Rename Windows 10 User folder

Spotty · November 8, 2018

How do you rename the user folder in Windows 10?

I installed Windows 10 and used my Windows Live account to activate the copy of windows through the key tied to the account. After activating the account with the email, I immediately switched it over to an offline account because Live accounts are absolute trash that deserve to die a horrible death. The problem is Windows is still assigning "After" (first 5 letters of the email I used to activate windows) as the user folder name. I want the user folder to be named "Ryan", the same as the user profile name.

Windows is showing the profile as "Ryan", but the folder location in the User directory still shows "After". For example...

is really

And that shit is really pissing me off.

Is there any way to rename the folder without deleting the entire account and creating a new one with the proper name?

Spotty · November 8, 2018

Was pissing me off too much, just wiped the drive and am installing windows again. This time I'll activate through the live account, and then instead of using the "switch this account to a local account" option, I'll make a new user account, give it admin privileges and then delete the live account.

GoodBytes · November 8, 2018

Make a new account with the right name.
or
Make a new account, which you treat temp account, then restart your PC, then go to the temp account, then rename the folder, access the registry, and make sure that all "after" is renamed to "Ryan"
or
Make a symbolic link with the correct folder name

If you want the folder name to be just right but want a Microsoft linked account: Simply make a local account, login, and then link that account to your Microsoft account.

homeap5 · November 8, 2018

Truth is that rename user directory is not easy to made because of registry entries and even program settings. Find your user name in some registry editor (not built in but some more complex like Registry Workshop) and you'll see how many entries you'll find. So that's why even if you change user name - directory name remains the same.