Renaming a user account

[Peter]

I'm setting up a new computer for my Church office running windows xp pro.
As received it had one account called user. I've renamed this to Admin (as
that's what it is going to be used for) but under "Documents and Settings"
the folder "User" is still there when I expected to see "Admin". If I
rename this manually will I cause chaos?
Any advise will be gratefully received - thanks

--
Peter
To err is human but it takes a computer to really mess things up!

[rajkohli]

To delete "UNKNOWN PROFILES" goto:

1. Right-Click on My Computer
2. Choose Properties
3. Click Advanced Tab
4. Click Settings button under "User Profiles"
5. Click any "Uknown" setting listed and click Delete button.


"Peter" wrote:

> I'm setting up a new computer for my Church office running windows xp pro.
> As received it had one account called user. I've renamed this to Admin (as
> that's what it is going to be used for) but under "Documents and Settings"
> the folder "User" is still there when I expected to see "Admin". If I
> rename this manually will I cause chaos?
> Any advise will be gratefully received - thanks
>
> --
> Peter
> To err is human but it takes a computer to really mess things up!
>
>
>

[Malke]

rajkohli wrote:

> To delete "UNKNOWN PROFILES" goto:
>
> 1. Right-Click on My Computer
> 2. Choose Properties
> 3. Click Advanced Tab
> 4. Click Settings button under "User Profiles"
> 5. Click any "Uknown" setting listed and click Delete button.
>
>
> "Peter" wrote:
>
>> I'm setting up a new computer for my Church office running windows xp
>> pro.
>> As received it had one account called user. I've renamed this to
>> Admin (as that's what it is going to be used for) but under
>> "Documents and Settings"
>> the folder "User" is still there when I expected to see "Admin". If
>> I rename this manually will I cause chaos?
>> Any advise will be gratefully received - thanks

The question is not about deleting "unknown profiles". The issue is that
as Peter found out, you cannot just rename a user account to change it.
What Peter must do is create a new user account for "Admin". Change the
"User" account name back to "User" and create the new account. If you
want to copy the data and settings from the current "User" account to
the new "Admin" account, see the links below. You will need to log into
the new account once before you can copy anything to it.

Copy a User Account -
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=811151

Lockergnome article about copying user account -
http://tinyurl.com/74atm

Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

[Peter]

Many thanks, I'll try that tomorrow

Peter

"Malke" > wrote in message
...
> rajkohli wrote:
>
>> To delete "UNKNOWN PROFILES" goto:
>>
>> 1. Right-Click on My Computer
>> 2. Choose Properties
>> 3. Click Advanced Tab
>> 4. Click Settings button under "User Profiles"
>> 5. Click any "Uknown" setting listed and click Delete button.
>>
>>
>> "Peter" wrote:
>>
>>> I'm setting up a new computer for my Church office running windows xp
>>> pro.
>>> As received it had one account called user. I've renamed this to
>>> Admin (as that's what it is going to be used for) but under
>>> "Documents and Settings"
>>> the folder "User" is still there when I expected to see "Admin". If
>>> I rename this manually will I cause chaos?
>>> Any advise will be gratefully received - thanks
>
> The question is not about deleting "unknown profiles". The issue is that
> as Peter found out, you cannot just rename a user account to change it.
> What Peter must do is create a new user account for "Admin". Change the
> "User" account name back to "User" and create the new account. If you
> want to copy the data and settings from the current "User" account to
> the new "Admin" account, see the links below. You will need to log into
> the new account once before you can copy anything to it.
>
> Copy a User Account -
> http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=811151
>
> Lockergnome article about copying user account -
> http://tinyurl.com/74atm
>
> Malke
> --
> Elephant Boy Computers
> www.elephantboycomputers.com
> "Don't Panic!"
> MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

[Bruce Chambers]

Peter wrote:
> I'm setting up a new computer for my Church office running windows xp pro.
> As received it had one account called user. I've renamed this to Admin (as
> that's what it is going to be used for) but under "Documents and Settings"
> the folder "User" is still there when I expected to see "Admin". If I
> rename this manually will I cause chaos?
> Any advise will be gratefully received - thanks
>


With second-hand computers, especially if acquired from strangers
but perhaps even if acquired from a family member or friend, your wisest
course of action would probably be to format the hard drives and start
fresh. You don't want to get in trouble because the original owner may
have filled the hard drive with kiddie porn, or have problems because
the original owner downloaded/installed viruses or other malware.

To fix the "Registered to" information for WinNT/2K/XP, you can use
Start > Run > Regedit.exe to edit:

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current Version\RegisteredOwner

and:

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current
Version\RegisteredOrganization

How this will affect the name displayed in previously installed
applications will vary depending upon each individual program; some
read the registered owner information dynamically, while others read
it only during installation.

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:
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safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

[Peter]

Thanks for the advice. It did just what I wanted.

Peter

"Malke" > wrote in message
...
> rajkohli wrote:
>
>> To delete "UNKNOWN PROFILES" goto:
>>
>> 1. Right-Click on My Computer
>> 2. Choose Properties
>> 3. Click Advanced Tab
>> 4. Click Settings button under "User Profiles"
>> 5. Click any "Uknown" setting listed and click Delete button.
>>
>>
>> "Peter" wrote:
>>
>>> I'm setting up a new computer for my Church office running windows xp
>>> pro.
>>> As received it had one account called user. I've renamed this to
>>> Admin (as that's what it is going to be used for) but under
>>> "Documents and Settings"
>>> the folder "User" is still there when I expected to see "Admin". If
>>> I rename this manually will I cause chaos?
>>> Any advise will be gratefully received - thanks
>
> The question is not about deleting "unknown profiles". The issue is that
> as Peter found out, you cannot just rename a user account to change it.
> What Peter must do is create a new user account for "Admin". Change the
> "User" account name back to "User" and create the new account. If you
> want to copy the data and settings from the current "User" account to
> the new "Admin" account, see the links below. You will need to log into
> the new account once before you can copy anything to it.
>
> Copy a User Account -
> http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=811151
>
> Lockergnome article about copying user account -
> http://tinyurl.com/74atm
>
> Malke
> --
> Elephant Boy Computers
> www.elephantboycomputers.com
> "Don't Panic!"
> MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User