safely changing a profile name

[graysky]

Is there an easy method to change a profile name? I reinstalled XP on top of an old XP install without nuking the partition first. The installer wiped out the c:\windows okay, but it didn't touch the user space in c:\documents and settings. Long story short, I now have a c:\documents and settings\username.pc name that I'd like to rename without messing up the profile for that user. Is there a utility to do this or is it as simple as renaming that dir from another user account?

Thanks all!

[.matt]

Well technically speaking windows xp never changes / isn't capable of changing this file name.

However, you may be able to manually change it in the registery.

[Idontwantspam]

Well, I think this depends on what you're changing. Are you just changing the name you type or click to log in with? Or are you changing the name that appears in C:/Documents and Settings?

Look around in these places and see what you can figure out:

the advanced User Accounts control panel:

start > run > control userpasswords2

the MMC local users and groups snap-in:

start > run > lusrmgr.msc

Also take a look in the registry at the following point:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList

Find the SID for the user you need to change and I think you can change where the profile should be stored.

Also, you could theoretically I suppose maybe but it could screw things up do this:

copy all everything in their C:/documents and settings/user folder to that of a new user, including their NTUSER.DAT file, which has all their registry info. But this could screw things up. So i dunno.

Hope something here helps somehow. Good luck!