Rename a local user account
Applies To: Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012
Administrators is the minimum group membership required to complete this procedure. Review the details in "Additional considerations" in this topic.
To rename a local user account
Open Computer Management.
In the console tree, click Users .
Where?
- Computer Management\System Tools\Local Users and Groups\Users
Right-click the user account that you want to rename, and then click Rename .
Type the new user name, and then press ENTER.
Additional considerations
To perform this procedure, you must provide credentials for the Administrator account on the local computer (if you are prompted), or you must be a member of the Administrators group on the local computer.
Because it retains its security identifier (SID), a renamed user account retains all its other properties, such as its description, password, group memberships, user profile, account information, and any assigned permissions and user rights.
A user name cannot be identical to any other user name or group name of the computer that is being administered. A user name can contain up to 20 uppercase characters or lowercase characters, except for the following:
" / \ [ ] : ; | = , + * ? < > @
A user name cannot consist solely of periods (.) or spaces.