3 Ways to Change Local Account Username in Windows 11

You can use Microsoft account or local user account to login to your Windows computer. When creating local user account, most of the times people use commonly used names like Admin, Author, etc. The user account name will appear everywhere in the system like lock screen, Start menu and Settings app. It will be also annoying to show funny usernames when sharing screens or screenshots with others. In all such cases, you can easily change local account username in Windows. Here, we will explain 3 different ways of doing that in Windows 11.

Username in Windows 11

Remember the following about username in Windows 11:

• When you create a new local user and login to that account, Windows will create a folder in C:\Users. You cannot rename the user account folder name when you are using the account. The methods explained in this article will change the name showing in lock screen, Start menu and in other places. However, the user account folder name will remains same as the old name.
• You should change the name of your Microsoft account by logging into that account from any device. What we are discussing in this article for local user (standard or administrator).
• Changing the computer name is different than changing user account name.

1. Change Username from User Accounts

The first option is effective and works well in all cases.

• Press “Win + R” keys to open Run prompt.
• Type netplwiz.exe or simply netplwiz and press enter.

• This will open “User Accounts” dialog and make sure you are in “Users” tab.
• Select the account which you want to change and double click on it. Alternatively, select the account and click “Properties” button.

• This will open user account properties and make sure you are in the “General” tab.
• Delete the existing username in the “User name” text box and add a new name for your account.
• Click “Apply” button to save your changes and click “OK” button to close the dialog boxes.

Restart your account and check in the lock screen that you are seeing the new username instead of old name. Note that this may not change the folder name in C:\Users section. However, the user account name will be changed in all other places.

2. Change Account Username from Control Panel

The next option is to use Control Panel app for this purpose.

• Search and open Control Panel app.
• Click on “View by” dropdown and select “Category” option to arrange the links grouped by categories.
• Now, click on “User Accounts” link.

• On the next screen, click “Change account type” link showing below the “User Accounts” heading.

• You will see the list of user accounts available on your computer and click the account name that you want to change.

• On the next screen, select “Change the account name” link.

• Enter new name for your account in the text box and click “Change Name” button.

Restart the computer to find the new username appears on the lock screen.

3. Change Account Username from Local Users and Groups

If you are using Windows Pro, Enterprise or Education editions, then you can use this option to change any account’s username. However, this option is not available in Windows Home edition.

• Press “Win + R” keys and type lusrmgr.msc in the text box.
• Press “OK” button to open Local Users and Groups app.

• Select “Users” from the first column and then select the username from the select column.
• Now, click on the “More Actions” option showing under the username in the last column. You will see a dropdown menu and select “Rename” from the available options. Alternatively, after selecting user account in the second column, go to “Actions > Rename” option from the menu.
• Provide a new name for the account and press enter key to apply the changes.
• Restart the system and check the username is changed everywhere.