Forum Discussion
How To Change User Name Windows 11
To change the username in Windows 11, follow these steps:
Click on the Start button and select the Settings icon (gear icon) from the left-hand side menu.
In the Settings menu, select "Accounts."
From the "Accounts" menu, select "Your info" from the left-hand side menu.
Click on the "Manage my Microsoft Account" link. This will open your Microsoft account page in your web browser.
Sign in to your Microsoft account if prompted.
Click on the "More actions" button (three dots) located at the top right corner of the page.
Select "Edit Profile" from the drop-down menu.
On the "Edit profile" page, click on the "Edit name" button.
Enter your desired new username in the "First name" and "Last name" fields.
Click the "Save" button to confirm your new username.
Wait for a few minutes, and the new username will automatically sync with your Windows 11 device.
That's it! Your Windows 11 username has now been changed.
28 Replies
As others have said, these instructions do not work for simply changing the computer username and the user's folder on the desired PC.
I have a new Windows 11 computer, and want my username and user folder to be the same username I use on all my computers "fubar1". However the name my Microsoft account is under is "Jon Doe". Windows created my user folder as "jondo". WHY is there no way to control my username / user folder? This is really really frustrating. I can control my username on older Windows versions and in Linux. Microsoft is really frustrating a lot of people by not letting them have control over something as simple as their username. Please provide an EASY way to do this that works. Even if the instructions you provided did work (they do not, and moreover they don't even match the menus that show up in Windows 11) we should not have to go through such a long and convoluted process. Too many steps. That do not work. Please fix.
as of the beginning of 2025.. this is still not possible from what i can find. Seems everyone's "easy" solution is create a different, local account that you CAN edit username etc of as normal.. and "transfer your files / settings to it" mmkay why the hell is this not an initial windows 11 setup prompt then? this is infuriatingly dumb especially for people who actually need to use the username directory info for things like iunno... SETTING SPECIFIC FILE PATHS. good lord this is dumb
- +1
- This is quick helpful! thanks for sharing the tip.
rahulkhorwal The advice given in this thread does not fix my problem. Windows 11 decided to automatically name my user folder "pluvi" based on the first 5 letters of my truncated email. Seriously? You are going to force me to use this weird random string because that makes it easy for you to create a unique name for user folders without bothering to ask users what we prefer? Why don't you just use something even more human-unfriendly like a GUID or a Welsh place name?
Please tell us how to rename our User folder to something less human unfriendly.- netplwiz use this on windows + r.
- Yes, I agree.
My Username on the Windows Website has not changed, however, since I got a new computer, it is no longer displayed correctly (last letter missing). I don't know what to do.
- Use windows + r then type netplwiz it'll take time to sync up the name after this.
rahulkhorwalThis worked to change my account username, but didn't change my computer username. Is there anything else I can try?
rahulkhorwal Why cant i enter only first name and change it.
By having first name and second name, Oracle is not taking the username with space while installing
- Control Panel > User Accounts, ensure your profile is selected, and choose Change your/the account name.
Forget anything else.
- Thanks for sharing, will be helpful to others!
