How to change user profile folder name in Windows 11

When a user is created in Windows 11, for example a local account or a Microsoft account, a profile folder is created.

This profile folder contains the name of the local account or the first 5 characters of the email address for a Microsoft account. You can change the user profile folder. This means that you can change the name of the folder.

It is not recommended because there are apps and settings dependent on this folder. It is included in all kinds of references. In this article I create an “mklink” connection which should not cause any problems after changing the user profile folder name, but it is never ruled out.

How to change user profile folder name in Windows 11

Before you continue, I recommend getting one system image backup or a restorepoint. If something goes wrong, you can always go back. Don't skip this step.

To get started, you'll need to log out of the profile you want to rename. Create another administrator account or use another administrator account on your computer and log in with it. You can do it too temporarily enable administrator account.

Now right-click on the Start button. Click “Windows Terminal (Admin)” in the menu.

In the Windows Terminal window copy and paste the line below:

wmic useraccount get name,SID

Now copy the “SID” of the username whose profile folder you want to change.

Now right-click on the Start button and click “Run”. In the run window type:

regedit.exe

Go to key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\

Now find in the “ProfileList” the SID whose profile folder name you want to change. Click here.

Now double-click on “ProfileImagePath”. First copy the contents to a new text document. So you are backing up the contents of “ProfileImagePath”.

Now change “ProfileImagePath” to the desired name. Do not use a “\” at the end and make sure you use a name of a maximum of 10 characters, preferably (it's easier) without spaces.

Now open Windows Explorer. Go to the folder:

 c:\users\

Now click on the rename icon in the menu. Change the old profile folder name to the new one. This is the name you entered in the Windows registry. Click “Continue” when prompted.

Now open a Command Prompt as administrator. In the Command Prompt type:

mklink /d "C:\Users\<oude profiel map naam>" "C:\Users\<nieuwe profiel map naam>"

Change the data to bold, do not use “<” or “>”.

Example:

mklink /d "C:\Users\PC tips lokaal acct" "C:\Users\Pctipsaangepast"

Log out and log back in with the changed user account. You have now successfully changed the profile folder name.

I hope this helped you. Thank you for reading!