Vista user accounts, trying to figure out what is what

[KLC]

I had a Vista Home Premium PC named mediacenterpc. I had a user name of the same name. I also had an XP Pro PC named quadcore with a user name of the clarks.

I bought an Acer Home Server and had lots of problems connecting it until I created a new user account in the vista machine also named the clarks. After that I had no problems.

Now I'm trying to clean things up, transfer common files to the server, etc. I'm trying to figure out the user files on the vista pc. Even though I changed user names the user folder named mediacenterpc contains all of my files and the user folder named the clarks is empty.

Can I copy everything from the mediacenterpc folder to the clarks folder and then delete the mediacenterpc user folder? Can I move everything in the folder to the server? And how would I do that if I can?

I know these are pretty basic questions but I've never played around with user accounts, never had the need to do it.

Thanks for any help.

 

[ReggieDunlap]

1. Yes you can copy contents of one user profile folder to another. This WILL OVERWRITE anything in the destination folder and you will be warned about it before doing so. However, if you haven't created documents or configured applications under the other user account then there really is nothing to overwrite. IE: you can copy C:\Users\mediacenterpc to C:\Users\clarks; then when you login with the user "clarks" you should see all the documents, pics, music etc that was under the "mediacenterpc" user account.
2. I don't know that you need to move everything in the folder to the server. The idea of a server is for it to be a central storage place for valuable data so that it can be backed up all at once. You can "redirect"/"relocate" the Documents, Pictures, Music, Downloads folders from your local pc user account profile to a folder you create on the server by right clicking the folder and selecting Properties -> Location then "Move" you will probably see the same warning about overwriting the contents of the destination folder (especially if you create a folder on the server with the same name) but since you're moving to an empty folder you can go ahead.

 

[KLC]

Reggie, that is my goal, to redirect everything. Right now I'm trying to figure out what is where.

My post last night was a little rambling I think, too late in the day. This morning I did a little more investigating, can you help me understand what I have now before I start shifting things around?

Like I said, I used to have a user named mediacenterpc. Last night I said I created a new user but this morning I find that doesn't appear to be true.

If I go to the User Accounts folder in Control Panel I see only three users listed:

clarks
asp.net machine
guest

I've read up on the asp account and the guest account is turned off. So I only have one real user account, clarks, which is the administrator.

But if I go to the Users folder in Vista Explorer I find a user folder for clarks AND a user folder for mediacenterpc. And if I save a file in say Word that file does not go to the documents folder under clarks, it goes to the document folder under mediacenterpc.

Since I don't have two separate users listed in the control panel, mediacenterpc and clarks, it appears I actually renamed the mediacenterpc user account to clarks instead of creating a new account. So why is there still a mediacenterpc user folder and why do docs get sent to it instead of the clarks folder?

Thanks for any help.

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: KLC
So why is there still a mediacenterpc user folder and why do docs get sent to it instead of the clarks folder?

Renaming the account won't change the name of the user's folder. In the case of Vista, you might want to create a new account that's named what you really want, which will have the user folder name you really want. Then back up everything from the old account using the Easy Transfer Wizard, and restore it into the new account using the Easy Transfer Wizard.

Once you're satisfied that it worked, you can delete the old account and its files.

 

[KLC]

Strange that it continues to use the original folder yet it creates a new folder which it doesn't use. I'll play around with new accounts and transfers, thanks for your help.

 

[ReggieDunlap]

Im pretty sure its continuing to use the old mediacenterpc user folder because renaming a user account doesn't change the SID on the account. So the SID is associated to that profile destination, even though a new "folder" with the clarks name was created. Best bet is to actually create a new user account and then transfer the files. You can use the Transfer wizard or you can right click the Computer desktop Icon, select properties, advanced system settings and in there on the "Advanced" tab you can go into the Settings button for User Profiles. There you can copy one profile to another.