User Name Mismatch 1

[PCHomepage]

I'm trying to help a friend with his Windows XP laptop that someone has "messed" with and has gotten the user name mixed up. It shows his name properly in most places including the login screen and the Documents and Settings folder. The computer name is also his own. However, when looking at the running Processes, it still shows his wife's name (she was the previous user). In the Computer Management panel, it shows her name for "Name" and his name for "Full Name" but when I select rename and enter his name, it immediately reverts back. Any ideas?

 

[rclarke250]

Are there 2 accounts on the laptop? Is he setup as a user or admin?

 

[PCHomepage]

There is the one I set up for myself to work on it and there is his and both are admin.

 

[PCHomepage]

There is the one I set up for myself to work on it and there is his and both are admin. His wife's account has apparently been removed.

 

[PCHomepage]

Does anybody have any ideas about this issue?

 

[hairlessupportmonkey]

when you rename an account, it doesnt change the actual account.

just create a new account, and transfer the documents / desktop / favourites across to the new account and delete the old one(s)

ACSS - SME
General Geek

 

[goombawaho]

None of this makes much sense. When you rename an account, the account IS renamed under Control Panel User Accounts, but the folder in Documents and Settings is NOT renamed.

I would think that the process "belongs to" should reflect the correct user name.

 

[PCHomepage]

Someone else apparently worked on this before I got it so I can't say what they did to get it in this state but the user folder and account name all matched each other properly. As mentioned originally, it was in the Management Panel where her name still showed up and, when viewing running processes, it showed her name as the owner of many of them. Even going through the registry and changing her name to his, it would revert as soon as it was exited.

The Management Panel would let me change it but it would immediately change back with no errors or messages of any kind but I finally resolved it last night. The Computer name was the same as the User name so simply renaming the computer allowed the User name to be changed!

 

[goombawaho]

I believe this is a situation where you
A) Live with it - very hard to troubleshoot past activity
B) Format/reload - make it your own and own the whole installation

 

[DTracy]

You can search and replace in the registry to relieve the appearance issue.

 

[PCHomepage]

Yes, I did that but it would revert as soon as the registry was closed. Living with it wasn't a possibility, though good advice, and I've already solved it and delivered the computer back to its owner. Thank you.

 

[guitarzan]

OK, I'll bite. How did you solve it?

 

[PCHomepage]

I answered it several postings above. The problem was that the user name was the same as the computer name so all I had to do was to change the computer name and the problem was solved!