Changing user login display name on a domain

[lan101]

Windows Server 2016 and Windows 10 user computer:

So long story short an employee at a place I do some occasional work for wants the old employee's name off the computer he uses. But he's also been using this computer for 2-3 years now like this lol. I told him that normally creates issues etc. So because I haven't done this in forever was wondering can I change the user name in the AD and not botch up a bunch of things. I don't wanna create more work for myself more less.

All they really want is the morning login screen to show their name. I see there's display name but there's also "user logon name" in the AD user name section.

They don't even use exchange or anything like that so that's no issue.

Can't really seem to find this simple answer anywhere that I look.

Thank you.

 

[HCHTech]

Why didn't a new user get created when the new employee was hired? Just make a new user in AD, then log on as that user on the computer. If there is stuff in the old employee's profile, move it over.

 

[Sky-Knight]

Renaming the username in AD won't break anything, but will require the user to use their new user name.

Changing the display name does nothing but update the visuals, and also is a non-change when it comes to the operation of AD itself.

That being said, if you rename the username the local folder that contains their user profile on any endpoints they've logged into will remain as it was, this can cause confusion should you try to migrate that profile in the future as it's no longer obvious who's belongs to that folder. Any new systems will create profiles based on the new username.

Note, reusing accounts is a bad idea for many reasons. But at this point you can't exactly put the cat back into the bag.

 

[lan101]

Why didn't a new user get created when the new employee was hired? Just make a new user in AD, then log on as that user on the computer. If there is stuff in the old employee's profile, move it over.

Not sure why it was never done. Just a few computers so they probably just didn't bother doing it.

I suppose I could create a new user and then just use FABS to move items over.

 

[lan101]

Renaming the username in AD won't break anything, but will require the user to use their new user name.

Changing the display name does nothing but update the visuals, and also is a non-change when it comes to the operation of AD itself.

That being said, if you rename the username the local folder that contains their user profile on any endpoints they've logged into will remain as it was, this can cause confusion should you try to migrate that profile in the future as it's no longer obvious who's belongs to that folder. Any new systems will create profiles based on the new username.

Note, reusing accounts is a bad idea for many reasons. But at this point you can't exactly put the cat back into the bag.

Ok. Sounds like we'd be ok then in this case to change the logon name and it'll be fine.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Yeah....women get married (or divorced)...and we change the actual username often. As Skye noted above...the original profile path C:\Users\JSmith will always remain "JSmith"...Windows does not change the original profile directory with name changes. But the login name that shows, as well as global address book and all that stuff...will reflect the "new" name.

Just go change the name on the server, and then remote into the workstation...reboot, sign in..square it away...square away Office apps registration if needed...reboot again for good measure to let the dust settle and hand it over to the end user.

 

[lan101]

Yeah....women get married (or divorced)...and we change the actual username often. As Skye noted above...the original profile path C:\Users\JSmith will always remain "JSmith"...Windows does not change the original profile directory with name changes. But the login name that shows, as well as global address book and all that stuff...will reflect the "new" name.

Just go change the name on the server, and then remote into the workstation...reboot, sign in..square it away...square away Office apps registration if needed...reboot again for good measure to let the dust settle and hand it over to the end user.

Perfect thank you for the clarification.