Merging An XP User Account Into the Administrator One?

Awhile back I made the mistake of setting up a user account instead of setting Administrator as default on my (then) new laptop. Upon realizing this, I googled to see if they could be merged, and at the time, saw no recourse. (The Sony branded setup was what threw me) oops

I know it's a good idea not to be Admin in general, and only login via a user account, but this was/is a preference. Aside from that, even changing the account username to something else didn't globally change all folder names, installations and registry entries that existed. It only made things worse, but that was reversible at the time.

I know, someone like me should've known better, but it happened. If all can be as it once [i9f37c1fbf3]would[/i9f37c1fbf3] have been, I'd like to know how. )

Wait, so you [i6c6d1e363d]want[/i6c6d1e363d] to log in as the [b6c6d1e363d]Administrator[/b6c6d1e363d] user all the time? That's weird. And a big no-no.

A user account in XP has Administrator privilege by default, and you could always grant it back if you had set it to Limited. A user account with Admin privilege can do EVERYTHING the Administrator account can do, so there's really no need to run as Administrator for anything. It's highly recommended NOT to run from the Administrator account all the time. Sometimes a user profile or account will get completely hosed up, and the only way to fix things is from another privileged account, which is what Administrator is for. If you hose Administrator and don't have another privileged account handy, it's restore time (or at least recovery console or repair install time).

But to answer your specific question, I don't know of a profile merge tool offhand. That would seem to be a pretty hairy operation considering all the conflicting registry keys and other profile-specific files and whatnot that would have to be merged. Sounds like a recipe for major trouble to me.

I know....that's why I acknowledged that. However, in 98 (and 2000, I think), I did use such accounts. I'd at least prefer something non-specific and "Admin-like" for a profile name, but again, the VAIO setup threw me, and it wasn't what I had entered. I had really expected the XP setup process.

Anyhow, primary Admin profile aside, I'd love to be able to change the name of the default user account so that it would change globally throughout the OS, but it sounds like I'm screwed...

People....learn from my mistake....never use a porn name. ;)

XP = Start > Control Panel > Users> Add + Delete user

Vista = Start (orb) > Control Panel > User Accounts and Family Safety > add or remove user accounts

Create the account name that you wish to have with full access. Once that is created, log into it. You can then either open up the documents folder and manually transfer your data.

Under XP this is found in (Root)/Documents and Settings/(username)/My Documents

Vista is found under (Root)/Users/(username)/...

I believe that if you delete your old account from a new account it also gives you an option to delete the account while retaining the data (dont quote me on this, I personally wouldnt risk it).

Firstly, this is XP we're talking about. I don't plan on upgrading to Vista in its current state, but doing a fresh install, and would avoid this.

As for what you laid out, you're basically stating how to create a new account. That's nothing new to me. I can create 20, if I wished to. It won't help. I want to merge everything, or rather, have the account name change on every level globally, even down to the start menu shortcuts.

Unfortunately, that last bit you mentioned is a bit more complicated, and from what I had researched at the time, wouldn't provide the desired result.

Theoretically, what I'd like should be physically possible. I can't believe I'm the only one who has ever wanted to do this either. It made me wonder if there's some kind of fix that I'm missing...

You can use the users panel to change your account name as far as what it displays at logon and in your start menu but the filenames will never change unless you recreate a new user account with the desired account name. As dmorris said, it is taboo to use your "Administrator" account as your only account. The administrator account should be reserved for access only in safe mode incase of emergency (ie. forgot password, corrupted accounts, etc...). Using your current account will have no impact on your computers performance or usability, so unless I am really misunderstanding why you would need so desperately to change your account name, I really dont see why it would be necessary.

Why not just add your user account to the local admin group?

It has admin privileges, and I realize I can change the name, but it won't filter down to directories etc. I just want it to be as if I never chose the name I did, without the heartache. Apparently, that's not possible.

It's not as if I'm losing sleep over this, it's just an annoyance, and a reminder of a moment of stupidity. ;)

Ah well, it gives me an added excuse to break open the Vista disk. Still resisting it, though...

If all you care about is the folder names associated with your account, simply create another administrator account with the name you desire, then once you move all your data to that account, delete the old one...

At the time, I believe I tried, but I think I was only able to dupe the Administrator data to the new account, but not vice-versa. Tried again, and the same happened.