While installing windows you need to set a username for your PC. Usually, the computer asks you to sign-in to Microsoft account and shows the name of your account as a Windows username. The username shown on the computer’s login screen might find a bit of privacy concern to some user. Although this is not a big deal to change username but still, showing your custom username makes more of choice to you. Also, if you don’t have created Microsoft account and created a local sign-in account and set up the username there, but want to change it now, this guide is here for you. I will explain to you the ways how to change username in Windows 10,8 and 7.
Well, For Windows 10 and Windows 8, there are 2 scenarios here, The Microsoft account (online) and the local account (offline). We will see in both situations how to change username. For Microsoft account, the username set is your account name itself. While in case of local account the username set is a what you choose while creating the account.
Why do you need to change Username in windows?
While there is no value added to the windows performance changing username makes out some productive out of it, its bit of visual and personal improvements. Here are some-
- Changing username makes a computer more personal to the user.
- The user might want to change the username if previously set was some random phrase or just initials/short form of the name.
- There can be privacy concerns if you use your PC in public with your full name as username. In this case, you might want to change it.
- Changing username to some meaningful word represents the creative mind of the user.
How to change Username in Windows 10 log-in screen
Windows 10 log-in screen displays your Microsoft account name as a username after you boot up. So, to change this it, you need to change the Microsoft account name itself. This can be done from settings. Let’s check it.
Step1: Go to windows logo at bottom left and choose settings option. Or simply you can press Win + I buttons from your keyboard to directly open it.
Step2: From the different option shown, select the accounts option.

Step3: Now, you can see your Account photo, Account name and email id there.
Step4: Here, click on “Manage my Microsoft Account”.

Step5: A new window in your default browser opens with you Microsoft dashboard. If the dashboard doesn’t open, just sign-in at https://account.microsoft.com
Step6: Once in your account profile, click on “more actions” option beneath your name and choose “edit profile” from the drop-down list.

Step7– Select edit name and edit change your name you want to set as username of your PC log-in screen.

Step8 – Now save the changes.
Step9 – Restart the computer for changes to take effect.
Be patient, windows booting after restart may take longer time than usual. This is because windows have to make all changes to programs that your username is attached to.
How to change Username in Windows 10/8/7 for a local account
Windows 7 has only local account set up by default, while Windows 10 offer to create a local account if you don’t want to create Microsoft account or don’t use the internet on your PC.
There are 2 ways to change the local account name. Let’s see them –
Method 1 – Change Username through an account manager
Step1 – press Win + R key to launch Run window.
Step2 – In the run window, type “netplwiz” and hit enter.
Step3 – The account manager window opens up on the screen.
Step4 – Select your account and click on the “properties” button.

Step5 – In the new screen, type the username you want to change to, also you can change your full name.

Step6 – Click the OK button on the bottom.
Step7 – Also close the account manager window by clicking the OK button.
Now restart the PC and wait for the bootup. Remember that bootup may take some time.
Method 2 – How to change Username from a control panel
You can use a control panel to change the username for Windows 10, 8 and also windows 7.
Step1 – Go to control panel from the start menu and search control panel.
Step2 – Now first select the “View by” option to Category.
Step 3 – Click on user accounts option.
Step5 – Select your Profile from the list of users shown.
Step4 – Click on change account type and then select change the account name.

Step5 – Now type the name you want to set as username.

Step6 – Click Save changes button to make the changes.
You can now close the control panel and restart the PC to see the updated name.
However, even if you change the local icon and somehow in future connect to a Microsoft account, your username will be updated to the Microsoft’s account name.
Summary –
Windows allows users to change username displayed on the log-in screen and other programs. If a user has logged in using the Microsoft account, then he needs to change the account name itself. In the case of the local account, the username can be changed using the control panel and old but best, account manager tool. This article on how to change username in windows 10,8,7 explains the ways of doing it in a step by step manner.