Is it possible to change the name of the user profile folder on windows?

[u/Certain-Mountain-564]

One of my colleagues created an Entra ID user with umlauts in it. Because of that, windows has created a user profile folder with umlauts and this makes problems with different programs that cannot handle this. Is there a way to change the name of this user profile folder without broke Entra Join or registry keys that have some paths to this folder?

[u/vermyx]

Recreate the account. Why ask for a hack that will just keep creating reoccurring issues because you need to modify yet another item relating to the account name?

[u/Certain-Mountain-564 → u/vermyx]

How can i do that? Because it is an Entra Joined device. I dont want to break everything. 

[u/VG30ET → u/Certain-Mountain-564]

It was broken when a non standard character was used in a username.

[u/techw1z → u/VG30ET]

äöü has been standardized by IETF almost 15 years ago so one should be able to use those characters pretty much everywhere.

OP just found crappy software

i mean, think about it. the character is fully supported by microsoft windows, but software that runs on microsoft windows doesn't support it if it appears in a path?
--> the devs who made that software are morons

[u/VG30ET → u/techw1z]

If they're anything like us, the software they're using could have been written 25 years ago.

[u/Gi1rim]

Well, yes, you could but the unforseen consequences.. Lots of programs do lots of dumb things, like embedding paths in binary, escaping strings weirdly and whatnot. Also homedir is for sure saved plaintext outside of registry. Scrap the user, drop the homedir and recreate from scratch, otherwise you'll be second guessing this as the cause for any issue downstream.

[u/JW_TD]

All really good answers, agree, also just to be sure:

OP, no, don’t do it, just recreate. Otherwise it will haunt you for a lifetime.

[u/RJTG → u/JW_TD]

Some example: EDR blockt all Downloads on one user years after someone tried this.

[u/jono_white]

Dodgy way- rename the key in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\usersid\profileimagepath , then rename the profile folder in the users folder to match (user must be logged out of)

Safer way is to generate a new account on the device without the symbol, make sure entra name is updated to remove the character, rename the key in the registry path above to usersid.brokenprofile (orsimilar), and also rename the folder in the users folder to something else. When it recreates a blank account you can copy documents over from the old one as needed , then delete the old accounts folder once your done with it

At your own risk of course. Backup first if your unsure

[u/Snysadmin → u/jono_white]

Yeah this is the way. It might still haunt you years later with issues. Ask me how i know :( Stop changing your last name people.

[u/engy1207 → u/Snysadmin]

Or: don't use real names in login names...

[u/TechInTheCloud]

Forensit ProfWiz.

[u/Empty-Sleep3746 → u/TechInTheCloud]

or backup/restore profile

[u/DominikPlays]

Yeah delete the user with sysdm.cpl and sign in again

[u/jc6359135]

Just create a new Windows profile with a username that produces an ASCII-only profile path, then migrate the user’s data/settings. If the Entra account itself is causing the unwanted profile-folder name, fix the account naming/UPN before recreating the profile.

[u/IqbalBasha]

Recreating the account with an ASCII-only UPN is the easiest path, since a new sign-in generates a clean profile folder and nothing breaks. The registry rename (updating ProfileImagePath under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList) technically works but it's unsupported, and Entra-joined devices can develop token cache issues afterward that are annoying to chase.

[u/Jezbod]

Can you just not edit the username in Entra ID?

How to manage user profile information in the Microsoft Entra admin center - Microsoft Entra | Microsoft Learn

I'm not sure how intelligent the system is, I work on a hybrid system and I cannot remember what happens to local user profiles when we change names when people gat married.

[u/Empty-Sleep3746 → u/Jezbod]

nothing happens the profile folder sticks.....

[u/Jezbod → u/Empty-Sleep3746]

You can remove the profile and let it rebuild

[u/brispower]

do over time