Windows – In Windows 10 how can we change the name of this folder under C:\Users

hp-pavilionwindows 10

I'm using Windows 10 on my personal computer (HP Pavilion Laptop) and you can see in the Screen Shot under C:\Users there are two folders.

Screen Shot

The name of the first folder is C:\Users\SINGHA, however, the correct spelling of my last name is SINHA. I need to change the name of this folder to C:\Users\SINHA so that it shows the correct name.

  • Under User Account, the spelling of my name is correct – it's only under C:\Users\ where the name is spelt incorrectly.
  • Consequently, if I open/edit a Word or Excel document, the name of the owner being shown is the incorrect one (i.e it's shown as C:\Users\SINGHA instead of C:\Users\SINHA)

If I right-click on this folder, I won't get the Rename option; How can I change the name of this folder?

Best Answer

This method is based on the following Microsoft article:
Renaming a User Account Does Not Automatically Change the Profile Path.

The article was written for Windows 7, but is still relevant in Windows 10.

  1. Rename in User Accounts the user account from C SINGHA to C SINHA

  2. Start a Command Prompt (cmd) and enter the following command:

    whoami /user

  3. Note down the value below SID, which may look like S-1-5-21-495099530-557473056-3318008218-1001,
    by copying it to some text file

  4. Log in using another administrative account (create one if required)

  5. Go to the C:\Users\ folder and rename the sub-folder C SINGHA to C SINHA

  6. Start regedit and navigate to the key

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\<SID>

  7. Modify the registry value ProfileImagePath to C:\Users\C SINHA

  8. Log out and log in again as C SINHA.

Before doing registry operations, it is best to ensure good backups. Before starting on the above, create at least a System restore point, just in case, to be able to restore the current state of Windows.

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