{"id":3140,"date":"2016-05-24T15:04:31","date_gmt":"2016-05-24T09:34:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.58.113.91\/blog\/?p=3140"},"modified":"2023-05-09T13:09:41","modified_gmt":"2023-05-09T07:39:41","slug":"rename-user-profile-folder-windows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/rename-user-profile-folder-windows\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Rename User Profile Folder in Windows 10\/11"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>This article explains in detail how to change the name of your user profile folder in Windows.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>In some cases, it&#8217;s necessary to manually rename the user profile folder because Windows truncates the user profile folder name to a certain number of characters when creating the user account. For instance, when you create a user account connected to a Microsoft account in Windows 10, the first 5 characters of your live account ID will be used for your user profile folder name. For instance, if <code><i>sramesh_2001[@outlook.com]<\/i><\/code> is your Microsoft account ID, the user profile folder would be named &#8220;<code><strong>srame<\/strong><\/code>&#8220;.<\/p>\n<p><em>This issue doesn&#8217;t occur if you create a local user account first and then switch to Microsoft account. If you&#8217;d like to have a custom name for your user account folder, create a local account with your preferred name. Once you log in and your profile is initialized, you may switch to Microsoft Account (MSA). The user account folder will retain the same name.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Likewise, on some systems, the user profile folder may have the full name with space in between (&#8220;<code>Users\\John Smith<\/code>&#8221; instead of &#8220;<code>Users\\JohnSmith<\/code>&#8220;), and may you want to remove the space. If you have an existing user account with the profile folder name truncated to five characters or it contains a space, this article tells you how to rename the user profile folder as desired.<\/p>\n<div id=\"toc\">\n<p><strong>Contents<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"#onedrive\">Step 1: Stop OneDrive Sync\/Backup<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#profileimagepath\">Step 2: Rename the User Profile folder<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#reset_search\">Step 3: Reset the Windows Search index<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#system_registry\">Step 4: Update the registry paths (system)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#user_registry\">Step 5: Update the registry paths (user)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#ini\">Step 6: Update the INI files (for legacy programs)<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Checklist<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Read the <a href=\"#caveats\">Caveats<\/a> section below before proceeding.<\/li>\n<li>Get a decent registry find and replace utility &#8212; e.g., Registry Finder from Sergey Filippov.<\/li>\n<li>Backup your entire system drive with a good image-based backup tool &#8212; e.g., Macrium Reflect Free.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p><em>Before proceeding, it&#8217;s advisable to take a complete image of your Operating System drive, as a safety precaution.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-18386 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/warning.png\" alt=\"warning caution icon\" width=\"32\" height=\"32\" \/><strong>Note:<\/strong> Until you complete the entire procedure till Step 6, do not log in to the primary account (whose profile folder you want to rename). Except &#8220;Step 1&#8221;, every operation has to be carried out from a secondary admin account only. If you&#8217;ve configured Windows to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/how-to-automatically-login-to-windows-and-then-lock-the-workstation\/\">automatically log in<\/a> to your primary account, disable auto-login before proceeding.<\/p>\n<h2>Rename User Profile Folder in Windows 10\/11<\/h2>\n<p>To rename your user profile folder in Windows, follow these steps:<\/p>\n<h3><a id=\"onedrive\"><\/a>Step 1: Stop OneDrive Sync\/Backup of your Personal Folders<\/h3>\n<p>If you&#8217;re using OneDrive, open OneDrive Settings and click the Manage Backup button. Turn off backup\/synchronization of your personal folders: Desktop, Documents, and Pictures. For more information, check out <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/error-folder-cant-be-moved-here-documents-pictures-onedrive\/\">this article<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/onedrive-manage-backup-disable-3.png\" alt=\"onedrive manage folders - disable\/stop backups\" width=\"593\" height=\"560\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-44666\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In the OneDrive settings, go to the Account tab, and select Unlink this PC.<\/p>\n<p>After you complete all the steps in this article, you can re-link and re-enable OneDrive backup if you want.<\/p>\n<p>Similarly, if you&#8217;re using any other sync client (e.g., Google Drive, DropBox, etc.), turn off the synchronization of your shell folders in the respective app. You can turn on sync later.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><a id=\"profileimagepath\"><\/a>Step 2: Rename the User Profile Folder<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li>Create a second administrator account, which can be a local user account.<\/li>\n<li>Log off from your primary account, and log in to the secondary admin account.<\/li>\n<li>Start <code><strong>regedit.exe<\/strong><\/code> and navigate to:\n<pre>HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows NT\\CurrentVersion\\ProfileList<\/pre>\n<\/li>\n<li>Each subkey represents the SID of user accounts, including the built-in accounts in the system.\u00a0Select the SID of your primary account for which you want to rename the profile folder. You can identify it by looking at the <strong>ProfileImagePath<\/strong> value in the right pane.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-24066\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/rename-user-sid-profileimagepath.png\" alt=\"rename user profile sid registry\" width=\"701\" height=\"495\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"qt\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-6338 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/icotip.gif\" alt=\"tips bulb icon\" width=\"34\" height=\"34\" \/>To get the SID of all the user accounts on the computer, run this command: <strong><code>wmic useraccount list full<\/code><\/strong>. Here&#8217;s a sample output.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-24064\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/sid-wmic-command.png\" alt=\"wmic find sid of user accounts\" width=\"699\" height=\"302\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Alternately, you can find the SID of the user account (which is currently logged in) by running the command &#8220;<code><strong>whoami \/user<\/strong><\/code>&#8220;. So, to get the SID of the primary user account (whose profile folder you want to rename), run the <code>whoami<\/code> command from that user account.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>In the appropriate subkey, update the <strong><code>ProfileImagePath<\/code><\/strong> value data accordingly, from the old user account to the new:\n<pre><strong>Example:<\/strong>\r\n\r\nC:\\Users\\srame\r\n\r\nto\r\n\r\nC:\\Users\\Ramesh<\/pre>\n<\/li>\n<li>Exit the Registry Editor.<\/li>\n<li>Restart Windows. This is to avoid &#8220;File In Use&#8221; error when renaming the profile folder<\/li>\n<li>Log back in (again to the second administrator account.)<\/li>\n<li>Launch File Explorer and rename the profile folder. The folder name should exactly be the same as you typed in step 6 above.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/userhomefolder3.png\" width=\"449\" height=\"173\" border=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"newline\"><em>If you still receive the &#8220;File In Use&#8221; error when renaming the profile folder, boot into the Windows Recovery Environment and rename the folder via the Command Prompt. For more information, see the section &#8220;Accessing the Recovery Environment&#8221; in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/edit-registry-offline-windows-re\/\">this article<\/a><\/em>.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>This renames your user profile folder.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><a id=\"reset_search\"><\/a>Step 3: Reset and Rebuild Windows Search Index<\/h3>\n<p>The Windows Search index would still have thousands of entries pointing to the old profile folder path. You&#8217;ll need to reset and rebuild the Search Index completely by setting the <code>SetupCompletedSuccessfully<\/code> registry value to <code>0<\/code>.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Start the Registry Editor <code>regedit.exe<\/code> and go to:\n<pre>HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows Search<\/pre>\n<\/li>\n<li>Change the registry value <code>SetupCompletedSuccessfully<\/code> data from <code>1<\/code> to <code>0<\/code><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-5856\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/search-index-reset-registry.png\" alt=\"Reset and Rebuild Search Index - setupcompletedsuccessfully\" width=\"801\" height=\"385\" \/><br \/>\n<em>The above registry change SetupCompletedSuccessfully = 0 causes Windows Search to clear custom indexed locations, add default locations, and rebuild the index from scratch.<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Exit the Registry Editor.<\/li>\n<li>Open the Services MMC (<code>services.msc<\/code>)<\/li>\n<li>Restart the Windows Search service.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-5860\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/windows-search-restart.png\" alt=\"Reset and Rebuild Search Index - restart windows search service\" width=\"701\" height=\"297\" \/><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><em>Full instructions are available in the article <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/reset-rebuild-windows-search-index-fix-problems\/#reset\">Reset and Rebuild Search Index Completely in Windows<\/a>. Especially see section <strong>How to Manually Reset Windows Search and Rebuild the Index<\/strong> in that article.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Resetting search will clear all indexed locations, and Windows Search starts rebuilding the index automatically. If you have any custom folder locations to add to the index, add it manually by launching Control Panel \u2192 Indexing Options.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><a id=\"system_registry\"><\/a>Step 4: Update the Registry Paths (system-wide)<\/h3>\n<p>Although you&#8217;ll be able to log in to the profile and use it, just renaming the <code>ProfileImagePath<\/code> value is not enough. There could be hundreds of registry values pointing to the old user profile folder, and the numbers can vary depending upon the programs installed on the system.<\/p>\n<p>For example, the Cortana search stores the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/windows-10-settings-search-no-results-found-fix\/\">index database location<\/a> in the registry, and failing to update the path breaks the search feature in the Start menu and the Settings app.<\/p>\n<div class=\"qt\">\n<p>You can do a registry search using software like Nirsoft&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nirsoft.net\/utils\/regscanner.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow noreferrer\">RegScanner<\/a> or Registry Finder, and you&#8217;ll be surprised to see the number of registry locations (not including the trivial most-recent-used history locations) you have to update.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-3138\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/userhomefolder5.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"597\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-3139\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/userhomefolder7.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"566\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>You need a decent registry search and replace tool to bulk find and replace every occurrence of the string &#8220;<code>Users\\oldname<\/code>&#8221; to &#8220;<code>Users\\newname<\/code>&#8220;.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-6338\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/icotip.gif\" alt=\"tips bulb icon\" width=\"34\" height=\"34\" \/>You may try the freeware <a href=\"https:\/\/filehippo.com\/download_registry-finder\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Registry Finder<\/a> by Sergey Filippov to find and replace the registry values <em>en masse<\/em>. <strong>Register Finder can replace REG_BINARY and REG_MULTI_SZ values as well<\/strong>. For support, visit the <a href=\"https:\/\/groups.google.com\/g\/registry-finder\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Registry Finder forum<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;With the Replace feature (in Registry Finder) you can easily replace all or particular occurrences of one string with another. The replacement is performed only in items that are in the Find Results window. In the Replace dialog, you specify either all items or just selected ones. After the replacement is done, items in the window are updated. If some item does not match the search criteria any more it still remains in the list.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>In the Registry Finder window, use the Find option to find the string <code>C:\\Users\\srame<\/code><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-24063\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/registry-finder.png\" alt=\"rename user profile folder - registry find and replace\" width=\"751\" height=\"627\" \/><\/li>\n<li>From the Find Results window, click on the Edit menu, click <strong>Replace in Find Results&#8230;<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Replace all instances of the old profile name with the new one.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-24069\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/user-profile-registyr-find-replace.png\" alt=\"rename user profile registry find replace\" width=\"476\" height=\"336\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"newline\"><strong>Rename #1:<\/strong><\/div>\n<pre>C:\\Users\\srame\r\n\r\nto\r\n\r\nC:\\Users\\Ramesh\r\n\r\n<\/pre>\n<\/li>\n<li>Similarly, use the Find option to find the string <code>C:\\\\Users\\\\srame<\/code><\/li>\n<li>Replace all instances of the old profile name with the new one.\n<div class=\"newline\"><strong>Rename #2:<\/strong><\/div>\n<pre>C:\\\\Users\\\\srame\r\n\r\nto\r\n\r\nC:\\\\Users\\\\Ramesh\r\n<\/pre>\n<p><em><strong>Note:<\/strong> Office 365 and other apps store the path in the above format (double backslashes.) in some areas of the registry.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><a id=\"user_registry\"><\/a>Step 5: Update the per-user Registry Paths (NTUSER.DAT &amp; USRCLASS.DAT)<\/h3>\n<p>The NTUSER.DAT and USRCLASS.DAT are per-user <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/automatically-backup-registry-hives-windows-10\/\">registry hives<\/a> that are separate for each user account. In the previous section, as you were using Registry Finder from the 2nd administrator account, NTUSER.DAT and USRCLASS.DAT of the original account are not updated.<\/p>\n<p>So, you&#8217;ll have to load the NTUSER.DAT and USRCLASS.DAT file of the original user account in Registry Finder, find and replace the user profile path accordingly.<\/p>\n<p><em>Note that the two files are hidden and protected by default. To view them, you need to enable &#8220;Show all files&#8230;&#8221; and disable &#8220;Hide protected operating system files..&#8221; in Folder Options.<\/em><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>In the Registry Finder window, click the File menu, and select Load Hive&#8230;<\/li>\n<li>Browse to select the <code>NTUSER.DAT<\/code> of your user account &#8212; e.g., <code>C:\\Users\\srame\\NTUSER.DAT<\/code>.<\/li>\n<li>Assign a name for the loaded hive &#8212; e.g., <code>myhive<br \/>\n<\/code><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-24067\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/user-profile-rename-ntuser-dat-replace.png\" alt=\"rename user profile registry hive\" width=\"367\" height=\"282\" \/><\/li>\n<li>Select one of the options for the Parent key: <code>HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE<\/code> or <code>HKEY_USERS<\/code><\/li>\n<li>Click OK. The hive will be loaded under one of the parent keys above.<\/li>\n<li>With the <code>MyHive<\/code> registry branch selected, use the Find option to find the string <code>C:\\Users\\srame<br \/>\n<\/code><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-24068\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/user-profile-rename-ntuser-dat-replace-2.png\" alt=\"rename user profile registry hive\" width=\"514\" height=\"505\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"newline\">You&#8217;ll be surprised to see many entries (especially, OneDrive settings) still pointing to the old user profile folder.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>Replace all the entries with the new profile folder name &#8212; e.g., <code>C:\\Users\\Ramesh<\/code><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-24069\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/user-profile-registyr-find-replace.png\" alt=\"rename user profile registry find replace\" width=\"476\" height=\"336\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"newline\"><strong>Rename #1:<\/strong><\/div>\n<pre>C:\\Users\\srame\r\n\r\nto\r\n\r\nC:\\Users\\Ramesh\r\n<\/pre>\n<\/li>\n<li>With the <code>MyHive<\/code> registry branch selected, use the Find option to find the string <code>C:\\\\Users\\\\srame<\/code><\/li>\n<li>Replace all the entries with the new profile folder name &#8212; e.g., <code>C:\\\\Users\\\\Ramesh<\/code>\n<div class=\"newline\"><strong>Rename #2:<\/strong><\/div>\n<pre>C:\\\\Users\\\\srame\r\n\r\nto\r\n\r\nC:\\\\Users\\\\Ramesh\r\n<\/pre>\n<p><em><strong>Note:<\/strong> Office 365 and other apps store the path in the above format (double backslashes.) in some areas of the registry.<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Once the registry values are updated, switch to the &#8220;Local Registry&#8221; tab from the &#8220;Find the Results&#8221; tab.<\/li>\n<li>In the &#8220;Local Registry&#8221; tab, select the <code>MyHive<\/code> key<\/li>\n<li>From the File menu, click Unload Hive&#8230; and unload <code>MyHive<\/code>. <strong>This is important!<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-24070\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/registry-finder-unload-hive.png\" alt=\"rename user profile registry find replace\" width=\"339\" height=\"401\" \/><br \/>\n<\/strong><em>Note that the Unload Hive&#8230; option will be grayed out if you&#8217;re in the <strong>Find Results<\/strong> tab or if you haven&#8217;t selected &#8220;<code>MyHive<\/code>&#8220;.<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Repeat the steps 1-12, but this time, you need to load the <code><strong>usrClass.dat<\/strong><\/code> hive located here:\n<pre>C:\\Users\\<strong>{username}<\/strong>\\AppData\\Local\\Microsoft\\Windows\\usrClass.dat<\/pre>\n<\/li>\n<li>Once the registry values are updated, unload the hive via the File menu. <strong>This is important!<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Close Registry Finder and restart Windows.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Log in to your primary account and see if everything works correctly. Reconfigure OneDrive now, if required.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><a id=\"ini\"><\/a>Step 6: Update the INI files<\/h3>\n<p>This step may be needed if some legacy software on your computer is storing files in text files (e.g. &#8211;\u00a0 <code>.ini<\/code> files), and those entries are pointing to the old profile folder.<\/p>\n<p>You may download <strong>Everything<\/strong> search tool from <code>voidtools.com<\/code> and do a content search within text-based files &#8212; especially <code>.ini<\/code>.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-24071\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/everything-search-user-profile.png\" alt=\"rename user profile find replace ini files\" width=\"750\" height=\"593\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Update the text-based files to reflect the new path.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<div class=\"qt\">\n<h3><a id=\"caveats\"><\/a>Caveats<\/h3>\n<p>None of the following issues (1 &#8211; 4) occurred during my testing, but including them as a general advice:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>On rare occasions, if the registry Search\/Replace software can&#8217;t modify certain registry keys due to Permission issues, you may run the Registry Editor under <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/run-program-as-system-localsystem-account-windows\/\">System<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/run-program-as-trustedinstaller-locked-registry-keys-files\/\">TrustedInstaller<\/a> privileges and modify those entries, or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/how-to-take-ownership-of-registry-keys-and-assign-full-permissions\/\">fix the Permissions<\/a> on a per-key basis.<\/li>\n<li>The registry is not the only place where the profile path information is stored. Some applications store data in text-based files like .ini, .xml, proprietary file format, or even database files. In those cases, the applications still reference the old path and may not work as expected. You can replace the profile path manually on those text-based files. But, there is no single solution to update the paths with a single click. This has to be done on a per-application basis.<\/li>\n<li>If you find that the old user profile folder is created again automatically, then one or more of your existing applications are still referencing the old path. Open the folder and see which applications are adding files there. That helps you reconfigure that particular application.<\/li>\n<li>If a mission-critical application breaks after following the above procedure, it may be storing the profile path in a database or proprietary file format. In that case, contact the software vendor for support. Or revert to your old configuration by restoring from the image backup you created earlier. When I tested, such issues didn&#8217;t occur.<\/li>\n<li>It&#8217;s better if you unlink OneDrive (before renaming the profile) and then relink after you rename the profile file and log in to it. You may have to re-sign into Office 365 and OneDrive and let OneDrive sync with the new folder change. Open OneDrive Settings \u2192 AutoSave \u2192 &#8220;Update Folders&#8221; to ensure that the shell folders such as Desktop, Documents, Pictures, etc., are properly picked up.<\/li>\n<li>If you&#8217;re using File History, you may need to reconfigure it after renaming the user profile folder.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n<p>Information in this article applies to all versions of Windows, including Windows 11.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This article explains in detail how to change the name of your user profile folder in Windows. In some cases, it&#8217;s necessary to manually rename the user profile folder because Windows truncates the user profile folder name to a certain number of characters when creating the user account. For instance, when you create a user &#8230; <a title=\"How to Rename User Profile Folder in Windows 10\/11\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/rename-user-profile-folder-windows\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about How to Rename User Profile Folder in Windows 10\/11\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9055,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[441,683],"class_list":["post-3140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-windows","tag-registry","tag-windows-search"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/user-profile-folders-featured.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1355,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/fix-user-profile-service-failed-logon-new-user-profile-error-windows-7\/","url_meta":{"origin":3140,"position":0},"title":"Fix &#8220;The User Profile Service service failed the logon&#8221; New User Profile Error in Windows 7","author":"Ramesh","date":"April 19, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"When you logon to a newly created user profile for the first time, the profile may not load and the following error is seen:The User Profile Service service failed the logon.User profile cannot be loaded.Editor's Note: This guide helps you fix the above problem that occurs when logging on to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 7&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 7","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-7\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/archived2\/w7-new-profile-err-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8060,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/user-profile-service-failed-sign-in-windows-10\/","url_meta":{"origin":3140,"position":1},"title":"Fix &#8220;The User Profile Service service failed the sign-in&#8221; Error in Windows 10","author":"Ramesh","date":"February 23, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"When you try to log into your Windows 10 computer using an account that was not previously logged in, you may get the error \"The User Profile Service service failed the sign-in. User profile cannot be loaded\" and the sign-in screen appears again. This article tells you how to resolve\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 10&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The User Profile Service service failed the sign-in","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/w10-userprofile-failed-sign-in.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/w10-userprofile-failed-sign-in.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/w10-userprofile-failed-sign-in.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8615,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/fix-google-chrome-does-not-open-fails-start\/","url_meta":{"origin":3140,"position":2},"title":"How to Fix Google Chrome if it Fails to Launch in Windows","author":"Ramesh","date":"April 12, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Occasionally, Google Chrome may not start correctly due to Chrome user profile corruption, a rogue extension or even due to malware. When you launch Chrome, the Task Manager may show chrome.exe as running but no user interface may be visible. This post tells you how to fix Google Chrome web\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"recovery chrome bookmarks and cookies from old profile folder","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/chrome-recover-bookmarks-old-folder.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/chrome-recover-bookmarks-old-folder.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/chrome-recover-bookmarks-old-folder.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/chrome-recover-bookmarks-old-folder.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":46152,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/profile-folder-missing-under-users\/","url_meta":{"origin":3140,"position":3},"title":"User Profile Folder Missing Under C:\\Users","author":"Ramesh","date":"May 15, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"The profile folder for each user account on your computer is stored under C:\\Users. On some systems, the user profile folder may not appear when you open the \"C:\\Users\" folder in File Explorer. However, typing the command echo %userprofile% will tell that the profile folder is located at \"C:\\Users\\{username}\". You\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 10&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"profile folder missing under c:\\users","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/user-profile-folder-hidden-missing.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":24048,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/transfer-chrome-profile-another-computer\/","url_meta":{"origin":3140,"position":4},"title":"How to Transfer Chrome Profiles to Another Computer","author":"Ramesh","date":"May 14, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Google Chrome's synchronize feature stores a copy of your entire browser settings in the cloud and synchronizes it with your other devices. It can sync your Apps, Bookmarks, Extensions, History, Settings, Themes, Reading List, Open Tabs, Passwords, Addresses, phone numbers, payment methods, etc. With sync, all you need to do\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"chrome transfer profile to another computer","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/chrome-corrupt-data-reset-prompt.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/chrome-corrupt-data-reset-prompt.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/chrome-corrupt-data-reset-prompt.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/chrome-corrupt-data-reset-prompt.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4785,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/completely-reset-google-chrome-defaults\/","url_meta":{"origin":3140,"position":5},"title":"How to Reset Google Chrome to Default","author":"Ramesh","date":"December 5, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"You may occasionally want to reset Chrome to the factory default settings for performance, or in the aftermath of malware attack and removal. This post tells you how to reset your Google Chrome settings and data. Contents Reset Google Chrome via Settings Reset Google Chrome completely by renaming its data\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"chrome welcome screen first run","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/chrome-welcome-first-run.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/chrome-welcome-first-run.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/chrome-welcome-first-run.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3140"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3140\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}