Vista - Wrong Username is STUCK on Admin

My wife tried to change the Username on the computer i put together for her. The only problem is that she changed the name somehow but it didn't change it in the OS. That is, when i go in through another user account it says the ORIGINAL name under users, NOT the name she made.

Now the PROBLEM is that when the OS boots up it has her NEW name (that somehow didn't take), written in for the Admin account but the PASSWORD for the ORIGINAL account is the SAME (i.e. the password hint is the same as what i had made it originally). Now the problem is that i can't change the USERNAME and there IS NO password for the name she made, cause it didn't take halfway through the process she said.

The question is, how do i change the Username to the original name... that is, to the ACTUAL user name that is listed under users (the name she made is NOT listed under users). Please advise ASAP. Thanks!

Hi Mikhayah,

You can change the name of the Administrator account, setup during installation, by going into "User Accounts" in the Control Panel (classic view), but it will not change the name at "C:\Users(your username)" for the account. That will let you change it back to what is in "C:\Users(your username)". The only way to change the user account name in "C:\Users(your username)", is to do a reinstall or create a new Administrator account from within the old one and delete the old one from within the new one.

Hope the helps you,
Shawn

Will these delete data?

Mikhayah,

It will not affect the installed programs on the computer, except you may have to create a few new shortcuts to them. If you choose to keep the user folder files when deleting the old user account you will have those files saved as well on the desktop of the account you deleted the old one from.

To be safe, I would always backup anything you do not want to lose though.

Shawn

Well i can't back up anything cause i have to get on the account to do that and it won't let me get on.

Mikhayah,

That would be a problem. LOL

Not to worry. You can boot into the Advanced Boot Options screen to select Safe Mode to startup in. See is you can create the new Administrator account from within Safe Mode.

Advanced Boot Options


If not, then enable the built-in Administrator account temporarly to create the new Administrator account.

Administrator Account

Shawn

To run as admin it prompts me for the password with saved wrong username

Mikhayah,

Other than a clean install, you might try resetting the password to see if you can gain acccess again.

Reset User Account Password

Shawn