Vista - User Account Name

I've renamed my account to Austin(Temp) before and then switched it back to Austin after all my files were transferred. It shows up as Austin in the start menu, login screen, and my documents. But still shows as Austin(Temp) whenever I look for the account in a network or the old fashioned way (C:\Users\Austin(Temp)\Documents).

I don't want to go in and rename them all because I know I'll just mess it up. Is there anyway to safely rename all things connected to my account?

Sorry BigEasy,

The only way to change the name for the C:\Users\Austin(Temp) folder is to create a new account and delete the old one. When you delete it from within the new administrator account, be sure to select the Keep Files option to save the old account user folder contents to a folder on the desktop of the new user account.

User Account - Delete

Shawn

Hi - I recently got my first Vista computer (Toshiba laptop) with Vista Home Premium. Only my wife and I use it, so I set up a single admin account with username "Jack and Nancy"

On the desktop I see a folder named "Jack and Nancy" with a subfolder called "Documents". The contents of the Documents folder is stored in the C: drive under Users, but the path shows as C:\Users\'\Documents rather than what I expected it to be: C:\Users\Jack and Nancy\Documents.

What is this "apostrophy" thing doing in there?? Is it because I used spaces in the username?

How can I get the path to look like C:\Users\Jack and Nancy\Documents? If I have to rename my admin account something without spaces (like "JackAndNancy") to get rid of the apostrophy, how do I do that without messing up? I've read that changing an admin name can cause problems unless it's done in a certain way.

Thanks,
Jack

Hello Jack and welcome to Vista Forums.

Yes, you are correct that sometimes changing the user account name can cause problems with it. Usually with older programs that are installed though. The spaces should not be an issue in the name.

Do you have a C:\Users\Jack and Nancy folder or is it also C:\Users\' ?

If it's the later, then it sound like the account was originally name ' instead. The only way to fix that is to create a new administrator account with the name you want and delete the old one from within the new one afterwards.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Hi Shawn - There is no folder named C:\Users\Jack and Nancy. I don't understand how if the original account was named '. Perhaps it's no coincidence that the simple password I created for the Jack and Nancy account is '. It appears that the name of the account in C:\Users was named as my password.

OK, so I need to l create a new account, but since I already have an account named Jack and Nancy, will the system let me set up another with the same name (probably not)? Or will I have to create an intermediary name like JackAndNancy and then move all the files from the Users\' folder into that. And then delete the Users\' account and the old Jack and Nancy account and then recreate one with the same name????

Is all I have to do to make the new account be identical to the old Users\' is move all fits files into the new C:\Users\Jack and Nancy folder??? I want to make sure I do this correctly.

Thanks,
Jack

Jack,

You will just need to create a new administrator account using something other than the exact name of Jack and Nancy and ' since these names are tied together for that one account. After you have created the new account, delete the old one from within the new one. While deleting the old account, select the Keep Files option to have all the old account User folder contents placed in a folder on the desktop of the new account. You can then just copy them back.

User Account - Delete

Hi Shawn - thanks for all the great inputs.

Jack

Your welcome Jack.