1001
The account you want to rename will also be listed above. For this post, the targeted account to rename its home folder is Richard with SID S-1-5-21-2007855691-582224021-1368697043-501
After that, go to Start and search for Registry Editor, then select to open.
When the Registry Editor opens, navigate to the folder path below:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList
Locating the SID for Richard and open it.
Now right-click on ProfileImagePath for the correct SID and modify the data to point to the new home folder of the new user account.
Click OK to apply your changes.
Next, go to File Explorer on the Taskbar, and browse to the C:\User folder. Then select the account folder you want to rename.
Finally, type in the new folder name to match the user account name.
Exit File explorer and you’re done.
Also make sure if you’re using OneDrive that it’s also pointing to the new user home folder. That should do it, and you log out or reboot the computer.
Login and disable the administrator account and you’re all set!
Conclusion:
This post showed you how to rename a user home folder to match the new name. If you find any error above, please use the comment form below to report.
