Here’s How to Change Your Windows User Account Name
Some of you may be stuck with a user account name that your computer manufacturer assigned… you know usernames like “Owner”. Unless your name is “Owner” you might want to change it to “Bill” or “Polly” – or “Skippy” or “Clarabelle” or whatever your name is or whatever name tickles your fancy.
It’s not hard to do. If you want to change your Windows user account name, here’s how.
1. Type NETPLWIZ in the taskbar search and press Enter when it appears in the search results.
2. Click on the account you want to change
3. Click on “Properties”
4. A dialog will open with the current username highlighted. Click Delete and type in a new name.
5. Click “Apply” then “OK”.
But whoa there, folks!
Keep in mind this does not change the folder locations. For instance, Pictures will still be located at C:\Users\Username\Pictures and Documents will still be at C:\Users\Username\Documents, etc. Changing the username does not change the user folder locations. If you try to change those locations, you risk losing data and corrupting the user account. So don’t do it. If you really want a new user account name, create a completely new user account with the name you want and then copy all the data from all your user folders (Documents, Desktop, Pictures, Videos, Music, etc.) to the user folders in your new account. But, to me, this seems like a lot of work especially if you’re the only one who’s ever going to see it.
All that aside, if you want to change your apparent user name, now you know how to do it.