Here is how I initially set up my account on my new windows 8 laptop:
User account name: Zachary Daulton
I realized after I had created it, I instead wanted it to be just Zach. So I renamed the home folder to Users\Zach\ and changed "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\ProfileImagePath value from “C:\Users\Zachary Daulton” to “C:\Users\Zach”.
This worked fine. My Group Policy permissions user was now Zach.
Enter Windows 8.1. Group Policy name is back to Zachary Daulton, but user account name and everything else is Zach. There is no option to set permissions to User Zach now.
How can I change values inside the group policy, without group policy editor?
You mean local policy or is this laptop part of a domain? There shouldn’t be any group policies applied if this is a home system.
Why, instead of just renaming the Windows account, did you rename the folder and monkey with the registry? You should just be able to go under Control Panel > User Accounts and change the name of the user.
I’d backup whatever info you want and create a new local admin, blow away the Zach/Zachary user and create a new one from scratch. Full disclosure: I haven’t messed with Windows 8 at all only Server 2012 so I’m sure the interface and menus are a bit different and I’m not sure if this procedure is still the same compared to XP/7.
Simply renaming the user account name does not rename the home folder. This went for all Windows OSs.
All of this because I didn’t want a space in a folder. And this is a pre-installed Windows 8 and I have to do all this create disc shit to format and reinstall. I’d rather just edit values and be done with it.