Re: User gets married, changes name & wants log-in changed

Tech-Archive recommends: Repair Windows Errors & Optimize Windows Performance

"So, is there are way to "reset" the %username% variable?"

I keep forgetting you are not familiar with this :)

What was meant by that is that you need to change the path to the user's
home drive. Typically, you'll specify a variable for the home drive. That
variable would be xpressed as %username% and upon logon is read as
\\server\jdoe vs. \\server\%username%. If you don't, the user may lose the
home drive mapping on next logon and this might be perceived as a failure on
your part. It'd be easy to miss.

You can just rename the folder for the user. Again, test it. Be sure it
works as expected in your environment. But if it helps I've renamed
thousands as part of migrations. Works fine.

Al

"Doug Starkey" <doug_starkey@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:doug_starkey-3D8863.10193513102006@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
In article <etBMCXa7GHA.4064@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
"Al Mulnick" <amulnick_No_SPAM@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

New profile:

It's not the same thing Doug.
Your account is not really DStarkey. You know it by that, but the system
knows you by your sid (shamelessly copying and pasting from a KB)

"When a DC creates a security principal object such as a user or group,
it
attaches a unique Security ID (SID) to the object. This SID consists of a
domain SID (the same for all SIDs created in a domain), and a relative ID
(RID) that is unique for each security principal SID created in a domain.
"

Right, I get that.

Your sid does not change regardless of the attributes that do (attributes
such as logon name (which is another name for samaccountname), or
displayname (another name for display name), etc.) Your profile is tied
to
your sid and not your logon name directly. You change the logon name and
yes, it gets upset for somethings, as Brad mentioned related to using
environment variables such as %username% because username and logonname
are
the same (samaccountname) and when you change that, it means that
whatever
relied on that variable now changes as well. Your home drive is an
example
of a common element that relies on such a variable. Good point that Brad
makes, and it says he's seen this once or twice I would guess ;)

So, is there are way to "reset" the %username% variable?

Don't take my word for it though. Test the behavior. Here's what
propose:
1) create a test user - testuser1
2) populate the same fields you would for any user
3) logon to a workstation with those credentials so it will create a
profile
4) change the user fields as described before - testuser2
5) logon to the same workstation again and see what happens.

I'm interested to hear what the results are. Regardless of what you see,
we
can certainly help you with the results you get.

Okay, the results of my testing:

1) Created user "Test Change".
2) Logged on as "Test Change" at a test machine.
3) Created an "object" (a file shortcut, actually) on my
desktop as user "Test Change"
4) Logged out as "Test Change"
5) Went to Active Directory Users and Computers console and
renamed "Test Change" to "Test Test". Prompted to match
"Full Name", "First Name", "Last Name", "Display Name",
"User logon name", and "User logon name (pre-Windows 2000)"
as part of the change.
6) No problems logging in as "Test Test" after name change.
(I actually did not expect any).
7) Confirmed appearance of test object (see #3 above) on user
desktop. So, no problem with user losing desktop settings
or local documents.
8) An examination of C:\Documents and Settings shows that
the users "profile" folder, however, is still "Test Change".
Now, granted the user will normally not see that; they will
just open their "My Documents" folder and go about their
business. But if they "explore", they will see it and may
begin to ask questions.

So, what will be the effect of renaming that folder from
"C:\Documents and Settings\Test Change" to
"C:\Documents and Settings\Test Test"? My suspicion is that things will
"break" but I could be wrong. (And, yes, I know it will "resist" being
changed; but, it can be changed). I suspect I can live with it still
being "Test Change" (so long as I don't get killed in an accident and
someone has to come in and figure out that Test Change is now Test
Test... not impossible but can be frustrating for someone "outside the
loop").

Thanks for all the help. And I would still appreciate an answer to the
%username% issue and the folder rename issue.

Doug Starkey
Network Administrator
Pecan Deluxe Candy Company



Al


"Doug Starkey" <doug_starkey@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:doug_starkey-F814E2.10085111102006@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
As I said previously, I am still VERY new with Active Directory, so
some
terminology and acronyms are Greek to me.

So, what is "samaccountname"?

As for not getting a new profile, see my response to Al Mulnick.

-Doug

In article <OtxdoOO7GHA.4304@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
"Brian Desmond [MVP]" <brian@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Hi Doug,

You want to do a few things:

You can do the rename in ADUC. Change her samaccountname and UPN on
the
account tab of the user. My suggestion is not to change her email but
rather
to add jsmith as a second address so that jdoe continues to function.
To
do
this hit hte email addresses tab, add a new SMTP address,
jsmith@xxxxxxxxxxx, and hit the make primary button.


Your user will not get a new profile.

--
Thanks,
Brian Desmond
Windows Server MVP - Directory Services

www.briandesmond.com


"Doug Starkey" <doug_starkey@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:doug_starkey-8C0474.15012910102006@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I'm sure I cannot be alone in this but I can't find anything
addressing
this issue.

I have a user. She got married and changed her name (Let's say she
was
"Jane Doe" and her log-in "jdoe" and her e-mail is
"jdoe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx")

Now she got married and has legally changed her name to Jane Smith.
She
wants her log-in & email to reflect these changes (eg: Jane Smith
with
a
log-in of "jsmith" and an e-mail of "jsmith@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx). I want
all
her e-mail and documents and settings to follow her.

Do I simply just "rename" her user account in Active Directory and
"poof" everything is hunky-dory? I know better. I know on her
normal,
local machine, she's going to get a new user profile and NONE of her
documents or local preferences are going to "move" to the new
account.
I
don't have a clue what will happen with her Exchange account when I
make
this change.

Has anyone else done this? Do you have a "step-by-step" guide? Or is
there some knowledgebase document hidden away at MS support? I
searched
but I can't bear to sift through the 100,000+ hits I get on "Change
user
name".

Any and all help appreciated.

Doug Starkey
Network Administrator
Pecan Deluxe Candy Company

--
Doug Starkey
Network Administrator
Pecan Deluxe Candy Company
nethead@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

--
Doug Starkey
Network Administrator
Pecan Deluxe Candy Company
nethead@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

--
Doug Starkey
Network Administrator
Pecan Deluxe Candy Company
nethead@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: User gets married, changes name & wants log-in changed
    ... Your account is not really DStarkey. ... knows you by your sid ... Doug Starkey ... Pecan Deluxe Candy Company ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.active_directory)
  • Re: Laptop users changing domains, mismatch DACLS
    ... change domains sometimes... ... Windows will however allow a user to LOGON to a machine ... Perhaps this ability to authenticate is all the users really ... files because the same SID is not in the DACL of the filesystem folders. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.active_directory)
  • I want to logon interactively....
    ... I'm the network administrator, ... and I can logon fine, but I want to logon as the user who uses that PC, and ... Is the users SID I'm needing to delete ... are not user accounts. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.security_admin)
  • RE: Understaing Event Details in Windows NT
    ... Event ID from the viewer. ... Logon Type 3 is a network logon, ... GETSID resource kit utility to translate each user name into a SID. ... What does "LoginID: " mean? ...
    (Focus-Microsoft)
  • Re: Question about SID
    ... Note that if you enumerate processes based on the user sid then you will get ... all process for that user even from other logon sessions (if for some reason ... You can enumerate the processes based on the logon sid to ...
    (microsoft.public.platformsdk.security)