How To Change User Folder Name in Windows 10

Learn, how to change user folder name in Windows 10 after changing the user account name so that you can match the folder name to the new username. Whenever you rename your account in Windows 10 it only changes the name and it does not change the user profile folder name.
Steps to change the user folder name in C drive\Users
1. Create a system restore point
2. Note down the SID value for the target user account
3. Create a temporary Admin account
4. log in to new account
5. Change the user folder name via command prompt
6. Point the username to the new folder name via the registry
7. log in to the actual account
8. Delete the temporary user account.
This is the safest way to rename the user folder name.
Note: It is advised to create a System Restore point or take a full backup before following any Windows tutorial.
Follow on Social Media
Facebook - iTechFever
Twitter - / itechfever
Instagram - / itechfever
Visit - www.itechfever.com
#Rename_User_Folder #Windows10

[@sandeepsingh18]

Take a full backup of your files and create a system restore point. If you do anything wrong it may break the user account, even if you miss a space things might break. Some users have reported that they weren't able to login back to account. If you do exactly the same as video it won't break anything but still take a backup to be on a safer side.

[@sufiyanshaikh7735]

Hey i m unable to find sid key in registry list. What should i do?

[@adityaranjanpadhy7782]

Bhai actual user account main kuch show nehi kar raha hai

[@UnlimitedEmeralds]

how do you do this?

[@theabhijitparsekar]

Will I have to do this again if i reset my pc in future?

[@bluedott8177]

hi, what do i do if access is denied despite running as admin and using the administrator access:true command?

[@Magst3r1]

Always some Indian guy on youtube with the answer to every tech problem

[@user-om7je3ho1i]

I agree. I am from Bangladesh. Take love guys.

[@konradkow]

Brother 😊 Thank you sooo much for the perfect tutorial. This would have taken me a lot longer than 10 minutes if I had to follow the written instructions I found online. As I was doing this it gave me a new sense of appreciation for all the hard work computer coders have done for us. Wow! so much coding goes into these devices I can’t even wrap my mind around it 😁 Thanks again. Peace, much Love, and God bless you ✌️😇

[@sullya2669]

The *only* 9 Minute KZbin Tutorial *ever* made where the full 9 Minutes were Actually useful.

[@Kaleidosaur]

You're a life-saver. This is an excellent tutorial, and helps me way more than you know. Truly appreciate it.

[@dodafaheem3217]

Hats off man...changed my surface RT's user account folder name with this. Big thumbs up... 👍👍 only problem was surface RT doesn't have direct registry edit..you have to run command prompt and typr regedit and enter...registry edit opens... everything else was 🔥🔥

[@vectormaster7976]

Thank you so much Sandeep. After watching so much videos, I finally changed my username which was set by the person who installed windows on my PC by following your detailed video. I messed up one time and was able to redo the actions as well. Highly recommended video! :)

[@im_sagar_patil]

Same here bro, pc building person set the user name as "welcome" in my pc... hope this method works.

[@ayeshahussain4440]

lol same, I had the name he kept it, and it was bugging me, I don't know how I could've changed it without this guy, Subscribed.

[@ashwiniaswale1087]

Thank you so much, after watching so many videos and messing up my laptop once (Luckily, recovered data through system restore as I have already taken restore point), at last I got your video which helped a lot to do this process and successfully changed user account folder name which was set by windows installer person.

[@swimmistanbul]

Guys the point is "registery editor" actions you have to find right sid code(whic names old user name then write your new user name correct like you did previous actions. If you complete this part without mistake then the mission accomplishes. Hey man you are a really Hero! İ follow the instructions as you told and all done same as yours. Thank you so much Bro 🤗 With my best regards 👏👏

[@NairiAreg]

For those who are getting Desktop is unavailable after going back to original accoutn, just find somehow in the explorer desktop (I found on the left side under This PC) right click, properties, Location, you will see that there is your old username location, click on restore default, or just manually enter new user name instead of old one and click ok, than ignore, than yes than yes if all that prompts appear I FEEL YOU ALL, that was miserable all this user name changing stuff

[@gauravnayak9574]

Hey Buddy thank you so much , your comment has been a great help for me.

[@magneto_thunderbird6312]

Bro you’re awesome… thnx a lot

[@raghavaathreya6897]

Tysm man!!!!❤❤⚡

[@jaidipmukherjee8309]

Thanks a lot bro... it's because of u i'm able to retrieve my desktop files👍🏼🙏

[@BDCAT-NguyenMinhHai]

thanks man, you helped me a lot

[@geoffphillips5293]

This is helpful. The "degraded" bit is worth noting - in my case, I had half a dozen choices of GUIDs in the WMIC list, but the right one was "OK".

[@danielzaaroor]

Thank you very much! I was locked out from the User by windows in the process , but eventually I realized that I hadn't changed the name in the cmd with the ren command. After that it worked just fine, so thank you again!!!

[@snehashish_roy]

I found everywhere ,but finally I got your video . I follow you step by step , it really work . 😌 Thanks

[@Screen0]

did I just see Dominic Toretto from fast and furious in a youtube tutorial 😂😂, but for real the video was really helpful, thank you

[@srujansahu8125]

Thank you so much man! I reset my PC and had my files backed up but due to a name-change in the user folder, the projects I worked countless hours on didn't load. But you literally saved my life! Thank you!

[@iftikharali9093]

how do i revert the changes if that's what you did?

[@janek2901]

THANK YOU! I've been struggling with this for over an hour...

[@nigarvalikhanova3274]

You are a great man. Thanks for your help. I feel lucky to find your KZbin channel. When i was starting to watch your video i thought it didn't work. But you made me wrong, man.

[@MedX16]

I had the same problem, but after following the steps mentioned in your video, the process has been executed successfully! Thank you very much

[@natlix2877]

For those who keep getting “Access Is Denied”, restart your PC, then run CMD as an ADMINISTRATOR

[@julianas.3352]

I was just about to give up! THANK YOU SM😭

[@zeiadhani1349]

I did that, but still, it keeps telling me that access is denied, so do you have any other solution? thanks

[@julianas.3352]

@@zeiadhani1349 Did you at least gave the temp user the admin perms in the control panel like shown in the video?

[@zeiadhani1349]

@@julianas.3352 yes, I did.

[@ourpeachscones]

Thank you so much

[@Dyacopterus]

I’ve been trying to change my user account since I got my PC, now I finally did it and all thanks to you of course.

[@gamenick94]

Thank you, this is what I've needed for ages

[@nicaharuko3727]

How to fix when you apply the ren [folder name] [new folder name] and it says the system cannot find the file specified.

[@rolingpingu]

By the way, for Windows 11 users. This method still works perfectly. The option to create a new local account is not at the same place as in Windows 10, but it's not difficult to find.

[@iam_jeremy]

This is the only tutorial video that really works! Thank you!

[@itssamiultahsin]

This is the only way to change/rename user folder name in Windows 10/11. Thanks it really worked.

[@MotherMonstersBaby]

Thank you so much! This was so much easier to follow than random articles

[@KikiDaily09]

Lol this is so true just to cure my OCD as well hahaha. Thanks for the tutorial 👍

[@rosasxx]

yea 😭

[@vanshikaagarwal5063]

Thanks video was very helpful just one more question what we need to do of the system protection should we keep them on or revert can you help with that

[@pravinmadavi5360]

This video proved to be very helpful for me. Thanks

[@evan-unit-01]

SUPER helpful! Made this process easy and painless, thanks!

[@Sahibbassey]

Best video for a new PC user. Thanks so much 🙏🏾

[@StarmenRock]

thank you so much! ive tried this for a lot of years now and this finally did it. Somehow anytime I install windows on a new computer it slaps me with the username of the person who set up my PC wayyyyy back in the day. Hopefully I won't have to change it all the time now

[@owenheard453]

Worked perfect! On windows 11. I had to put my home screen background photo back on because it disappeared, and so did the program icons which were on my desktop too (so take pictures of these in advance to put them back), but all worked well - Thank You!

[@will_2320]

3:24 wasn't expecting that at all; you got me there lmao Edit: this method worked perfectly, thank you for the help..!

[@prasadpusadkar3205]

While entering new name it shows access denied, what should I do

[@chetanraghavv]

@@prasadpusadkar3205 same issue... Can someone reply

[@MistSGM]

@@prasadpusadkar3205 restart

[@chandrakanthgowda6943]

Thank you so much, it worked for me ,for those who get access denied after you put new user name please restart ur PC, it will work.

[@mmbwn]

Absolute Hero, all 9 minutes were helpful. Thank you!

[@ularniiazaliev5260]

I would put 1000 likes for clear and step by step info

[@kenziespierrot]

Thank you so much, it had my deadname on it and it's so nice to not have to look at it anymore. Was really straight forward and easy to follow

[@chloeburbank_]

SAME

[@StrandedClone]

what is a deadname3?

[@chloeburbank_]

@@StrandedClone when trans people change their name as they transition, they often don't like to be called their birth name. that is reffered to as their "deadname"

[@content6907]

me too

[@StrandedClone]

@@chloeburbank_ ohhhhh

[@UtsavBiswas-wp3xo]

Thankyou bro ,i am from Nepal i can understand your language but when i follow your all stepa I can't believe this its actually work , very very very thank you bro

[@sharmaji.42]

This is the 9 minutes I have seen. Best tutorial for me in this issue.

[@Nikhil-Gupta]

5:27 it says Access is denied pls help. I followed the exact steps

[@ankitkumar5871]

At that moment just restart the window then again follow it will work

[@ankitkumar5871]

At that moment just restart the window then again follow it will work

[@santoshkumarsahoo1032]

@@ankitkumar5871 again not working beo

[@KaidenPvP15]

Run cmd as admin

[@espenli1455]

Happened to me too,

[@furikusu]

how do I reload back to the system restore point that I just made in the beggining?

[@jedrekkostyk2082]

Same problem my stary button doesnt work

[@Gauravop101]

Thank you bro I followed your approach and it got renamed successfully! One thing to note is that for my case, when I ran the 'wmic useraccount list full' command all the fullname parameters were empty even though in Name was showing proper values. But I followed your setps and I was able to change the profile name.

[@kowbidepiekarnik]

my guy you are a blessing thank you so much for this video, also, if your new username has a space, put the thing in quotes as well

[@michaelli1963]

Thank you so much sir! Been tortured by it for so many years. VScode wouldn’t accept a path name with & symbol in it. Which is what I had in the previous user name! Thanks heaps!

[@002_girishchoudhary8]

I had followed this tutorial completely but at 4:58 it says "Access is denied" in my laptop although the command prompt is running in administrator mode. How to Solve this ?

[@Growth-Mystery]

I have same problem

[@AmmAr-zy2fv]

Thanks a bunch, DUDE! I really appreciate that.. I have been looking for someone that can help me to change my user name but unfortunately I couldn't but now when I have watched ur video finally I solved that prob. Thanks bro and I mean it

[@botirabduraimov518]

Brother, thanks a lot. You made my day and after following the steps you mentioned in this video, finally IT WORKED, thanks again🥰

[@emmymalak1974]

Thank you for the video. I got to the point where I’m renaming the account on cmd by using the ren command. But I got a message access denied. Can you please help me with this? Thank you

[@adityapatel_00]

run cmd as adminstrator

[@BakedBeansJeans]

Please make sure to make a backup. I accidentally screwed things up because I didn't realize that my copied SID wouldn't be able to be pasted in another account, so when I tried to log into my main account halfway through the tutorial everything was messed up. Thankfully I had my backup but things still weren't right, I had to move files from the new user drive (the one with the name I want) to my original user drive because for some reason only certain apps were transferred from each accounts. TL;DR Make sure to physically note down the SID and always make backups when doing these kinds of things.

[@sophiareese79]

Second thought if you go into the original user folder from the temp account you can find your text doc if you save it on the desktop

[@keyboardkung-fuwarrior8932]

One of the best tutorials ever

[@jeremypilot1015]

awesome video this worked! note if you are signed into your computer with a Microsoft Accunt you will need to sign in locally or you will get an access denied error when trying to rename in CMD.

[@nikikalliomaki8513]

Thanks man! I watched a lot of stuff that mislead me so hard. Your tutorial was nice and clear!

[@sascha3703]

"Access is denied" when trying running ren + running cmd as admin, fix?

[@spectralquill1810]

Restart at that moment

[@KaidenPvP15]

Run the cmd as admin

[@Martas668]

Again Indian expert :-) I was searching and trying, nothing helped, but this worked instantly, Thank you! 🙂

[@Joao-ls6ln]

Thank you so much, my steam was getting a fatal error and i didnt know why. You are my savior

[@xolilith]

Thank you SO much! My ex misspelled my name back when we built my PC together (*facepalm*) and ever since I have been dying to change it. This worked flawlessly for me and was so easy to follow! I did have to change some of the folder paths manually afterwards but it wasn't a big deal.

[@c7hu1hu]

Okay how do i do that one? Changing manually, my pc says location not available and shows the user name that i had before, the default one. Please help if you can i've scoured all em vids still no help but anyhow ima keeo trying just feel like you might have the exact idea of my problem.

[@xolilith]

@@c7hu1hu Okay so first, you should click through all your folders/apps to figure out which ones have that issue. Then, right click on them one by one, click on Properties, and in the window that pops up, go to Location. You will find the path there & if it shows your old username in the past, simply replace that part with your new one. :)

[@c7hu1hu]

@@xolilith Woah..just like that? And they said people don't practise wizardry no more. Thanks much ima go and try this!

[@dwikibellaavista]

hello guys, has anyone here tried this tutorial? Is that large amount of data all secure?

[@ShinyMusic222]

Thanks!! Also did a PC Reset and Windows named my user after the first 5 letters in my name (based on microsoft account I think) so my folder name looked like the guy-version of my birthname, without the a.. This video was clear and worked! 😄

[@stepbroimstuck6715]

Ulrik😂😂

[@vanshikaagarwal5063]

I had the same problem what we need to do of the system protection do you have any idea should we keep them on or revert can you help with that

[@justus7663]

Worked perfect for me! THANKS Sandeep Singh for posting this.

[@makingsmallhappiness]

Thank youuuuuu I was also able to change it so my deadname was no longer on my computer!! Trying coding is intimidating for me and this was so simple to follow! :)

[@harissatapathy7259]

Those who are unable to access their apps in their original account after changing the user folder just watch this video again and in the same process change it to the previous one ( change to the old user folder name from that you changed to the new using same method) may this will help those who are getting problems . In my case same happened and i changed to the previous one .

[@naomiamare5931]

It wasn’t renamed to begin with how can I solve that

[@Pawargaurav01]

I didn't understand what you said , I am also facing same issue my powerpoint word I can't access that files , it is showing powerpoint can't read "new user name path"

[@sameermate5717]

5:28 after pressing enter, It is telling me "Access is Denied". What Shall I Do?

[@isthiahamed948]

Open cmd as administrator

[@prathamsahu2877]

@@isthiahamed948 Tried But Still Not Working

[@loliPOPzicles]

i fixed mine by restarting

[@ibegtosaythat]

same , is ur working now ??

[@Lemylix]

Thank you for curing my OCD. Sub and like well deserved!

[@manishrekhajha1880]

Bro after use this cmd cammand - ren "old folder name" New folder name. My computer shows. The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process. WHAT SHOULD I DO NOW???

[@loliPOPzicles]

Sign out the original user first ni the windows tab

[@MrFreekyJ]

what about all the registry entries for all the programs already installed with the old username [original user name when Windows 10 was installed]??? If these are not also changed, surely this will cause problems with those programs??

[@ShomitSarkar]

i am in the same dillema

[@LizzieowoNya]

Ah I actually know the fix for this one! In the registry editor, press ctrl + F, and search for the old username. Then simply replace the old username in the "Data" section with the new one for all the search finds/ programs, it takes longer the more programs you have, hope this helps!

[@anandhisubramaniam5704]

@@LizzieowoNya do we have to replace the lastysedusername - data section , this is something I found while ctrl +f of my old name

[@LizzieowoNya]

@@anandhisubramaniam5704 Just the file paths for the programs should be more than enough, but I don't think changing everything would hurt.

[@chanchan6044]

@@LizzieowoNya Oooh it helps me a lot! Thanks

[@jadijdata2468]

Before starting I created a system restore point. But then instead of changing the user folder name it created another one, where all the app data was mixed so I used the system restore point but nothing changed. Now when I try using it again it’s not showing the restore point I created. What do I do?

[@K1mKaT]

I strongly advise against using this method as it will retain file locations under the previous user, which caused significant issues with my computer. Consequently, I had to undo the previous system restore point and revert back to my original user name.

[@F16_viper_pilot]

Yeah, I was wondering about this. I also noticed that file security permissions still show the prior account name, so I don’t think the change in the registry propagates everywhere that’s needed.

[@AUWherePeterScullyIsSans]

Is there a better method?

[@sethterry1544]

Hi Sandeep, firstly wanted to thank you for your clear and precise instructions that were easy to follow - I am very appreciative. I have a brief piece of information to share with you that may be helpful for others using Windows 11: I was following all of your steps up until renaming the User after signing into the "temp" Windows account and opening cmd as admin. When I came to this step and followed your instructions (cd c:\users --> c:\Users> ren "Windows 10" iTechFever), I kept getting a message that the syntax was incorrect. I could not figure out the issue, so I went to File Explorer, This PC, Local Disk (C:), Users, and miraculously, I was able to edit the old name of my User account to my preferred new name. This was something I tried to do before viewing your video while logged into my regular-use account, but it obviously didn't work. Please let me know if I need to clarify anything in my comment, but long story short, if you're using Windows 11, follow all of Sandeep's amazing tips, and when you get to the step I described above, rather than opening the cmd as the "temp" user, just jump straight to File Explorer and edit the name of the user account directly following the path I outlined above. I followed the rest of your video through to the end and everything seems to be working fine. Thank you so much again Sandeep, truly one of the most helpful and direct videos I have ever come across!

[@sandeepsingh18]

Thank you for the input, it will help others.

[@oppathology3712]

Hi it seems like i cannot rename it due to the folder is using in another program, how would i do it?

[@contact.gamingtubebd]

@@oppathology3712 Restart and then rename

[@Ansh_Soni]

You see rename option because you are in adminstrator account, normal user is a standard one, also restart if the user folder is in use

[@dwikibellaavista]

hello guys, has anyone here tried this tutorial? Is that large amount of data all secure?

[@edjonacademy7435]

Powerful bro with indian accent . Thank you so much

[@AntonioCarlos-qr2fj]

Handy hint, my friend, you deserve 5 stars! Congrats from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

[@iamdarkphantom]

5:34 after changing the name it said assess denied pls help

[@loliPOPzicles]

i fixed mine by restarting

[@Jitesh__]

@@loliPOPzicles restarting pc is not helping...is there any other option?

[@loliPOPzicles]

@@Jitesh__ restart the pc and open the temporary profile you made, make sure to not open the profile you want to rename

[@Jitesh__]

@@loliPOPzicles Okayy Thankyou

[@sadramohammadpour5224]

it says "folder is open in another program"

[@backup0106]

You need to sign out from that account, for that just click on start, click on your account icon on the left, then click on sign out. Then login from the temporary account and retry, it will work

[@ravellig]

@@backup0106 same here, i have tried that and i still cant change the name

[@chloee7781]

Hey I am trying this process but I'm stuck at the User Account Details step. I can not find my full name on the list as no name appears! It's always empry after "FullName=". Has anybody had that problem? Which SID should i select then?

[@adityatomar8592]

Thank you so much brother you helped a lot with great explanation ❤️

[@abduldanish9953]

I'd suggest please don't mess with user file name change, any mistake can render the system unusable... Backup files in external drives(pendrives /cloud) before doing this.. Any way changing name isn't worth it when it comes with data loss risk in hand. Few Windows setting are truly a headache.

[@dudeimfake]

I changed it with excitement now I'm facing heat

[@abduldanish9953]

@@dudeimfake I tried doing that...ended up with a dead Start menu, thank God I had backed up my data... I had to hard reset the whole PC. So much pain suffered for such a little wish of heart...

[@dudeimfake]

@@abduldanish9953 I'm really crying like a kid i cannot use any of my applications that I have installed But i have Files and all .I just can't use applications and it showing application is in some other location and it isn't accessible

[@abduldanish9953]

@@dudeimfake that's pretty bad. have u tried checking for ur files in this primary account from that newly created temporary account?.. You should have had One Drive synced. I keep most of my important files in OneDrive folder on PC.. gets auto synced .

[@abduldanish9953]

@@dudeimfake if atleast ur start menu is working, type reset PC and select remove all files option, select local Windows install. Your PC will be reset and be as good as new. (advice keep ur PC charger plugged in let it complete the reset process)

[@tuxedobird]

Thank you for the help! I’m a trans woman and finally got sick of seeing my deadname floating around lmao

[@arifuzzamanrizve6000]

You are an absolute life saver man. Salute, keep up the good work. You just earned a new subscriber.❤

[@kartikamashal6408]

U can't imagine how much this video helped me... Thank You...❣

[@jedrekkostyk2082]

Something went wrong and even after recovery i came across many issues connected to messing with user folder name :c. Propably will be restoring my primary snapshot because everything seems to be falling apart. I'm sure this tutorial was very helpful to most viewers but keep in mind that if you fu.... something up you may end up in the same situation. Good luck!

[@aromaticscent9041]

It just happened to me 😭😩

[@dawgyqq3264]

Same here didn’t work for me windows couldn’t load up anything after had to restore

[@aromaticscent9041]

@@dawgyqq3264 how do you do it? I mean the restoration. Mine just crash and wont let me sign in, so im thinking of deleting that account.

[@dawgyqq3264]

@@aromaticscent9041 you have to make a new account log in it and restore it via system restore

[@aromaticscent9041]

@@dawgyqq3264 Thanks! I’ll try it later

[@NairiAreg]

My desktop dissapeared :(

[@razvvyz]

you solved this problem? because i have same problem

[@Unkown5880]

Thank you soo much, this video really helped me .🙏🏽🙏🏽

[@Timepasswasted]

Thanks Brother for this I have tried many things from last one year

[@NairiAreg]

For those getting access denied just restart pc and it will work

[@magloirelongo1763]

Thanks it works for me

[@Santosamapaio]

Thanks!!

[@riveshsalmani]

Hey broh, i completed all steps in temp account but now I am unable to login to my original account.! Please help!?

[@hannahtiefenbrunner1830]

Thank you so much! You saved my laptop after a backup and restore. I tried so many tutorials, but there was always some part missing so they didn't work

[@ThePancakeRenegade]

Thank you kindly for this video, it was a great help!!

[@RajpootVynes]

Awesome tutorial man…really really helpful 🎉🎉

[@ParaSoldier97]

Thank you bro, easy and simple!

[@arnejordaaen8339]

thank you so much. Had problems with packages in r studio, due to "æ,ø,å", but now it works. Thanks

[@adityanewalkar8665]

After changing the name when I signed in to the original user. The username changed successfully but There were multiple errors pop ups "c:/users/old username/new username/ DESKTOP " not found.

[@mamut0217]

200% worth the 9 Minutes I was scared but nothing happened it worked for real. Just some programs can have a problem but that’s it. I recommend everyone this tutorial for changing the name of the folder. Thanks a lot man

[@MithunCN]

Very good explanation and it worked like a charm thank you

[@Xorua]

I did a step wrong and now have two user folders for the same profile, both of which do not function properly The system restore I set up beforehand is not fixing this issue, what should I do?

[@bluejins]

Thank you so much, Sir! Really helpful

[@avinduwijerathna1413]

From the video that made it clear, thank you

[@RasitCRT]

you are an absolute legend bro, thank you so much.

[@tanushreeroy8285]

Thank you so much for this video. I only have few query. In my laptop my office has configured their vpn connectivity and their software where I work. So if I follow this process will office software and vpn be hampered or not. Pls reply

[@softsup8443]

This video is very helpful ☺️, thank you so much ❤

[@jvs_siddhartha]

Hey! man that's so easy with with you tutorial and explanation!. Anyway But Thank You❤

[@asdasdqdsdasdas5091]

thanks for the video bro. What you did worked the way I wanted on my computer 😇✌

[@kormaloid]

Thank you! It was quick and it worked