Posted by: russmeister
Windows XP Documents and Settings User Folders - 29/11/2006 20:09
I purchased a new laptop for my wife for Christmas and in the process of setting up Windows, I used her maiden name instead of our last name (I've only been married 6 months, give me a break!). Now, her documents and settings folder has her maiden name (C:\Documents and Settings\"Maiden Name") and I can't change seem to find out how to change it. I don't want the previous name to show anywhere on the computer, thus she would know I made the mistake.
Any ideas?
Running Windows XP Media Center Edition with all the latest updates.
Posted by: wfaulk
Re: Windows XP Documents and Settings User Folders - 29/11/2006 20:19
Not sure if this is available in MCE, but this is, by far, the tidiest way to fix this: Open the User Accounts control panel. Create a new account for her with the correct name, making sure she's in the same group as the existing account (probably Administrators), log in with that account, delete the old account, then delete the offending directories.
If MCE doesn't have the User Accounts control panel, then you'll likely have to do some regedit goodness. Google for "Documents-and-Settings regedit". TweakUI ought to do it, but it doesn't actually seem to.
Posted by: FireFox31
Re: Windows XP Documents and Settings User Folders - 29/11/2006 23:04
I've done a profile folder rename once or twice, but forget the exact details. I think it was as simple as:
Like Bitt said, make a new account and log in.
Log out and back in as admin.
MOVE the contents of the old profile folder to the new folder, overwriting whatever is there.
This moves the old user's Application Data (Firefox bookmarks, Outlook PSTs), user portion of the registry, My Docs, Desktop, Start Menu, etc. I think it's as simple as that, but I'd have to check my notes at work.
Posted by: Waterman981
Re: Windows XP Documents and Settings User Folders - 29/11/2006 23:24
If you do need to go into the registry, lots of instructions say just log out, and log back in. I recommend doing restarts. I've lost files, and had many other problems just logging out/in.
Posted by: russmeister
Re: Windows XP Documents and Settings User Folders - 30/11/2006 12:30
Thanks Bitt. That did it.
Posted by: rubennyc
Re: Windows XP Documents and Settings User Folders - 30/11/2006 14:09
MCE has all the goodness of Professional, the stuff that's missing in Home Edition.
BTW, I much prefer copy to move. Copy ensures that the files inherit the permissions of the destination folder. Move preserves the existing file permissions. If she's going to have admin rights anyway, she really won't notice the difference.
Posted by: wfaulk
Re: Windows XP Documents and Settings User Folders - 30/11/2006 14:25
My understanding of the question was that the wife had not yet touched the computer, so there shouldn't be anything to retain, making the copy/move question moot.