How to change user name in Windows 10 (local or Microsoft account)

Applies to: Windows 10 Home, Pro, Enterprise and Education. The same steps work in Windows 11.

First: which account do you have?

Open Settings > Accounts > Your info. If you see an email address under your name, it’s a Microsoft account. If it says Local account, it’s a local account. On a work PC it may be a work or school account, whose name is managed by your organization, so ask IT.

Account type	Where the name comes from	How to change it
Local account	Stored on this PC	Control Panel or netplwiz
Microsoft account	Your Microsoft account profile online	account.microsoft.com
Work or school account	Your organization	Ask your IT team

Change a local account name

1. Click Start, type control panel and open it.
2. Select User Accounts, then User Accounts again.
3. Click Change your account name. To rename someone else’s account instead, choose Manage another account, pick the account and click Change the account name.
4. Type the new name and click Change Name.
5. Sign out and back in. The new name appears on the sign-in screen and Start menu.

You need an administrator account to rename other users. The change doesn’t affect your files, apps or password.

Change the user name with netplwiz

netplwiz lets you change both the User name (the account’s sign-in name) and the Full name (the friendly name Windows shows). It’s useful when the Control Panel option is missing.

1. Press Win + R, type netplwiz and press Enter.
2. Select the account and click Properties.
3. On the General tab, change User name, Full name, or both.
4. Click OK, then sign out and back in.

If you change the User name of a local account, use the new name the next time you sign in with a typed name, for example at a network share prompt. If you set up automatic sign-in, re-check it afterwards; see how to disable the login screen in Windows 10.

On Windows 10 Pro and above you can also run lusrmgr.msc, open Users, right-click the account and choose Rename, or open Properties to change the full name.

Change a Microsoft account name

With a Microsoft account, Windows shows the name saved in your Microsoft account. Control Panel can’t change it, so edit it online:

1. Open Settings > Accounts > Your info and click Manage my Microsoft account, or go to account.microsoft.com in a browser and sign in.
2. Open Your info and select Edit name.
3. Enter the first and last name you want, complete the security check (CAPTCHA) and click Save.
4. On the PC, sign out and back in, or restart. Microsoft says name changes can take up to 24 hours to show everywhere.

This also changes your name in Outlook.com, Xbox, OneDrive and other Microsoft services. If you’d rather use a different name only on this PC, switch to a local account, or give the account a local Full name in netplwiz; Windows may still prefer the Microsoft account name in some places.

Rename an account with PowerShell

Admins can rename local accounts from PowerShell. Open Windows PowerShell (Admin) and run:

Rename-LocalUser -Name "OldName" -NewName "NewName"

Use Get-LocalUser first to see the exact account names. This only works for local accounts on the PC, not Microsoft accounts.

What about the C:\Users folder name?

Renaming an account doesn’t rename its profile folder, so C:\Users\OldName keeps its old name. That’s normal and nothing breaks.

Renaming the folder by hand means editing the registry and can stop the account from loading, leaving you signed in with a temporary profile. If the folder name really matters, the safer way is:

1. Create a new local account with the name you want under Settings > Accounts > Family & other users (on some editions, Other users).
2. Make it an administrator, sign in to it once, and copy your files from the old C:\Users folder.
3. Once everything is moved and you’ve checked it, remove the old account. If Windows blocks access to the old folder, see you don’t currently have permission to access this folder.

If you sign in with a Microsoft account, Windows names the folder when the account is first set up, often from the first letters of your email address. Starting with a local account and then switching to a Microsoft account is a common way to choose the folder name on a new profile.

If the old name still shows

• Sign out completely and sign back in, or restart the PC.
• For a Microsoft account, wait up to a day for the change to sync.
• The sign-in screen may show the Full name while other places show the User name. Set both in netplwiz.
• Apps such as Office and Teams use the name from their own account settings, not from Windows.

Related guides

• Windows 10 disable login screen: sign in automatically
• How to run as a different user in Windows 11
• You don’t currently have permission to access this folder
• The referenced account is currently locked out

Official sources: for more detail, see these pages:

• Microsoft Support: How to change your user account name
• Microsoft Learn: Rename-LocalUser

Frequently asked questions

Does changing my user name delete any files?

No. Your files, apps, settings and password stay as they are. Only the name changes.

Why can’t I find Change your account name in Control Panel?

That option appears for local accounts. If you sign in with a Microsoft account, change the name online at account.microsoft.com instead.

Can I change the name without changing my Microsoft account?

Not reliably. Windows follows the Microsoft account name. To use a different name only on the PC, switch the account to a local account under Settings > Accounts > Your info.

Can I change the administrator account name?

Yes. Use netplwiz, lusrmgr.msc or Rename-LocalUser from an administrator account. Make sure you know its password before you sign out.