peterdorey
asked on
Change PC Username
Even though I have changed name & orgainisation in the usual regisrty key place viz.,HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SO FTWARE\Mic rosoft\Win dows NT\CurrentVersion, I cannot seem to chnage the previous owner USERNAME.
HIs name appears in C:\Documents and Settings also - but cannot delete, as it says it's a Windows system folder. Changed his name also in the usual My Computer Properties AND deleted his profile also (Although it meant I lost my emails).
See attached showing John Schofiled (previous Owner)
HOW DO I CHANGE IT TO ME??
Username-EE.jpg
HIs name appears in C:\Documents and Settings also - but cannot delete, as it says it's a Windows system folder. Changed his name also in the usual My Computer Properties AND deleted his profile also (Although it meant I lost my emails).
See attached showing John Schofiled (previous Owner)
HOW DO I CHANGE IT TO ME??
Username-EE.jpg
Either create a new profile with admin rights or login with a username that has admin rights. If John Scofield was a profile on the local machine only, then make sure that you have admin rights to the local machine.
Log in with admin rights, and then delete the folder named John Scofield from C:\Documents and Settings.
Log in with admin rights, and then delete the folder named John Scofield from C:\Documents and Settings.
The profile folder wouldnt show theat name in the task manager though....
If this is XP Pro,...
start>run>lusrmgr.msc>User s>Rt. Click your username and make sure that the Full Name doesnt show that John Scofield name....
If this is XP Pro,...
start>run>lusrmgr.msc>User
ASKER
Johnb6767- It's XP HE which doesn't accept local users and groups snap in. WIll try other suggested solutions shortly.
try start | run | control useraccounts2 | enter
ASKER
Tried dstewartjr 2 solutions, to rename in regedit after getting profile list, but rebooting always came back with John Schofield.new username. Is there something at a higher level somewhere chaps?
You could export your settings with file and transfer wizard, create a new account, import those settings and delete old.
ASKER
I can't see a solution yet here that I think will work, surely someone else has had this problem, as I have a friend with exactly the same scenario, the previous owner is the username in Task Manger. It's at a higher level surely?
DId you try the "file and transfer wizard" ?
you can also(after creating a new account)
Log on to the machine as the local administrator
Right click on "My Computer" and select properties
On the Advanced tab select "Settings" under User profiles
Select the profile that you want to copy FROM and select COPY TO
Browse to C:\Documents and Settings and select the new profile name
Click the CHANGE button and type "Everyone"
then OK the copy and confirm replaceing of existing profile
And then delete old profile
Log on to the machine as the local administrator
Right click on "My Computer" and select properties
On the Advanced tab select "Settings" under User profiles
Select the profile that you want to copy FROM and select COPY TO
Browse to C:\Documents and Settings and select the new profile name
Click the CHANGE button and type "Everyone"
then OK the copy and confirm replaceing of existing profile
And then delete old profile
Honestly, I have seen the problem before, but never worried about fixing it, as it never interfered with the working of the PC....
You can open the Registry and search it. Dont think your gonna find it though (but I hate running out of suggestions, so here goes)....
start>run>regedit>Hit F3, and search for "John Schofield" no qoutes....
You can open the Registry and search it. Dont think your gonna find it though (but I hate running out of suggestions, so here goes)....
start>run>regedit>Hit F3, and search for "John Schofield" no qoutes....
OK... Heres a long shot.....
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SECURIT Y\SAM\Doma ins\Accoun t\Users\Na mes\
Look for the Subkey named John Schofield
Rt. Click it and select Rename..... Rename to the desired username....
Heres the kicker...
Cant see into that key unless you are logged in as the SYSTEM Account.....
http://www.askstudent.com/hacking/demonstration-of-windows-xp-privilege-escalation-exploit/
Do this process and launch regedit..exe, and then you will be able to navigate to it.....
Remember, this is uncharted waters..... Never have I dont this (trying to rename the user at the SAM level) .
Make a backup of the registry, do a system restore etc...
USE AT YOUR OWN RISK
Good luck....
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SECURIT
Look for the Subkey named John Schofield
Rt. Click it and select Rename..... Rename to the desired username....
Heres the kicker...
Cant see into that key unless you are logged in as the SYSTEM Account.....
http://www.askstudent.com/hacking/demonstration-of-windows-xp-privilege-escalation-exploit/
Do this process and launch regedit..exe, and then you will be able to navigate to it.....
Remember, this is uncharted waters..... Never have I dont this (trying to rename the user at the SAM level) .
Make a backup of the registry, do a system restore etc...
USE AT YOUR OWN RISK
Good luck....
ASKER
I still can't see a latter solution that am willing to try, each one I've tried has not got me any nearer and it seems now uncharted waters are needed.
Surely there's a top level that's telling the PC its John Schofiled that needs an overwrite?
(Seems like maybe a lot of people just leave it as the first owner...)
Surely there's a top level that's telling the PC its John Schofiled that needs an overwrite?
(Seems like maybe a lot of people just leave it as the first owner...)
try opening registry and click Edit>>Find>>John Schofiled
And rename each entry you find<<hitting f3 to find next
And rename each entry you find<<hitting f3 to find next
My last post was about as uncharted as it gets... Thats where the user ID's are located in the SAM..... And you wont see it, or find it by searching without getting SYSTEM level access to the registry....
ASKER
OK tried dstewartjr's last solution but still the same, so this w/e I will try john6767's last post.
ASKER
Im afraid none of these worked & only find my laptop even more messed up, so the only way now is probably to start from scratch and re-load windows XP SP2 & download all the device drivers; any thoughts before I go ahead on this?
Im afraid not...... I was hoping that my last suggestion was a hail mary so to say....
ASKER
I'm going to insert the Recovery disc, not XP disc (haven't got it at the moment) and start from scratch.
Hopefully then won't need to reloaded drivers doing this (suggestion from work colleague).
Hopefully then won't need to reloaded drivers doing this (suggestion from work colleague).
ASKER
In the end I put both recovery discs into the machine & reloaded up to XP SP3 which solved the problem - IMHO far easier than any of the proposed solutions - sorry.
If that's what you want to believe, creating a new user and copying the settings would have been pretty simple.
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http://windowsxp.mvps.org/userpath.htm