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RE: Bug Report: Purging Old and Invalid User Names With Spaces


Robert Peaslee wrote on Friday, March 16, 2007 3:53 PM:
> Windows XP stores the first username you choose and will associate
> your current username to it regardless of what you change it to.
> Cygwin stores nothing, it is asking Windows what your username is and
> getting a response of what Windows tells it. I can't verify this
> right now, but I do believe that if you navigate to C:\Documents and
> Settings\ you should find that your old usernames still exist in
> place of your new usernames. That should be verification that it is
> Windows that is acting strangely, and is not a Cygwin problem.
> 
> You can get around this by either reinstalling XP and setting up new
> usernames that are correct from the start, creating new users
> completely (not changing the names of existing users) and migrate
> your personal information to the new user profiles, or finally, just
> get used to typing quotes around your usernames or escaping the
> spaces when using Cygwin.

Yes, WinXP stores your username twice ("Full name" and "User Name") and
Cygwin uses the "hidden" one ("User Name"), but I'm pretty sure you
don't have to reinstall XP to change it!

IIRC, you can change the username from Control Panel->User
Accounts->Advanced tab->Advanced button->Users->right click on the user
and select "Rename". You might need to be Administrator to do this,
though (and it only works for local users, so if you're on a domain, you
need to contact the domain admin).

Also, as someone already said, it is trivial to replace the
names-with-spaces in the /etc/passwd file with names that have no
spaces, as long as you don't mess with the SID.

-- 
Bryan Thrall
FlightSafety International
Bryan.Thrall@flightsafety.com

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