Windows 11 finally lets you name your own Home folder

The latest preview version of Windows 11 (Build 26300.8068) brings a small but welcome feature that many have been wishing for. According to Windows Latest, Microsoft has made it possible to rename the Home folder that’s found in the C:\Windows\Users\ directory.

For years, Windows 11 automatically created the Home directory with a default name based on the first five characters of your Microsoft account’s email address. You can see why this would be annoying.

With the change in the Windows 11 preview build, a new option is available in the Windows Setup Experience (i.e., the dialog boxes that appear when installing or resetting Windows 11), which is also known as the Out-of-Box Experience (OOBE).

The updated Windows Setup Experience includes a new “User folder name” option on the Device Name page, where you can input whatever name you want for the folder (as long as it follows Windows’ rules).

Regarding this change, Microsoft writes:

Expanding on our work which started rolling to Insiders last fall, you can now choose a custom name for your user folder on the Device Name page when going through Windows setup. This most recent update now makes it easier to choose a custom name. The naming option is available during setup only. If you skip this step, Windows will use the default folder name and continue setup as usual.