How to change the name of the User Profile folder in Windows 10

When adding a new user account in Windows 10, the profile for the account is automatically created when the user first signs in to the new account.

User profiles are a collection of settings that give your computer the look and function you want. It is stored in the user's C: Users profile folder and contains account settings for the desktop background, screen savers, cursor options, audio settings, and more. User profiles ensure that your personal preferences are used whenever you log into Windows.

Because the user profile folder is automatically named by Windows by default, it will not go as you like. This tutorial will show you how to change the name of the user profile folder given in Windows 10.

Note : You must be logged in as an administrator to make changes.

Here's how:

1. Log out of the user account (for example, " Brink2 ") in which you want to change the name of the user profile folder (for example, " C: UsersBrink2.BRINK-W10PC ").

2. Log in to any admin account on the PC without changing the user profile folder name.

Note : If you do not have another admin account, then you can enable the built-in Administrator feature to login and perform these steps.

3. Open Command Prompt.

4. Enter the command below into the Command Prompt and press Enter .

Note : Write down the SID (for example, " S-1-5-21-237214570-1361766723-3061440971-1015 ") for the account you want to change the name for the user profile folder. You will need to know this SID in step 6 below.

 wmic useraccount get name,SID 

5. Press the Win + R keys to open Run , type regedit into Run, and click OK to open Registry Editor.

6. Navigate to the registry key below in the left panel of the Registry Editor.

 HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionProfileList 

Replace in the above registry key path with the actual SID from step 4 above for the account name you want to change the name of the user profile folder.

For example:

 HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionProfileListS-1-5-21-237214570-1361766723-3061440971-1015 

7. To the right of the SID key, double click on the expandable string ProfileImagePath ( REG_EXPAND_SZ ) to modify it.

8. Change the current name of the user profile directory in the full path to what you want and click OK.

Note : Write down the current path and full name, as well as a new name for the user profile folder of this account.

You will need to be interested in both steps 10 and 12 below.

9. When done, close the Registry Editor and the Command Prompt if you like.

10. Open File Explorer ( Win + E ) and navigate to the original full path of the user profile folder from step 8 above.

11. Right-click or hold and hold the user profile folder and click Rename.

12. Change the current name of the user profile folder to a new name from step 8 above.

13. Now, you can close File Explorer if you like.

14. Verify the OneDrive folder location for the account is correct, with the new profile folder name. If not, change the OneDrive folder location to fix it.