Event 1096 - Registry policies

Hello there,

I'm getting this event every time I run gpupdate on my server:

The processing of Group Policy failed. Windows could not apply the registry-based policy settings for the Group Policy object LocalGPO. Group Policy settings will not be resolved until this event is resolved. View the event details for more information on the file name and path that caused the failure.

Where is the first place to look at?

I did the GPRESULT /H GPReport.html but it only shows an error with registry policies.

Thanks.

Hello,

Navigate to C:\Windows\System32\GroupPolicy\Machine, rename registry.pol file to registry.bak and refresh the policy with gpupdate /force.

Regards

Edited by Patris_70 Wednesday, May 7, 2014 11:42 AM
Marked as answer by robson11 Wednesday, May 7, 2014 2:26 PM

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Hi robson11,

The Registry client-side extension failed to read the registry.pol file from the Group Policy template location. The registry.pol file contains registry policy settings. This file may be missing, inaccessible, or corrupt.

Possible resolutions include:

Ensure the registry.pol file exists in the location and has the same permissions as the gpt.ini file in the same Group Policy object (GPO).
Ensure Sysvol replication is working properly on domain controllers.
Delete the GPO and recreate it.

For your information, please refer to the following article to get more help:

Event ID 1096 — Group Policy Registry Processing

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc727302(v=ws.10).aspx

Regards,

Lany Zhang

Proposed as answer by Patris_70 Wednesday, May 7, 2014 11:38 AM

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Hello,

Navigate to C:\Windows\System32\GroupPolicy\Machine, rename registry.pol file to registry.bak and refresh the policy with gpupdate /force.

Regards

Edited by Patris_70 Wednesday, May 7, 2014 11:42 AM
Marked as answer by robson11 Wednesday, May 7, 2014 2:26 PM

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Thank you!

Proposed as answer by KayZerSoze Friday, December 5, 2014 6:17 PM

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This solved my issue.

It seems the existing registry.pol file hadn't been updated for a year.

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Worked for me, and after the gpupdate, a new .POL file was no created. The remainig .BAK (renamed) old file, was a zero-byte file

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Many Thanks Patris!

You made my day, I spent a lot of time on one of my computers because I first thought about a WMI corruption, and then I saw your reply....

GG!

Notes for others: don't forget to enable hidden folders before.

Edited by Cedric TROMBINI Sunday, September 27, 2015 4:27 PM

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It worked! Thanks for the tip.

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Hi,

I have the same problem but there was no machine folder under windows\system32\grouppolicy

Please help

Thanks

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Worked! Thank you!

PS: In my situation, the .POL file wasn't recreated until I've opened local GP Editor (GPEDIT.EXE).

Regards,

Marcelo Lucas Guimarães - MCP, MCTS, MCDBA, MCITP Blog: http://mlucasg.wordpress.com

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Thank you! This worked for me, but why? Why doesn't Windows apply the group policy? We have numerous machines with this issue.

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perfect, worked like a charm, thanks a lot, this was causing internal error occured for rdp, had to trace till gpo to find it.

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Hi,

I have the same problem but there was no machine folder under windows\system32\grouppolicy

Please help

Thanks

I have the same problem. Am I suppose to be looking at the above path in the client PC or the server? I don't see it in the PC. ON the server side, I renamed it registry.bak. Did the gpupdate /force afterwards but got the same error.

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After some more testing today, the gpresult says the app was installed via GPO. Event viewer says group polciy settings for the user were processed successfully. I don't see the app though in Control Panel/Programs and Features.

In NTFS permnission, Everyone has read and execute. In Sharing\Advance Sharing, permission for the folder has Everyone with Full in there. In Network path\Share, Everyone is in there with Read permission.

Edited by JunAlc Thursday, January 31, 2019 4:46 PM

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Pc that is getting errors in event viewer. The group police will be hidden. In file explorer you will need to click the view button and select show hidden items in order to access it.

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Hello,

Navigate to C:\Windows\System32\GroupPolicy\Machine, rename registry.pol file to registry.bak and refresh the policy with gpupdate /force.

Regards

This was exactly what I needed.

Thanks

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Hi,

the folder is there, but hidden. You can type the full path in run menu and reach there.

Regards,

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Hello,

Navigate to C:\Windows\System32\GroupPolicy\Machine, rename registry.pol file to registry.bak and refresh the policy with gpupdate /force.

Regards

Is it normal that there is no GroupPolicy - folder anymore in Windows 10? I can't find registry.pol

MCSE Mobility 2018. Expert on SCCM, Windows 10, ALOVPN, MBAM.

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Hello,

Navigate to C:\Windows\System32\GroupPolicy\Machine, rename registry.pol file to registry.bak and refresh the policy with gpupdate /force.

Regards

Is it normal that there is no GroupPolicy - folder anymore in Windows 10? I can't find registry.pol

MCSE Mobility 2018. Expert on SCCM, Windows 10, ALOVPN, MBAM.

In Win10 the folder is hidden, you can still get to it with Powershell or the Windows-Explorer navigation bar.

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Microsoft Teams Keeps Logging Out

Hi,

I have downloaded Microsoft Teams for the Windows 10 mobile and once I signed in, it seems to keep signed in even after a reboot (though i've only been testing it for 2 days). However the x86 application for the desktop seems to sign out after a while (not sure exactly how long), is there any possible way to keep Microsoft Teams signed in for a long time or permanently?

Many thanks

Steve

Hello Steve,

I would surely recommend you to try this below step which has worked for many users:-

The fix that worked was to turn off battery optimization in the Authenticator app on my phone. It had the label "Stay logged in to your Microsoft Work out school account" and a strangely non-button looking "Turn off". Now outlook and teams both seem to run without constant log ins.

Also if you still face the issue then you need to check the behaviour on different mobile if this occurs.

Also share the logs with me so I can have a look.

Thank you.

Regards

Santosh Patkar

Proposed as answer by SPPatkar1994 Tuesday, February 18, 2020 10:04 AM

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How to Open Two Excel Files in Multiple Monitors in Windows 7

How to open two excel files in two excel windows using multiple monitors in Windows 7.
Currently it opens multiple files on top of each other on the same one monitor.

I found this article in a blog it says

"The snap feature that you are looking for will not work unless you open two instances of Excel. This is because Excel Unlike Word is not a True SDI Application. Microsoft is aware of the Issue however there is no resolution to the problem but the workaround"

Moved by David Wolters Tuesday, March 13, 2012 9:03 PM moving to a more appropriate forum (From:Windows 7 Installation, Setup, and Deployment)

I just did a test on my multiple screens, it worked. To do this, simply open Excel by double clicking the icon on your desktop and open the first Excel file you want to use. Minimize this window and move it to the right screen. Then go back to the desktop, double click the Excel icon once more, another separate Excel window will open. Open the second Excel file from within the separate window and move it to the left screen. You can open as many files and separate windows as you need using this method.

If you do not have an Excel shortcut on your desktop but would like one, find Excel in the Programs list. Right click it, point to Send To and then click Desktop. A shortcut will be placed on the desktop.

Excel 2007 provides a simple solution for users who want to open all Excel files in separate windows. To access this setting, open Microsoft Excel. Click the Office Button and then click Excel Options, which is down at the bottom right side of the menu. Select Advanced, which is on the left, and then scroll down to Display. Select the Show All Windows in Taskbar checkbox and then click OK.

Best Regards
Dale

Proposed as answer by Dale Qiao Friday, March 12, 2010 6:01 AM
Marked as answer by Dale Qiao Sunday, March 14, 2010 1:47 AM

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Don't know if i get you're question right. But i'll give it a shot.

I assume you defined the two monitors as an extended desktop. You can start excel for the first time and open a sheet and move the window to the first screen. Next you start another instance of excel open the worksheet and move it to the right sheet (you can only move a sheet to another monitor when it's size is not on "full screen".

The alternative way is open two excel sheets in one excel instance. Next you choose the tab "View" and click the "all window" option, then you can select that all the open windows should appear next to eachother. When you make your Excel instance a big as you're desktop (across two screens) you can see both of the excel sheets in one instance.

Works on office 2007, haven't tried in on 2003 but i assume it is possible.

Goodluck !

Proposed as answer by Dale Qiao Friday, March 12, 2010 5:57 AM
Marked as answer by Dale Qiao Sunday, March 14, 2010 1:47 AM

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Proposed as answer by Dale Qiao Friday, March 12, 2010 5:57 AM
Marked as answer by Dale Qiao Sunday, March 14, 2010 1:47 AM

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Proposed as answer by Dale Qiao Friday, March 12, 2010 6:01 AM
Marked as answer by Dale Qiao Sunday, March 14, 2010 1:47 AM

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Hi,

Thanks this worked, but I launched the second Excel instance from my Start Menu, didn't need a desktop shortcut.

Proposed as answer by Terence_H14 Thursday, April 1, 2010 12:15 PM

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To Dale:

Your comment is *entirely* NOT what the user wants to know (nor I).

The question could not have been simpler: How does a user open two excel documents.

Your solution is show different windows in the taskbar???

To Pieter:

The whole problem is how to open TWO DIFFERENT excel documents individually. Did you even try this before posting -- it's not possible. Your solution is to do just do it???

All the other responses here are useless as well.

I can never understand in forums when users don't understand how to answer a question, but then respond with a solution for a different question.

We want to know HOW TO OPEN TWO SEPARATE EXCEL DOCS. If you don't know how to do it, simply don't respond, and that saves tonnes of users from fiddling around trying to read all these comments from people who decided to comment, but NOT answer the question.

Proposed as answer by Pr Dh Friday, January 21, 2011 1:32 PM
Unproposed as answer by David Wolters Tuesday, March 13, 2012 9:00 PM
Proposed as answer by reoroman Sunday, January 6, 2013 7:42 AM

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Calm down a bit there... Forums are free advice...

The methods that were already described in this thread absolutely can be used to open two different excel documents, each in their own respective screen on a dual-screen computer system.

You simply open two instances of excel, drag one to each monitor and then use the "Open" command to open the spreadsheet you want in that instance of Excel. It's simple and it does work.

Now, if you want to change the way Excel behaves, so that it no longer opens new documents in the same WINDOW you can do that too by following the directions in this article:

http://techrepublic.com.com/5208-6230-0.html?forumID=101&threadID=234896&messageID=2510797

Mike N.

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No, Justmesayin is completely right. The answer given is completely not helpful to me or anyone else who actually wants to know the real answer to the question. I doubt anyone who posted here even tried to find a way around this themselves but instead justed openly guessed, or didn't read the question.

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Well, I have to admit the information on this was usefull to me and realized there was more that I needed to learn so I have two other ways to help that may be useful

First my users wanted to open more than one excel app for each screen but also to twart any problems if a spreadsheet failed and they had to close the entire program for the other sheets that were not saved. So naturally the users experience counts in my book and to try to help them out I created a shortcut on their desktop in Win7 and changed the shortcut key to Ctl+Alt+O so that when they needed multiple copies of excel they just needed to use the shortcut key to open a new excel program before they open up the file in question. At that point they could use the list of last open files and keep this going for the user.

The second one was more easy in that I created a shortcut to the file they open on a daily basis and added the the root of where to find the application first followed by the link to the file where it was located on the share. However if the files are changing this is not good. It only works if the user spreadsheet is the same day after day.

http://en.kioskea.net/faq/10635-windows-7-create-a-custom-keyboard-shortcut-for-your-applicatio

Here is where I got how to use the Windows keyboard to setup the link.

Hope this helps and thanks for the other info as well. I did not know about the multiple tabs to appear on the desktop since mine was not enabled it does show me the files now instead of trying to look for them in the view. Office 2010 is no exception and its cumbersome to view the other files unless you know how to look for them. So in reference the user wins. It should be easy!

WorkerBee09

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I agree with you. When a you double-click on an Excel file (such as in Windows Explorer), that file opens. Double-click on another Excel file and that file does not open in as a separate "instance of Excel. It opens in the window the first file is in. Try to move one of those files to a second monitor - it won't move. As someone mentioned earlier (or in a different forum?), this works fine in MS Word, but it does not work for Excel because it is not a true SDI application.

I guess we are stuck opening the Excel application multiple times and opening the files individually within each window. Then, we can "Restore Down" each file and move them about the monitor and across multiple monitors.

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EVERYBODY in this post gave wrong reply!!!!!!!

THE MAIN QUESTION IS;

IN WINDOWS 7 how we can use two excel files in dual monitors seperately!

YES! There is a solution in WinXP but We are asking for Windows 7 OK!

If anyone can do this, please put some screenshoots and show the way step by step..

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I know exactly what you're asking, I haven't tried it with Windows 7 and 2010, we had the problem with 2007 and XP, used these free reg hacks to get it done. But I am going to test this with 2010 and Windows 7, see if the right click method still works.

http://www.online-tech-tips.com/ms-office-tips/how-to-open-a-new-instance-of-excel-2007-workbooks/

I have an account on Experts-Exchange, I may look there as well, it's a real p*&^ off, MS should have this built in. I know exactly what your issue is, we have it as well.

Until later .... Brett

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http://www.brighthub.com/hubfolio/lamar-stonecypher/blog/archive/2010/08/11/opening-two-instances-of-word-2010-in-windows-7-64-bit.aspx

Kind of funny now that I think about it, almost seems obvious. Though I suspect it won't go over to well with two email attachments but for the most part, this will do and it works I tested it.

Until later .... Brett

Proposed as answer by Poomba1 Thursday, June 9, 2011 3:31 AM

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Reduced everthing I read to these 2 short and easy to remember methods:

SHIFT + Left Click on the Excel shortcut will to open another instance of excel which you can then move to another monitor.

RIGHT click on the Excel icon pinned to taskbar and LEFT click Microsoft Excel 2010 will also open another instance.

You still have to then open the spreadsheet you want but its a simple solution. Works in Office 2010 with Windoes 7 64bit.

Proposed as answer by mstewar78 Wednesday, June 8, 2011 4:42 PM

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My issue with this is, yes you can open two separate instances of Excel 2007 and 2010 open at the same time using this method. However if you have to compare data between the two workbooks, then you're out of luck. Features like the powerful VLOOKUP will only work within the same instance of Excel, from my experience it will not work across each instance. I have situations on a daily basis where I have to compare cell values all the time on very large spreadsheets. I would love to have different\same spreadsheets open within the same instance of Excel on each on my monitors so that I can easily see and compare these workbooks. It would make life so much easier (Which is suppose to be the point of technology...right?) than having to try to use the View "Features" that MS has given to view each spreadsheet on one monitor. I will try the option of enlarging a single instance across both monitors that "Pieter Janssen" posted first to see if this will do. MS should have included a "Pop Out Window" feature that will allow you drag this new window to another monitor. Sigh...

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Prior to Windows 7. I would open 2 instances of Excel and move one onto my extended screen. (Doesn't matter how you do it (from the Start menu or a Shortcut). Whichever Excel you were "in" when you opened a new document would be the screen in which the document would display. This is without going through Excel to File>Open and selecting your document. Obviously opening a document that way would display the document in that given screen. But before you could be in say the 2nd instance of Excel and click on an attached document from an e-mail and it would open in that screen, Then you could click in the first instance of Excel and open a different attachment and it would show it on opposite screens.

After I upgraded to Windows 7, no matter which screen I am clicked in, All my documents open in the first instance of Excel. The only way I can get a document to display in the second instance is if I go through File>Open and select my document. This is a problem for me because I review a lot of documents that are e-mailed to me - and I don't necessarily need to save them. Therefore I can't open through my documents.

Not sure if this is what the original question meant - but this is a problem that I am having - so any ideas would be helpful. Thank You.

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On Tue, 31 May 2011 13:27:19 +0000, Dunnk wrote:

Prior to Windows 7. I would open 2 instances of Excel and move one onto my extended screen. (Doesn't matter how you do it (from the Start menu or a Shortcut). Whichever Excel you were "in" when you opened a new document would be the screen in which the document would display. This is without going through Excel to File>Open and selecting your document. Obviously opening a document that way would display the document in that given screen. But before you could be in say the 2nd instance of Excel and click on an attached document from an e-mail and it would open in that screen, Then you could click in the first instance of Excel and open a different attachment and it would show it on opposite screens.

After I upgraded to Windows 7, no matter which screen I am clicked in, All my documents open in the first instance of Excel. The only way I can get a document to display in the second instance is if I go through File>Open and select my document. This is a problem for me because I review a lot of documents that are e-mailed to me - and I don't necessarily need to save them. Therefore I can't open through my documents.

Not sure if this is what the original question meant - but this is a problem that I am having - so any ideas would be helpful. Thank You.

Hold down the Ctrl key when you open the second instance of Excel.

Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP

Proposed as answer by petar.curkovic Tuesday, February 21, 2012 9:16 PM

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I had 2 Excel's open - and I was able to drag the documents from the document screen into whichever Excel I wanted to view it in. Thanks!

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On Tue, 31 May 2011 19:32:54 +0000, Dunnk wrote:

I had 2 Excel's open - and I was able to drag the documents from the document screen into whichever Excel I wanted to view it in. Thanks!

You're welcome. Glad to help.

Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP

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Hey all,

First let me say, I am not on a Mac, that is a family nickname.

I am having the same problem that has been described here using dual monitors and opening mulitple session of Excel. The probelm for me come that I had a lot, and I mean a lot of excel shortcuts on my desktop that use often, so opening a new instance of Excel and file/open is option but longer. I was hoping for a shorter way. :) I know those extra clicks are killer! LOL

Any Help would be great.

Matt

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The best thing that's worked for me is to use the "Send To" menu to open new instances of Excel for my dual-monitor Excel use. With this technique, you right-click on an excel spreadsheet file, hover on "Sent To" in the context menu, and select "Excel" and it opens in a new window. Works with Excel 2007/2010 in W7.

To make Excel be an option in the "Send To" context menu, it's explained in this blog:

http://fielddata.blogspot.com/2011/07/opening-excel-20072010-in-new-windows.html

The only thing that doesn't work for me is when I'm opening Excel attachments from emails since the "Send To" option isn't available from my email program.

Colin

Proposed as answer by Michael A. Repucci Wednesday, December 19, 2012 5:59 PM

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I know this post is old and that you are frustrated so hopefully my response helps. To open 2 DIFFERENT excel documents (in different Excel windows) that can be seen on multiple monitors, read the all the steps below first than do them exactly as described and it should work. Good luck!!!

1. Left click on your start menu (windows symbol, bottom left) -> All Programs -> Microsoft office -> Excel

2. Repeat step 1 you should have seen Excel pop up twice.

3. Drag the blank excel document you see to another screen - You should now see 2 blank excel documents, one on each screen.

5. From the blank Excel document on your left screen left click the Office icon (or shortcut if you have it), find the first document you want to open and select it by left clicking the document.

6. From the blank Excel document on your right screen left click the Office icon (or shortcut if you have it), find the second document you want to open and select it by left clicking the document.

Hopefully this helps. It should. The key is opening 2 blank documents in Excel first then opening the documents from each Excel window that you want to work with. Opening the files by double-clicking the files in their home folder will not work.

You can also open the 2 blank Excel documents from double clicking your desktop icon. Another neat trick someone mentioned was opening the first document via the start menu or desk top than on the bottom task bar hover your mouse over the Excel icon and click your mouse wheel. Again though, to view on 2 monitors you need to open the documents you are viewing FROM Excel, not from the file directly.

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Hi Gang,

I know this is an older stream, but I have the exact same problem, but in PowerPoint.

The solutions suggested here DO work for me in Excel, but not with PowerPoint.

Anyone have a solution to the same issue?

(i.e. - opening two .ppt presentations into two separate PowerPoint windows on two different monitors, in one machine?)

Thanks!

.James.

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Hi Gang,

I know this is an older stream, but I have the exact same problem, but in PowerPoint.

The solutions suggested here DO work for me in Excel, but not with PowerPoint.

Anyone have a solution to the same issue?

(i.e. - opening two .ppt presentations into two separate PowerPoint windows on two different monitors, in one machine?)

Thanks!

.James.

Proposed as answer by AnneEK Wednesday, May 9, 2012 5:13 PM
Unproposed as answer by AnneEK Wednesday, May 9, 2012 5:13 PM
Proposed as answer by AnneEK Wednesday, May 9, 2012 5:16 PM

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Hi There,

I had the same problem, have only scanned the results below, saw someone loosing his calm a wee bit, if the question is how to open two seperate files, one on one moniter and one on the other? its simple, I had the same problem 10 mins ago.

Basically open one of the documents (from your desktop or file location) lets say file 1 (list1) and drag it to the left screen the simply open the start menu and open excel on the opposite screen (things will automatically open on the last screen it was displayed so you may have to open it from the start menu then drag it to the right, then just close it) then go to the open option on excell which will display file2 (list2) double click and hey presto..

If this is not what you wanted never mind.. i'm not going to spend all night reading the comments below, this is actually the first comment i've ever typed so if its wrong i'm not going to loose any sleep over it, and if its right... YOUR WELCOME.

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Don't click on the above link, It is a spyware site and you will get infected.

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It also works in Win7 32-bits with Office 2010.

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Try this: http://www.bitterminion.com/excel-launchpad/

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Add this to your registry and it will solve your problem. You will then just be able to double click on an excel document and it will open a seperate isntance of excel.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Excel.Sheet.12\shell\Open\command]
@="\"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft Office\\Office14\\EXCEL.EXE\" /e \"%1\""
"command"=-
[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Excel.Sheet.12\shell\Open\ddeexec]
@="[open(\"%1\")]"

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Excel.Sheet.12\shell\Open\ddeexec\application]
@="Excel"

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Excel.Sheet.12\shell\Open\ddeexec\topic]
@="system"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Excel.Sheet.12\shell\Open\ddeexec2]
@="[open(\"%1\")]"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Excel.Sheet.12\shell\Open\ddeexec2\application]
@="Excel"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Excel.Sheet.12\shell\Open\ddeexec2\topic]
@="system"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Excel.Sheet.8\shell\Open\command]
@="\"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft Office\\Office14\\EXCEL.EXE\" /e \"%1\""
"command"=-

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Excel.Sheet.8\shell\Open\ddeexec]
@="[open(\"%1\")]"

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Excel.Sheet.8\shell\Open\ddeexec\application]
@="Excel"

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Excel.Sheet.8\shell\Open\ddeexec\topic]
@="system"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Excel.Sheet.8\shell\Open\ddeexec2]
@="[open(\"%1\")]"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Excel.Sheet.8\shell\Open\ddeexec2\application]
@="Excel"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Excel.Sheet.8\shell\Open\ddeexec2\topic]
@="system"

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Just drag it. You could open another Excel and drag the file to it.

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If you are working almost the entire day in front of your computer at your office with lots of Excel Sheets and Word, then probably you might be working with a dual monitor or may be even more than that. Studies have shown that having an additional monitor increases the productivity by 20 to 30 percent (Source: NY Times)

Excel in 2 Monitors

But some applications like MS Office Excel, even though you open multiple files, they are all from the same instance of the application. So if you want to compare two Excel files, then you may not be able to have it in two separate monitors as the files are loaded using the same instance of Excel. If you move one Excel file to the other window, the other Excel files are also moved to the other window.

So how to have two separate Excel files or other application side by side in dual monitors?

Option A:

In Excel 2003, go to Tools -> Options -> General tab.

Make sure the option, 'Ignore other applications' is checked. Now all the Excel files will be opened as separate instance and you can move the Excel files individually across the monitors.

Open Excel in different Windows

In Excel 2007, Click the Office button -> Excel Options -> Advanced.

Under General, check 'Ignore other applications that use Dynamic Data Exchange'.

Open Excel 2007 in seperate monitors

As this method forces each Excel file as a separate instance, the memory consumption will be more. If you don't want too many memory consumption then you can open only two instances (see Option B) and manage wisely to view in both the monitors.

Note: If you are having issues like Excel opens without displaying a workbook, then you may have to uncheck this option. (See Microsoft Help for more details on this). You can use option B in this case. I have this option checked and I have not faced any issue yet.

Option B:

They key here is, the application has to be loaded as separate instances. Lets say you have opened an Excel file in Monitor 1 and you want to open the next excel file in Monitor 2. You can usually open another instance of Excel by browsing through the Start Menu -> Programs -> Microsoft Office -> Excel. Make sure this newly opened Excel file is the last Excel file you had viewed and then double click on the Excel file that you wanted to open. This will force the Excel to open in the second instance of Excel. Now you can move these two excel files separately across windows or monitors.

This may be little cumbersome way to open new instances of Excel every time. The easy solution would be to keep these links in the quick links near the Start button. So, every time you want to open a new instance of the application, you can just use those quick links.

hope work thanks

http://www.lytebyte.com/2008/05/13/how-to-open-two-excel-files-side-by-side-in-separate-monitors/

Proposed as answer by winz zh Thursday, April 19, 2012 3:22 AM
Edited by winz zh Thursday, April 19, 2012 3:23 AM

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Running Multiple Instances of Excel 2003

Be careful in changing the settings, could cause problems.

One thing you can check. I don't know any option in excel to for to open (or not open) another instance when you double click the file. However, you can do it by direct configuration in windows.

Usually the Open of an excel document is done via DDE and that's why it opens the file in the same instance. You can change it by not using DDE to open the file.

In the windows explorer, in Tools - Folder Options - File types, select the XLS extension, Click Advanced and select OPEN then click the edit button.

In my case it has the "Use DDE" box checked (and below the DDE message Open "%1").

Uncheck "Use DDE"

Now you have to include the parameter in the command line.

The command line is something like:

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11\EXCEL.EXE" /e "%1"

Now, each time we double click a file excel launches a new instance.

Pasted from <http://www.mrexcel.com/forum/showthread.php?t=280472>

Proposed as answer by gcallantii Monday, August 12, 2013 4:32 PM

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This is the only way it worked using Excel 2010. I couldn't open a second copy using the icon, only through the start menu. Thanks for the heads up.

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I think the problem was in opening two instances. Your suggestion states to "simply open two instances" and drag one to each monitor. I used to be able to do this in earlier versions of Excel but can no longer do so with 2010. The link you provided is for 2007 so I'm not sure what the story is for 2010. I did have luck one time but I don't know what I did so it is possible. I have been able to do it going through the start menu but that's a bit clunky.

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bummer...link no longer works

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Beautiful! Both work like a charm. Thank you!

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How do you enlarge a single instance across two monitors? I too have the same issue. I link a number of spreadsheets and I can't connect cells from spreadsheets in separate instances of excel.

------------------------

Sorry I've tried to propose an answer but I guess I don't fully understand how this posting works. So, I'm trying as a reply to your original. You can do the same thing with PowerPoint that Scotslad007 suggested above for Excel. I tried it and it worked great.

Shift + Left click on the PowerPoint shortcut or

right click on PwerPoint icon pinned to taskbar and left click on MS PowerPoint 2010

Proposed as answer by AnneEK Wednesday, May 9, 2012 5:21 PM
Edited by AnneEK Wednesday, May 9, 2012 5:22 PM

------------------------

Worked perfectly with the above directions. Life saver. Thanks

------------------------

Worked perfectly! Thanks for the very clear instructions!

------------------------

The trouble with opening up a second instance is it does not allow formulas to work properly across the 2 instances.

We need a solution which will allow spreadsheets to be opened in the same instance and have different window positions (ie, side by side, across monitors). Alternatively we need excel to handle data access between the two (or more) instances correctly.

------------------------

THIS WORKS. IT WAS SO SIMPLE (AND BURIED) in all the other stuff here, that I almost missed it.

A real "duh" moment that I didn't figure this out sooner too....

Thanks Scotslad!!!!

------------------------

Thanks so much for that...the suggestion in the 3rd paragraph did the trick!

------------------------

Yay! Thanks, that worked for me!

------------------------

Follow these steps:

Start -> type "run" into the "Search Programs and files" and hit Enter -> type regedit and hit Enter:

Left column: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT/Excel.Sheet.8/shell/Open/commend:

Right column {adding (space)"%1"}: (be sure to include the quotation marks when typing)

Double Click on (Default) and write - "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\EXCEL.EXE" /e "%1"

Right Click on Command – choose "rename" and add something to the name - for example 2 (commend2).

Left column: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT/Excel.Sheet.8/shell/Open/ddeexec:

Right Click on the folder ddeexec and choose "rename" and add something to the name - for example 2 (ddeexec2)

Left column HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT/Excel.Sheet.12/shell/Open/commend:

Right column {adding (space)"%1"}

Double Click on (Default) and write - "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\EXCEL.EXE" /e "%1"

Right Click on Command – choose "rename" and add something to the name - for example 2 (commend2).

no restart needed. You can do this for .CSV files as well. Have Fun, and please share this answer with others

Proposed as answer by Sir C Mac Tuesday, November 27, 2012 10:34 PM

------------------------

In my opinion, this is the best solution to this problem. Thanks Colin!

------------------------

The solution posted by KrystleW is exactly what I was looking for!!!! I followed the directions to the tee and it worked on the first try. I'm looking at two different Excel spread sheets on two different monitors. Great solution and easy; thanks krystle!!!!!! :-)

------------------------

Worked great! Thanks!!

------------------------

If you have Windows XP, here is what you can do:

Download Excell Viewer (google it) and install it. After that, go to Start, Programs, find Microsoft Excel viewer icon and place it on the desktop. Now open first excel file simply by double click, re-size the window and place it on the right screen. then open Excel viewer and simply choose file you want to open. You will have 2 files one beside other.

------------------------

Nice! This worked great for me- great detail with the directions, this showed me exactly how to get there, and exactly how to edit the command parameter. Note: This also worked for me with .xlsx, and with .xlsm (macro-enabled) I would assume that if you used another type of extensions (i.e. .xlsb for binary, then you could follow the same steps and you could also open multiple instances, but I only use .xls, xlsx, and xlsm which I would assume the majority of people use).

I am using XP (with Office 2010) at work, and that is mainly what I needed to open multiple instances up for, I don't know if it works on Windows 7, but I would assume that if you are using at least office 2010, it should work the same way. I can try it at home, and let you know if this method works on Win 7.

Thanks again!

Proposed as answer by VicTom Friday, September 13, 2013 5:10 AM
Unproposed as answer by VicTom Friday, September 13, 2013 5:10 AM
Proposed as answer by VicTom Friday, September 13, 2013 5:10 AM

------------------------

See this : http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2010-excel/i-want-to-open-2-excel-files-in-separate-windows/f7588d9a-3c41-466f-8f01-3b6ab9661ae3

You Never try, You never know

------------------------

The easy way to open two or more excel files separately.

I use Windows 7 and Excel 2010. This is what works for me (just figured it out):

1. Create shortcut on Desktop

2. Open your first Excel file and place it on the screen you want

3. Open a new Excel file from the Excel icon on Desktop

4. The new file will open on top of the one you have already opened. Drag it to the other screen

5. Drag the icon for the second Excel file INTO the new (blank) Excel document

Voila! Two separate screens.

------------------------

OMG!!! Thanks sooo very much - been wanted to use this for days :)

------------------------

You answered this question perfectly and your response actual gave the results we were looking for. Thank you. It's a couple of steps to do it each time, but the results work.

Take Care.

------------------------

Unlike the previous post, your instructions are clear and concise. I was able to solve the problem that's been bothering me for a while.

Thanks

------------------------

Blog here gives you a reg file you can run that works great for Office 2010 and Office 2007

http://www.interworks.com/blogs/jvalente/2010/01/05/how-open-microsoft-office-2007-or-office-2010-excel-documents-new-or-diffe

------------------------

Thank you, i success following this instructions. Really good.

------------------------

I took this from another site, it worked for me in XP . Run regedit first.

Ok, this will be slightly complicated... first you'll need to browse down to this key:    HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Excel.Sheet.8\shell\Open\command  ====================================================================  Important: At this point you should right-click on the Excel.Sheet.8 key and choose to Export to a registry file that can be used to restore in case something breaks. If something breaks I don't take responsibility! =)  ====================================================================    The (default) value will be something like this:    "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office12\EXCEL.EXE" /e    And you'll want to append a "%1" to the end of that, making it:    "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office12\EXCEL.EXE" /e "%1"    Next you'll want to rename the command key, which is right below the (Default) key, to command2 or something else.    Next you'll need to rename the ddeexec key here to ddeexec2 or something else:    HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Excel.Sheet.8\shell\Open\ddeexec    This will make the change for the Excel 97-2003 filetype. If you want to do the same thing for Excel 2007 files, you'll need to make the changes to the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Excel.Sheet.12 key.    Here's a screenshot of the final way it should look (note that my excel install directory will likely be different than yours):    Once you do this, you should be able to double-click on excel files, and each one will open in a new window.

------------------------

Thank you Dale, it works for me. It is really appreciated.

Cheers,

Mike

------------------------

Click here then click there - right-click left-click hold down the CTRL key.... what wonderful functionality from an office suite that costs hundreds of dollars. What happened to the ol 'click a file's icon it opens the file, click a different file's icon, it opens that file in another window', and why is it so bloody hard to restore this functionality?Microsoft you never fail to disapoint, just sayin..

------------------------

Thank you so much, Dale. I can do it successfully.

Regards,
Nay.

------------------------

I am not a defender of that Redmond company. They do have to design something that works for most but there are so many possible configurations and situations, so I think this is one of those that need some work.

I do want to thank those who share.

My issue was that I have pinned an Excel shortcut on the taskbar for easy lauch, but that also automatically put the second sheet on the same Window/Instance, and not letting me launch a seperate Excel sheet with that same shortcut. So I could not move the second sheet to the second minitor.

To fix this, I unpin the Excel shortcut from the task bar, andput the Excel shourtcut on the Desktop, and that Desk top shortcut allows me to lauch as many seperate Excel workbook as I want.

This is just one of the many easy fixes. The KEY is not to put the Excel shortcut in the TASK BAR.

------------------------

i just found this for 2007 and it worked with out all the regedit and what not

you dont need to have dual monitors to make it happen ...

start --- run --- excel.exe /x

hope this works for everyone else!!

------------------------

Thanks, i had to buy a computer, get an Internet connection and join this webiste just to tell you that your a moron.

------------------------

Thanks for posting this.

You just saved me a good amount of time of searching for an answer.

------------------------

Thanks, simple enough and works for me.....

------------------------

excellent..thanks for sharing the simple solution.

------------------------

Ok, I got frustrated when trying to find a simple solution to this problem. My bookkeeper wanted to open two excel spreadsheets, each in a different window on a different monitor. Excel would not allow this to happen. By default, Excel would open the new child windows inside the parent window.

This is a workaround and is not a seamless automated transition from default.

My solution was to go to C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office14 (for Office 2010) and find the EXCEL.EXE file. Right click EXCEL.EXE and Send to --> Desktop (Create Shortcut). Open Excel from the shortcut and drag it to the second monitor. Open Excel again from the shortcut and leave it on the first monitor. Drag the first Excel file that you want to open into the first Excel window and drag the second Excel file that you want to open into the second Excel window. Now you have two Excel files open in two Excel windows and on two monitors. I'm sorry that my instructions are not more clear or easier to understand, but I'm short on time and really wanted to share my find. If I have repeated what somebody else posted as a fix, I apologize. I quit reading through posts at the time of frustration. However, my solution worked and my bookkeeper squeeled with delight. Hope this helps.

Edited by KC117MX Saturday, April 5, 2014 9:12 PM

------------------------

Dear Friend,

thank you very much , this is very useful advice.

regards,

Madhukar

------------------------

Open the first file in Excel and drag the window to the monitor where you want to view that file.

Press the Shift Key and click the Excel Taskbar icon to open a second instance of Excel. Position that new window onto the other monitor. Use File/Open to open the second file in that window.

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-files/viewing-excel-files-using-two-monitors/587e19cc-25b7-45b4-9e2d-4dfaf936e184?rtAction=1404001779830

------------------------

@Scotslad007: You are my HERO !!!

Also from taskbar click middle mouse button works same as SHIFT + click on shortcut.

Edited by Betlista Tuesday, July 1, 2014 8:52 AM reply not visible well

------------------------

Thank you. Everyone else should delete their responses. :P

'Ignore other applications that use Dynamic Data Exchange' !!!

------------------------

My understanding is that this is not a Windows version issue, it is a problem with Excel that they have recently fixed (Excel 2013). I was able to get it open twice, on separate screens and with separate close functions, by holding down the alt key and right clicking on my pinned Excel icon. You then select the excel icon in the list (mine is Excel 2010) and a new instance opened right up. I found the instructions (granted for 2013) on the Office Blogs site and made it work. Hope this helps anyone who's still looking for answers.

------------------------

Thank you, Sir C Mac - Works a treat!

Just a typo in both 'Left column:' lines. Should be command not commend

Cheers

Max

Edited by Max_007 Thursday, July 31, 2014 6:51 AM

------------------------

Excellent, such a simple solution and I struggled for this so much!!!

------------------------

great. thank you so much

------------------------

You are a life saver! thanksssss. my efficiency and productivity just went up 200%!

------------------------

You are too extreme.

------------------------

Dear friend the simplest answer:

OPEN an Excel File you want to work on

Then Right Click the Excel icon that opened in your task bar if it is already pinned to the taskbar.

Select Microsoft Excel "2010" year could be different on your office.

You have two excel files now in seperated windows. Just drag it to your other screen.

And open the second file from the Excels menu File Open

If it helps dont read the rest of this post.

Quote from helpful Dale which is already done in your default settings.

"Excel 2007 provides a simple solution for users who want to open all Excel files in separate windows. To access this setting, open Microsoft Excel. Click the Office Button and then click Excel Options, which is down at the bottom right side of the menu. Select Advanced, which is on the left, and then scroll down to Display. Select the Show All Windows in Taskbar checkbox and then click OK."

Bros before worksheets

Have a Nice Day :)

Edited by pozitrone Tuesday, September 30, 2014 9:55 AM

------------------------

Reduced everthing I read to these 2 short and easy to remember methods:

SHIFT + Left Click on the Excel shortcut will to open another instance of excel which you can then move to another monitor.

OR

RIGHT click on the Excel icon pinned to taskbar and LEFT click Microsoft Excel 2010 will also open another instance.

You still have to then open the spreadsheet you want but its a simple solution. Works in Office 2010 with Windoes 7 64bit.

PERFECT! Exactly what I wanted! Thanks!

------------------------

For the folks in the crowd who don't mind a little VBA to save a few clicks- I mostly prefer to open files in the same instance, for easier movement of data across workbooks. However, I have one business process where I run macros in several workbooks at the same time and wanted seperate instances of Excel so they could work across multiple CPUs. I added this and linked it to a ribbon button, so I can just click the ribbon, select the file(s), and have them all open in new instances.

Sub OpenFilesInNewInstances()
      Dim FileNames As Variant
      Dim Msg As String
      Dim i As Integer
      FileNames = Application.GetOpenFilename(MultiSelect:=True)
      If IsArray(FileNames) Then

          For i = LBound(FileNames) To UBound(FileNames)

                Set oXL = CreateObject("Excel.Application")
                oXL.Visible = True
                oXL.Workbooks.Open FileNames(i), ReadOnly:=False
          Next i

      Else
          MsgBox "No files were selected."
      End If
End Sub

------------------------

http://blog.lavablast.com/post/2012/06/05/Microsoft-Excel-on-Multi-Monitor-Machines.aspx

This was the best solution I've found. Works great.

Proposed as answer by jharold12 Friday, February 6, 2015 12:00 AM

------------------------

Open the first document. Then from your Excel shortcut open a new excel document. From there just open the second one. It will stay in a separate window that you can drag it anywhere you want.

------------------------

your a champ - this works perfect!!

------------------------

It worked. Thank you very much. I've been wracking my brain on how this is done. Excellent!

------------------------

Thank you for the best answer here. Did the second option and worked like a charm, after struggling for a year to do this. This DOES answer the question the original poster asked. THANK YOU

------------------------

The answers provided above by Dale and other people, makes absolute sense but I think you don't.

------------------------

Super helpful -- thanks Dave

------------------------

You should be able to do this in one of two ways. Go to your desktop or your start menu and open two separate blank Excel documents using your Excel icon. Then move them so that each screen has a document. Then go to file or the home button at the top of the document and choose open to find the one you want or select it from the recent documents list and it will open on each one.

The other way is if you have a document saved on your desktop that you were working on, open that and move it to the desired screen you like. Then either on your desktop or start menu open a blank Excel document using your Excel Icon. Then go to file or the home button at the top of the document and choose open to find the one you want or select it from the recent documents list and it will open.

Hopefully that helps. If I understood your question correctly I was searching online for the same thing.

------------------------

I know exactly what you're asking, I haven't tried it with Windows 7 and 2010, we had the problem with 2007 and XP, used these free reg hacks to get it done. But I am going to test this with 2010 and Windows 7, see if the right click method still works.

http://www.online-tech-tips.com/ms-office-tips/how-to-open-a-new-instance-of-excel-2007-workbooks/

I have an account on Experts-Exchange, I may look there as well, it's a real p*&^ off, MS should have this built in. I know exactly what your issue is, we have it as well.

Until later .... Brett

This link worked for me with a slight modification to point to the correct excel.exe location. Get the files from that link then replace ALL of the paths to EXCEL.EXE with the correct path to your version of EXCEL.EXE.
ex:
change:
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Excel.Backup\shell\Open_in_New_Excel_Instance\command]
@="\"C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Office\\Office12\\EXCEL.EXE\" \"%1\""
to:
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Excel.Backup\shell\Open_in_New_Excel_Instance\command]
@="\"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft Office\\Office14\\EXCEL.EXE\" \"%1\""

------------------------

This has been killing me for years, and I'm so glad I finally searched to see if there was a way to do this. I now have three different Excel files open on 3 different monitors on a day that it will *really* help my productivity to be able to do that. I can't begin to describe how happy and grateful I am. Thank you so much.

------------------------

Security Threat Detected

The URL you are trying to access:

http://mediaupdate55.com/ie/485

Falls within the following category: Reputation-Viruses

Block Reason: Reputation-Viruses

You are seeing this error because the page you attempted
to access contains, or is labeled as containing, malicious content.

when I try open the techrepublic article

------------------------

I just tested this and it does work. Thanks.

------------------------

Works great, gives me the option of opening in same instance of Excel by double-clicking the file, or different instances by using Send To that I can put on different monitors, depending on what I need to do. Thanks Colin!

------------------------

I just did this and all it does is opens a new excel instance every time you open a new excel doc. I think what people really want to do is find a way to have one instance of excel open while utilizing more that one monitor (one for each workbook).

Having two instances of excel open will not allow you to reference the workbooks on other monitors just by clicking.

------------------------

Thanks, its working

------------------------

This is really annoying because up until about 2 weeks ago, I was able to copy and paste from one instance to excel into another. Now this function works UNTIL I TRY TO SORT DATA. So much more time consuming. Please help. I have one master worksheet that combines information from FOUR other excel spreasheets. This is a fairly large amount of data to try to see on a split screen.... about 140 rows with about 15 columns of numbers. If I can't get this to work again.... I have to manually enter all of that data every week. Please help!

------------------------

Follow these steps:

Start -> type "run" into the "Search Programs and files" and hit Enter -> type regedit and hit Enter:

Left column: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT/Excel.Sheet.8/shell/Open/commend:

Right column {adding (space)"%1"}: (be sure to include the quotation marks when typing)

Double Click on (Default) and write - "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\EXCEL.EXE" /e "%1"

Right Click on Command – choose "rename" and add something to the name - for example 2 (commend2).

Left column: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT/Excel.Sheet.8/shell/Open/ddeexec:

Right Click on the folder ddeexec and choose "rename" and add something to the name - for example 2 (ddeexec2)

Left column HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT/Excel.Sheet.12/shell/Open/commend:

Right column {adding (space)"%1"}

Double Click on (Default) and write - "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\EXCEL.EXE" /e "%1"

Right Click on Command – choose "rename" and add something to the name - for example 2 (commend2).

no restart needed. You can do this for .CSV files as well. Have Fun, and please share this answer with others

I can verify that this works on a 64-bit Windows 7 rig that's using a 32-bit version of Office 2007.

Now, I can't say anything about other people and variations on their PCs: results might differ. However, with mine, the instructions from Sir C Mac were spot on.

Outstanding work, sir. It's absolutely stunning that this answer - from three and a half years ago - was able to help me when all others failed. You're a lifesaver, even years later.

------------------------

Elmsy2424's answer is the correct one.

Copy and paste that into a notepad document and save as a .reg file and run it. Works brilliantly.

------------------------

I just did a test on my multiple screens, it worked. To do this, simply open Excel by double clicking the icon on your desktop and open the first Excel file you want to use. Minimize this window and move it to the right screen. Then go back to the desktop, double click the Excel icon once more, another separate Excel window will open. Open the second Excel file from within the separate window and move it to the left screen. You can open as many files and separate windows as you need using this method.

If you do not have an Excel shortcut on your desktop but would like one, find Excel in the Programs list. Right click it, point to Send To and then click Desktop. A shortcut will be placed on the desktop.

Excel 2007 provides a simple solution for users who want to open all Excel files in separate windows. To access this setting, open Microsoft Excel. Click the Office Button and then click Excel Options, which is down at the bottom right side of the menu. Select Advanced, which is on the left, and then scroll down to Display. Select the Show All Windows in Taskbar checkbox and then click OK.

Best Regards
Dale

The first step worked well, thank you.

------------------------

For those who aren't allowed to edit their Registry, there's a simple way to open any Excel file you have saved in a separate window of Excel.

Simply right click the file you want to open, hover your mouse over the "Open With" selection, and left click on Microsoft Excel. This will open the file in a separate instance of Excel which you can organize on your screen as you see fit.

Hope this helps!

------------------------

Thank you very much, It worked for me.

------------------------

How to rename a default user directory after changing computer name?

I just renamed my PC and would like to rename the default user folder to match the name. Is there an easy way to do so? There is no option to rename the folder. Please advise. This is causing conflicts with my printing/scanning ability through our network.

Thanks.

Edited by mellefs Friday, October 7, 2011 1:56 AM

Hi,

You can change your user name, but it is hard to change the user profile folder name. If you want to change it indeed, I suggest you could create a new user profile to match your computer name.

Alex Zhao

Please remember to click "Mark as Answer" on the post that helps you, and to click "Unmark as Answer" if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

Marked as answer by Cloud_TS Monday, October 17, 2011 4:59 AM

------------------------

Hi,

You can change your user name, but it is hard to change the user profile folder name. If you want to change it indeed, I suggest you could create a new user profile to match your computer name.

Alex Zhao

Marked as answer by Cloud_TS Monday, October 17, 2011 4:59 AM

------------------------

Which folder specifically are you referring to when you say "default user folder"?

Can you explain how/why the folder name is causing issues for printing and scanning?

------------------------

Hi I have the same problem. I just bought a floor model Lenovo and The Geek who set it up (Best Buy) spelled the name wrong - the PC, the user account, and the c:\user\xxx folder are all spelled wrong. the users folder is also locked and the folder and all files are set to read only. One thing at a time. I changed the PC name and the user account name (part of it, anyway) How to change the user folder name so the paths are correct? There is no option under properties for renaming this folder. Thanks guys - the Geek doesn't know and said he'd have to charge me to find out (this is an effective way to get rid of customers). Also this is the 2nd rebuild (first time they actually did not do a rebuild, just washed the laptop off) and they won't do reload the OS again.

------------------------

What you are seeing is the default behavior. Regardless of the name change,
it's almost impossible to change all of the thousands of registry entries,
folders, and other pointers that are associated with a users account name.

The only solution is to create a new user account, copy all of the folder
and settings to the new user account, and then deleate the original account.

Cordialement, Met vriendelijke groeten, Gokan Ozcifci - SharePoint Infrastructure Consultant ( wants to be microsoft community contributor )

------------------------

Rename User Folder in Windows 7 Step-by-step:

First of all change your user account name by accessing the Control panel. Click Start Menu then Control Panel.

On the Control Panel Windows click on user account name link

Type in your new user account on the box bellow your profile picture and then click on the "Change Name" Button
The next step would be to change your folder profile. First of all you need to create a new account with administrator rights to execute the next steps. This new account is only needed to change the folder profile name. You may remove this account after you use it to change the folder profile name. To create a new account click Manage Another Account > Create a new Account

Type in the new account. Make sure you assign "Administrator" right for this new account.

Log off your computer and then log in with the newly-created account
Open Windows Explorer and then navigate to C:\users
Right click on the folder you want to rename and change it to the same name as your new user profile with which you log in to your Windows 7
At this point you have successfully renamed your Windows 7 user folder but to avoid possible error you need to perform a registry edit. Go to registry editor by typing "Registry" (without quote) in Start Menu. Navigate to the following registry value:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList .
Righ click on the profile list and navigate to "Find" Menu
Type in your old user in the search box and then hit 'Find Next". Navigate to the "ProfileImagePath" located on the right pane of the registry editor and click twice on it
Edit the registry value to rename it to your new user profile.

Done

Proposed as answer by danomania1 Monday, June 18, 2012 6:55 PM

------------------------

Rename User Folder in Windows 7 Step-by-step:

First of all change your user account name by accessing the Control panel. Click Start Menu then Control Panel.

On the Control Panel Windows click on user account name link

Type in your new user account on the box bellow your profile picture and then click on the "Change Name" Button
The next step would be to change your folder profile. First of all you need to create a new account with administrator rights to execute the next steps. This new account is only needed to change the folder profile name. You may remove this account after you use it to change the folder profile name. To create a new account click Manage Another Account > Create a new Account

Type in the new account. Make sure you assign "Administrator" right for this new account.

Log off your computer and then log in with the newly-created account
Open Windows Explorer and then navigate to C:\users
Right click on the folder you want to rename and change it to the same name as your new user profile with which you log in to your Windows 7
At this point you have successfully renamed your Windows 7 user folder but to avoid possible error you need to perform a registry edit. Go to registry editor by typing "Registry" (without quote) in Start Menu. Navigate to the following registry value:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList .
Righ click on the profile list and navigate to "Find" Menu
Type in your old user in the search box and then hit 'Find Next". Navigate to the "ProfileImagePath" located on the right pane of the registry editor and click twice on it
Edit the registry value to rename it to your new user profile.

Done

Proposed as answer by BSab Thursday, June 21, 2012 12:14 AM
Unproposed as answer by BSab Thursday, June 21, 2012 12:19 AM
Proposed as answer by Digital Diver Wednesday, August 20, 2014 5:50 PM
Unproposed as answer by Digital Diver Wednesday, August 20, 2014 5:51 PM
Proposed as answer by Digital Diver Wednesday, August 20, 2014 5:51 PM

------------------------

Rename User Folder in Windows 7 Step-by-step:

First of all change your user account name by accessing the Control panel. Click Start Menu then Control Panel.

On the Control Panel Windows click on user account name link

Type in your new user account on the box bellow your profile picture and then click on the "Change Name" Button
The next step would be to change your folder profile. First of all you need to create a new account with administrator rights to execute the next steps. This new account is only needed to change the folder profile name. You may remove this account after you use it to change the folder profile name. To create a new account click Manage Another Account > Create a new Account

Type in the new account. Make sure you assign "Administrator" right for this new account.

Log off your computer and then log in with the newly-created account
Open Windows Explorer and then navigate to C:\users
Right click on the folder you want to rename and change it to the same name as your new user profile with which you log in to your Windows 7
At this point you have successfully renamed your Windows 7 user folder but to avoid possible error you need to perform a registry edit. Go to registry editor by typing "Registry" (without quote) in Start Menu. Navigate to the following registry value:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList .
Righ click on the profile list and navigate to "Find" Menu
Type in your old user in the search box and then hit 'Find Next". Navigate to the "ProfileImagePath" located on the right pane of the registry editor and click twice on it
Edit the registry value to rename it to your new user profile.

Done

No matter who I log in as, I can not edit the name of my original account folder. It says that the file/folder is in use by another program. I even tried an elevated command prompt window and that just says Access Denied.

Edit: It's the Windows Media Player Network Sharing service that is locking it, I'll just stop that service temporarily.

Edited by Nicholas Steel Wednesday, May 30, 2012 8:59 PM
Proposed as answer by patr1c1a Wednesday, November 7, 2018 3:13 PM
Unproposed as answer by patr1c1a Wednesday, November 7, 2018 3:23 PM

------------------------

Rename User Folder in Windows 7 Step-by-step:

First of all change your user account name by accessing the Control panel. Click Start Menu then Control Panel.

On the Control Panel Windows click on user account name link

Type in your new user account on the box bellow your profile picture and then click on the "Change Name" Button
The next step would be to change your folder profile. First of all you need to create a new account with administrator rights to execute the next steps. This new account is only needed to change the folder profile name. You may remove this account after you use it to change the folder profile name. To create a new account click Manage Another Account > Create a new Account

Type in the new account. Make sure you assign "Administrator" right for this new account.

Log off your computer and then log in with the newly-created account
Open Windows Explorer and then navigate to C:\users
Right click on the folder you want to rename and change it to the same name as your new user profile with which you log in to your Windows 7
At this point you have successfully renamed your Windows 7 user folder but to avoid possible error you need to perform a registry edit. Go to registry editor by typing "Registry" (without quote) in Start Menu. Navigate to the following registry value:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList .
Righ click on the profile list and navigate to "Find" Menu
Type in your old user in the search box and then hit 'Find Next". Navigate to the "ProfileImagePath" located on the right pane of the registry editor and click twice on it
Edit the registry value to rename it to your new user profile.

Done

I just wanted to confirm that this method worked perfectly for me. Thanks so much for the help.

I also wanted to add that based on Franpa_999's experience it seems like it would be a good idea to reboot into safe mode to do the actual renaming part. That way there shouldn't be any services or programs using the folder while you're trying to rename it.

Proposed as answer by patr1c1a Wednesday, November 7, 2018 3:13 PM
Unproposed as answer by patr1c1a Wednesday, November 7, 2018 3:23 PM
Proposed as answer by vasyhin Tuesday, September 24, 2019 5:40 AM

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It ws just that one particular service that was causing the problem, I had no need to reboot in to safe mode :)

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I turned this into a WIKI article, with the precise steps mentioned here - I gave credit to this thread and the people here. Thanks, these processed worked wonderfully for me! In this iteration, I was able to boil it down to 9 steps, first booting into 'safe mode.' Check it out here:

Wiki to Rename Windows 7 User Profile Folder

Jeff

tnjman

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I second this as a viable answer and that it worked perfectly. I will add though that I was applying this fix in a VM environment (which shouldn't really make a difference...perhaps less clutter?).

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Although this process worked for me, I am unsure if it caused this issue or if something else caused it at a later date (Note the username of the processes is broken/gibberish):

Edited by Nicholas Steel Thursday, August 21, 2014 10:08 AM

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I think you should do this -

Change your user account name from Control panel.
At the Control Panel you need to click on user account name.
Click on the Change Name option
Then change folder profile and make sure create a new account with administrator
This new account is only needed to change the folder profile name.
To create a new account click Manage Another Account > Create a new Account
Log off your computer and then log in with the newly-created account
Now Open Windows Explorer then navigate to C:\users
Right click on the folder you want to rename and change it to the same name as your new user profile with which you log in to your Windows 7
At this point you have successfully renamed your Windows 7 user folder but to avoid possible error you need to perform a registry edit. Go to registry editor by typing "Registry" (without quote) in Start Menu. Navigate to the following registry value:
Righ click on the profile list and navigate to "Find" Menu
Type in your old user in the search box and then hit 'Find Next". Navigate to the "Profile Image Path" located on the right pane of the registry editor and click twice on it
Edit the registry value to rename it to your new user profile

------------------------

Rename User Folder in Windows 7 Step-by-step:

First of all change your user account name by accessing the Control panel. Click Start Menu then Control Panel.

On the Control Panel Windows click on user account name link

Type in your new user account on the box bellow your profile picture and then click on the "Change Name" Button
The next step would be to change your folder profile. First of all you need to create a new account with administrator rights to execute the next steps. This new account is only needed to change the folder profile name. You may remove this account after you use it to change the folder profile name. To create a new account click Manage Another Account > Create a new Account

Type in the new account. Make sure you assign "Administrator" right for this new account.

Log off your computer and then log in with the newly-created account
Open Windows Explorer and then navigate to C:\users
Right click on the folder you want to rename and change it to the same name as your new user profile with which you log in to your Windows 7
At this point you have successfully renamed your Windows 7 user folder but to avoid possible error you need to perform a registry edit. Go to registry editor by typing "Registry" (without quote) in Start Menu. Navigate to the following registry value:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList .
Righ click on the profile list and navigate to "Find" Menu
Type in your old user in the search box and then hit 'Find Next". Navigate to the "ProfileImagePath" located on the right pane of the registry editor and click twice on it
Edit the registry value to rename it to your new user profile.

Done

Thanks so much for this info. It is really helpful and it worked for me on my Windows 7 Starter.....but the only issue is that "Registry" (without quote) in start Menu should have been press Window Key + R and in the box, type regedit that is what will bring you to the Registry Editor. Thanks once again.

Proposed as answer by bustabaf Sunday, May 31, 2015 2:34 PM

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Alternatively type "Regedit" without quotes in to the Start Menu's Search option.

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To make it easier for anyone having trouble or being locked out with Access Denied or that another program is using the folder, start the computer in safe mode

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Jeff,

Followed the Wiki to hear...

Won't let me change the User Name, no matter what I do it switches it back. I saw someone else also said the same thing.

Could an update rendered this process unusable? Or did I miss something.

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*2nd Response:

Found I was able to change the name Under the Prior window after double clicking on the user, this then populated the screen with the new name in window where you had directed us to change name originally in the Wiki Article.

Did additional sweep of the Registry for any reminants of the old name and changed where I could except for a few that related to installers for applications. (since they are installed already, all seems fine)

Thank you very much.

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Many thanks.
I had to do the Safe Mode to get it all to work.

Excellent !!!!!!

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Worked for most applications. Dropbox crashed after logging on back in my username.

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Perfect, thanks

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Used it on Windows Server 2016 domain controller to change Administrator default folder that was created by computer name prior to be promoted to DC and change the computer name from generic to FS1.

It was C:\user\Administrator.ClientXTXWindows2016 changed to C:\users\Administrator.DOMAIN

Thank you..

Thank You, O.E Change2009

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Problem solved. Thank you very much! :)

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Worked perfectly! Thank you!

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excellent! It's works as charming!

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Thank you, it worked. But I think that there are additional changes that need to be done to the registry, as I see the old name occurring multiple times when I do a "find". The problem is I do not know which entries pertain to my computer name and which ones pertain to the old user name which I mistakenly created with the same name as the computer name; hence the reason for renaming my user account.

Here is how I first discovered that the old user account is still being referenced elsewhere. When I create a new task in the Task Scheduler (Windows 10 Home Edition), it shows the owner of the task with the name of the old user account. When I click on the "Change user of group..." button, the process cannot find the new user name when I type it in and click on the "Check names" button. The process can only find the old name.

Further evidence that the old user id is still being referenced can be seen when you right-click on a folder, select "properties" and click on the "security" tab. From there you can see the old name in the "group or user names" pane.

Although not a big deal, it would be nice if the system can be entirely cleaned up from the old user name that no longer exists.

Let me know if you can identify the appropriate registry entries that need to be modified.

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i wish there were some way to downvote you like 1000x for this completely useless, completely wrong answer. hang your head in shame.

Edited by ninjajim4 Friday, October 19, 2018 3:18 PM

------------------------

Rename User Folder in Windows 7 Step-by-step:

First of all change your user account name by accessing the Control panel. Click Start Menu then Control Panel.

On the Control Panel Windows click on user account name link

Type in your new user account on the box bellow your profile picture and then click on the "Change Name" Button
The next step would be to change your folder profile. First of all you need to create a new account with administrator rights to execute the next steps. This new account is only needed to change the folder profile name. You may remove this account after you use it to change the folder profile name. To create a new account click Manage Another Account > Create a new Account

Type in the new account. Make sure you assign "Administrator" right for this new account.

Log off your computer and then log in with the newly-created account
Open Windows Explorer and then navigate to C:\users
Right click on the folder you want to rename and change it to the same name as your new user profile with which you log in to your Windows 7
At this point you have successfully renamed your Windows 7 user folder but to avoid possible error you need to perform a registry edit. Go to registry editor by typing "Registry" (without quote) in Start Menu. Navigate to the following registry value:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList .
Righ click on the profile list and navigate to "Find" Menu
Type in your old user in the search box and then hit 'Find Next". Navigate to the "ProfileImagePath" located on the right pane of the registry editor and click twice on it
Edit the registry value to rename it to your new user profile.

Done

It changed the folder, but I forgot to edit the regedit, so when I logged in in the user, it put me in temporary folder and I lost my old files. Than I restored the system the system now is OK, but I can't find my old files. Can anybody help me ?

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My old user account got wiped out! Everything changed. All my settings, my pictures, EVERYTHING! PLEASE HELP! I NEED THEM BACK!

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Dont do it or anything on this page or you will be in a world of hurt.

I did the procedure on this and some one other technet web pages(booting in safe mode to rename) https://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/19834.how-to-rename-a-windows-7-user-account-and-related-profile-folder.aspx

which did not work BTW.
I had to select the user folder and set all its files from read only before I could rename it. once that worked I tried one program(copy trans control) it did not work. I ran CCleaner and it showed many registry errors relating to the old path. I then had to search the registry for the old path and change it to the new this took a long time and some could not be changed. copy trans control now worked so I tried outlook it did not work
I went thru much pain to get outlook to work. But it would have been quicker just to start a new profile.
I notice in my travels that a lot of programs do not user the registry to record paths to media and resources. So you will have to point these programs one at a time to the new folders including basic things as desktop and pictures folders etc

In stead of following the instructions on these pages. You might as well back up all you data to a external drive then just create a new admin account and copy the data back.You may have to reinstall some programs or set them up again but you wont have to mess with the registry.

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Great! You're the guy. So simple, but couldn't figure it out. Indeed I did, I mean, I tried to change the folder name with another user, but it took so long I quit the process. I tried again thanks to your advice, waited about five to ten minutes and it worked. Tks a lot.

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After changing the registry, I am unable to sign in unless I change the path back to original. Please Help.

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Thank you so much, this worked for me~^^ Cheers

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