You just unboxed a lightning-fast Refurbished Laptop or a premium Office Desktop PC. You press the power button, the screen lights up, and the login screen welcomes you, it’s all set up and ready to go, waiting for you, sitting there with a screen calling you “Owner” or “Admin”, did you know, it’s super easy to personalize this to have your own real name (or even a nickname?)
When IT professionals and refurbishers build or renew a computer, they often will set up a generic “Local Account” so the machine is ready for you to use right out of the box, without needing to perform complex setup procedures. This saves you a tonne of time when you unbox the computer, however you if you would like to personalize your device then a great step is to change the default username to one you’d prefer.
Fortunately, changing your display name on the Windows 11 startup screen takes no time at all. Here is exactly how to do it, depending on how your account is set up.
Method 1: Changing a Local Account (The “Owner” Fix)
If your computer is brand new to you and isn’t linked to your personal email address yet, you will likely be using a Local Account. By default these are often called “Owner”, “Admin” or “User”. Here is the absolute fastest way to change that name:
- Press the Windows Key on your keyboard (or click the Start button).
- Type Control Panel into the search bar and hit Enter.
- Under the User Accounts heading, click on Change account type.
- Click on the account named “Owner” (or whichever name you want to change).
- Click the Change the account name link on the left side of the menu.
- Type in your real name, click the Change Name button, and restart your computer!
Pro-Tip: When your computer reboots, your new name will be proudly displayed right on the lock screen.
Method 2: Changing a Microsoft Account Name
If you have already logged into your computer using an @outlook.com or @hotmail.com email address, Windows 11 pulls your display name directly from the cloud. You cannot change this in the Control Panel; you have to change it online, this is part of your own personal Microsoft account and is nothing to do with the computer its self. These settings are often synced from your previous device/s
- Press the Windows Key, type Settings, and hit Enter.
- Click on Accounts on the left-hand side.
- Click on Your info.
- Scroll down to Related settings and click on Accounts (Manage my account). This will open your web browser.
- Log in to your Microsoft Account online.
- Under your profile picture at the top of the page, click Edit name.
- Update your first and last name, hit save, and restart your PC to sync the changes!
Need More Tech Advice?
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