Tuesday, May 28, 2013

How To Change A Windows Account Name And User Profile Folder Name

This article  from http://www.ghacks.net/2011/03/28/how-to-change-a-windows-account-name-and-user-profile-folder-name/ is valuable for one to change default user account name and profile folder name. Some programs needs to install with specific user account name and specific folder name under Windows 7 which has different folder structure from Windows XP.

Changing a user's account name in Windows is a straightforward, easy to achieve task. The problem that many users experience after changing the name is that the name of the profile folder is not changed during the process. Say you have a user account Martin and a user profile folder under c:\users\Martin. If you change the account name from Martin to Bob, you will see Bob during login. The user folder under c:\users is however still named Martin and not Bob. So what can you do if you want to change both the account user name and the folder name of the user profile?

Here is a step by step guide on how to change a user's name and profile folder name under Windows 7. Please note that the old user name will still be used by some Windows Tools, permissions come to mind.

It is recommended to create a backup or at least a system restore point before you start the process, as it requires some basic Registry hacking.

You can use a program like System Restore Manager to create a new system restore point, or one of the backup software programs in our overview for the backup.

You will also lose your current theme which you should backup as well if you want to continue using it.

New Admin account

You need to create a new administrator account to execute all the commands. You cannot use the account that you want to change the user name for. If you only have one account you need to create on first that you can delete again after you have made all the changes. If you have a secondary standard account you can temporarily promote the account to administrator for the process.
Click on Start, then Control Panel. Select Add or Remove user accounts from the options and click the Create a new account link. Name the account and switch to Administrator before you click on Create Account.
create admin account

Renaming the user account

While we are at it; You can now change the visible user name of the user account that you want to change the name for. Click the Change your account name link in the user account view if you are logged into the account you want to change the name for.
change account name
If not click on manage another account, select it from the list and then pick the Change the account name option.
You can now log out of the current account. We have created a second administrator account and changed the visual name of the user account. Log into the admin account that you have just created or promoted afterwards.

Renaming the user folder

Open Windows Explorer or another file browser and open the users folder that you want to rename on the main drive. The folder is usually located under c:\users. Locate the folder of the profile that you want to rename, right-click it and select Rename from the options. Enter the new name and press enter after you are finished. You may see an UAC prompt that you need to accept.
The user folder has been renamed, but you need to edit the Registry setting as well as the old folder path is still stored in the Registry. You would get profile not found errors if you would now try to log into the old user account.

Editing the Registry

Open the Windows Registry editor with the shortcut Windows-r, then regedit and the enter key.
Navigate to the following Registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList
You find several S-1-5-xx folders in there. You need to click on each folder until you find the the ProfileImagePath folder with the data set to the profile path of the old username, e.g. c:\Users\Martin.
profile folder name
You may want to use the search (by pressing f3) if you find many Registry sub folders there.
Double-click the ProfileImagePath name and enter the path to the new user folder into the form, e.g. c:\Users\Bob
profile image path
You can now log out of the admin account and log in to the original user account. You will notice that the account name is now displaying the new name. Once logged in you will also notice that the folder under Users is now showing the new folder name that you have selected.
And that's basically how you change both the account user name and the user folder on Windows 7.


Sunday, March 17, 2013

How to Change SATA Hard Disk Mode from IDE to AHCI / RAID in BIOS after Installing Windows?

If you are using Windows XP in new laptops or PCs, this article may help you. I got it from this link.

Consider following scenario:
You got a new computer system in which the SATA hard disk controller mode in BIOS settings was set to IDE ( or IDE Compatibility or Standard IDE) instead of AHCI (Advanced Host Controller Interface) or RAID for better compatibility. You didn't notice that and installed Windows. After sometime you realized it and changed the SATA mode from IDE to AHCI or RAID in BIOS and BOOM!!! You made your Windows crashed. Windows will no longer start and will show a BSOD (Blue Screen Of Death) containing error code "STOP 0x0000007B INACCESSABLE_BOOT_DEVICE".
Windows_BSOD.png
Why??? Because Windows can't load the new drivers for AHCI or RAID interface. Actually when Windows is installed, it automatically disables unused storage drivers to speed up Windows startup process.
As a temporary fix, you can reset the SATA mode from AHCI or RAID to IDE in BIOS but you'll find yourself in the same situation. Or you can reinstall Windows but that would require lots of time and efforts.
Then how to switch SATA hard disk mode from IDE to AHCI or RAID in BIOS after installing Windows so that you would not need to repair or reinstall Windows?
Here is the solution! You just need to tell Windows that hard disk mode is going to change upon reboot using Windows Registry and Windows will automatically detect the mode and will install the required drivers and you'll be able to successfully change the SATA mode in BIOS without any need to reinstall Windows.
So without wasting time lets start the tutorial:
1. First DO NOT change SATA hard disk mode settings in BIOS, leave it to the default settings which were used while installing Windows.
2. Now start Windows and type regedit in RUN or Start Menu search box and press Enter. It'll open Registry Editor.
3. Now go to following keys one by one:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\msahci
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\pciide
In right-side pane, look for a DWORD "Start". Double-click on it and set its value to 0 (That's zero and not alphabet O).
Reset_SATA_Hard_Disk_Mode_AHCI_Settings.png
Reset_SATA_Hard_Disk_Mode_IDE_Settings.png
4. If you are using RAID or other interface, do the same thing for following key as well:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\iaStorV
In right-side pane, look for a DWORD "Start". Double-click on it and set its value to 0 (That's zero and not alphabet O).
Reset_SATA_Hard_Disk_Mode_RAID_Settings.png
5. That's it. It'll reset the hard disk mode settings in Windows registry. Close Registry Editor and restart your system.
6. Now enter into BIOS settings and change SATA hard disk mode to AHCI or RAID according to your requirements.
Change_SATA_Hard_Disk_Controller_Mode_BIOS.png
7. As soon as Windows will start booting, it'll automatically detect the change and will install the appropriate drivers. Once the drivers are installed, Windows will boot without any problem and you'll not need to reinstall Windows just to change SATA hard disk mode.

Sign up for PayPal and start accepting credit card payments instantly.