How to rename a user account that is already linked to a Microsoft Account?
Or make a hard directory link (must run as administrator) between what you want and what you have?
mklink /J C:\Users\John C:\Users\jesmi
The user folder jesmi will still be there, but you can ignore it.
I'm adding some solutions to my problem so others may benefit from this information.
Problem: When installing Windows 10 for the first time and immediately linking to your Microsoft account, be aware that Microsoft will automatically name your user account with first 5 letters of your email address and does not give you an option to choose your own user name.
To avoid being annoyed with this and trying to find a way to rename it later, see the solutions bellow instead.
Solution #1:
- Create a new local user account with the name that you wish.
- Change the new local user account type to administrator (can skip if already have another administrator account).
- Remove the original Microsoft linked account with unwanted Microsoft created name.
- Link new local user account to Microsoft account if you wish.
The new user account name will remain the same after linking to your Microsoft account.
Solution #2:
Install Windows 10 with a local user account first.
After Windows 10 installation is complete, go ahead and link the local user account to your Microsoft Account if you wish.
Solutions copied from this post. See here for more details.
How to rename the User folder in Windows 10?
Conclusion (what not to do): I was trying to rename the user account that was already linked to my Microsoft Account instead of creating a new local user account and I found out this is a very bad idea and should be avoided. It created many errors and all sorts of problems for me.
Problem
Choosing a local user at the beginnning of setup no longer works (tested in Windows 10 Home edition) - you are forced to have or create a Microsoft account first. Later on, you can choose to move to a local account. If you do so, the first 5 letters of the username for the Microsoft account becomes your Windows account username and the user's folder name will reflect this.
If you'd like to have control over your username, then:
Solution 1
Do not enable an internet connection (including signing-on to a Wifi network) at the beginning of the setup. Windows 10 will tell you about all the great things you'll miss if you don't enable internet access and use (or create) a Microsoft account. Kindly accept your fate and you'll be guided through creating a local account with a username of your choice.
Unfortunately, if you are using the home edition of Windows 10, you do not have the option to use the next solution because you'll need access to "Local Users and Groups" under Computer Management.
Solution 2
The first user is admin. So you can use it to create other accounts and name them as you wish. You can then use those accounts. Otherwise you can try renaming your current user (in Local Users and Groups) and see if it affects the naming of the user's folder (I did not try this last bit and don't know if it would work like that. I guess you will need to log out and then back in to see if there is any change.).