Best way to use a Microsoft account for login but control the local account name?

Question

I've got a new laptop and did the initial setup using my Microsoft account (i.e. using my email and microsoft.com password). Therefore I've ran into the debacle that my local profile directory is using the first 5 characters from my last name, which is NOT what I want.

Now, I have read up on this (lots of posts on how to rename an account) and found that the best way is to create another admin account, then rename the local account and use the registry editor to change the profile path of the SID for the old account.

However, I am 100% sure that I was never asked what my local profile directory name should be on the laptop and now I am wondering: what the best way to control this from the very beginning? So the question in short is:

What is the best practice for using a microsoft account in Windows 10, but with a specific local profile directory name?

I am wondering for example:

• Is there somewhere in microsoft.com a place where I can go and set a "preferable account id" or something that is used when I create an account on a new computer? So then if I go and set this in my web account, THEN do the setup process on the new laptop, it will use whatever I like as the profile directory name?

• Is there some option somewhere you can click on during the Windows first boot setup process to do this? Something I missed when I selected to sign in with my microsoft account, where I could have provided the local profile directory name of my choice?

• Is it best to just sign in using a local user account (to control the profile directory name) and THEN link that to a microsoft account?

This is a new laptop, so I don't mind starting over, just wondering what the best way to do this is...

Answer 1

You should do it the other way around than yours:

• The first user you create should be a local account with your right name
• You then attach the user to your Microsoft account.

For a local account, Windows uses the full account name as the profile folder name

If, as is your case, you have started with a Microsoft account, it's not too late : Create a new local account whose user name is the same as the name you want for your profile folder, then attach it to your Microsoft account.

To create the new local user account:

• Sign in using an administrative account
• Go to Settings > Accounts > Family & Other Users
• Click "Add someone else to this PC"
• On the "How will this person sign in?" page, click "I don't have this person's sign-in information"
• On the "Create account" page, click "Add a user without a Microsoft account"
• Enter a local user name that is the wanted profile folder name (you probably don't want to include blanks in the name)
• Add a password, choose the three security questions, and finish creating the account.

To attach to the Microsoft account:

• Sign back in using the new local account
• Go to Settings > Accounts > Your Info
• Choose "Sign in with a Microsoft account instead" and continue
• After you finish, your user profile folder will still have the full name used when you set up the local account.

There are other methods that involve registry changes and renaming the folder, but they are more chancy. You may see them in the post How to change Windows User Account name throughout the system?