How Do I Get Vista To Rename 'User' Folders?

July 2, 2007 10:27 PM

Idiotfilter: How do I get Windows Vista to update my new user name across all the folders?

Okay, this is probably the stupidest, most basic technological question anybody's ever asked, but I'm desperate, so here goes:

My decade old PC died last week and my younger brother managed to crowbar out the hard-drive and transfer the data to a new computer complete with Windows Vista. In his brilliantly highbrow and sophisticated idea of a joke, he called the User Account '[my name] is Gay'. Hilarious, I know.

Problem is, though I managed to change the name (by clicking on 'change name') there are still folders called '[my name] is Gay' that Vista hasn't changed and won't let me rename manually. I've tried unchecking 'Read Only' in the 'properties' box, to no avail. I use this PC for work and I've now got a load of documents with '[my name] is Gay' in 'properties' as the author.

Now, maybe I'm a crazy prude, but I don't think work reports are the place for declarations about my sexuality. How do I change this? I know it's probably stupidly simple, but I can't find a previous AskMe question about this and I've got a deadline I'm likely to miss unless I can figure out how to accomplish, in good ol' security-less 98, would be a thirty-second task. Thank you in advance, and sorry.

posted by RokkitNite to computers & internet (6 comments total)

I'm not sure about renaming the user folders, but you can sanitize your documents easily so you don't miss your deadline. Select all the documents that you need to hand in (you can select things out of order by holding ctrl while you click around), right click them and select properties. In the details tab, click on "Remove Properties and Personal Information". In the new dialog that pops up you can either create a copy of the file with no properties, or just remove a particular field (author, for instance). To finalize your changes, smack your brother across the back of the head a few times.
posted by tracert at 11:02 PM on July 2, 2007

Thanks Tracert - that should work as a quick fix.

As best I can tell, renaming the User Account is cosmetic - it's still listed as [old name]/[new name] in the account info and all the folders retain the original name. When I click on 'properties' for individual folders the 'rename' box is greyed out. All the documents from my previous computer now claim to be authored by '[my name] is Gay'. AAAARRRGGGHHHH!!!
posted by RokkitNite at 11:27 PM on July 2, 2007

Just create a new account with the name you want, copy the documents from (name is gay) account to your new account.

You can go to control panel -> user accounts & family safety -> Add or Remove Account. Just make a new one, as administrator and copy your documents over and then delete the (name is gay) account.
posted by tradeer33 at 1:07 AM on July 3, 2007

So are you saying it's not possible to properly change the User Name and have Windows change the folders and author title accordingly? Because if so I am going to march straight to Maison Gates and do Bill a grievous physical discourtesy. I knew I should've switched to Mac!!!! THE ADVERTS TOLD ME!
posted by RokkitNite at 1:40 AM on July 3, 2007

Tradeer33 has the easiest fix. I think there is a clone or copy user function too, but I'm not on my Vista machine right now.
posted by BrotherCaine at 2:00 AM on July 3, 2007

I have little experience with Vista, but with XP, the easiest solution is to rename the existing account to something throwaway, create a new account with the name you want, copy the files, and delete the old user.

The reason you can't rename the folder is because Windows keeps locks open as long as you're logged in. If you log in as Administrator and rename the folder, it will work, but when you log in, Windows will promptly recreate a default profile in the old folder name, because it thinks that's where your profle should be. So you have to do some kind of registry editing to get it to look in the right place. It is, in short, a bundle of pure joy to deal with.

The proper way to fix this, at least in XP, has to do with using the profile copy tool in Control Panel/System/Advanced/User Profiles, but I've had endless trouble using that thing. I'd strongly suggest just making a new user and copying your files. It'll work without requiring advanced voodoo techniques.
posted by Malor at 3:14 AM on July 3, 2007