Windows – How to rename the User folder in Windows 10

onedrivewindowswindows 10

After installing Windows 10 on my Surface Pro 3 it took my user name 'Jeremy' and created a user folder named C:\Users\jerem.

I want to rename the folder C:\Users\Jeremy. The procedure for Windows 8 does not work. There are a couple of reasons.

  1. OneDrive is now a fully integrated part of the OS, and it completely breaks. A find/replace in the registry seems to work, but it's hard to be confident in that approach.
  2. When the computer is rebooted, the TabletInputService writes a TextHarvester.dat file to the old user profile location (creating it if needed). This makes it impossible to keep the folder deleted. An old solution found online doesn't work. This issue also causes an error message to pop up every time the computer boots.

Best Answer

This can be done without folder renaming and messing with registry:

  1. Create a local account with the user name you wish.

    • Local account creation is well hidden; here is how to find it:
      Settings > Accounts > Family & Other users > Other users > Add someone else to this PC > The person I want to add doesn't have an email address > Add a user without Microsoft account

  2. Change account type to administrator (can skip if there is other administrator).

  3. Remove original Microsoft linked account
  4. Link local account to Microsoft account if you wish
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