How do I merge two Users into one?

Question

How do I merge two Users into one?

Anonymous

I have an HP 15 Notebook PC using WIN 10 Home.

I'm the sole User, but I have two Users folders let's say A & B. A is all the Data. B is all the AppData. It's been like that for several years since I first set up my Notebook & probably made an error in that. It doesn't cause any major problems. But maybe things would be better if I merged B into A. Is that possible?

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments

4 answers

Answer 1

There's no specific process to merge Users in Windows, however you can manually perform the action by copying the data from one to the other (assuming the account you're logged in with is an Admin). To copy data, just open two File Explorer windows and simply copy/paste the files from the incorrect account to the account you want to use (you can browse to C:\Users\Account A and C:\Users\Account B, respectively).

Once everything is moved, you can remove the old user account:

Add or remove accounts on your PC (microsoft.com)

Answer 2

Yipes - I don't understand what you mean by 'temporary' & 'hidden by default'. My AppData is 21GB & it doesn't look temporary & it is not hidden. If it is temporary can I Delete it?

My usual routine has been to Copy the complete Users folder to an external HDD - weekly. That's a total of 62GB, where User 'A' with all of the real Data is 41GB & User 'B' has all of the AppData 21GB.

When I look thru my AppData yes I find a lot of old stuff date wise, but I don't know what to Delete.

I'm not techie by a long shot, & I would appreciate getting a better understanding of the whole matter before I figure out my next step. PDQ please.

PS: I don't knowingly save files in AppData unless there is something in my setup & yes I did notice that 21GB seemed to be a bit much.

Answer 3

Thanks for reply. I failed. In User 'A' there was some AppData - about 420MB, while User 'B' had almost all of the AppData - 21GB. I Moved the AppData from 'A' to 'B', then Moved the AppData from 'B' to 'A'. At first it seemed to work, but then I found that it was back to where it was - two Users. So it seems that the system setup prevents me from doing what I hoped to do. Unless I missed something.

It was all academic anyway because things work fine before & after this exercise. So I've given up & moved on to other priorities.

Thanks for the reply anyway.

Answer 4

AppData is temporary data and does not need to be transferred. Your files in the C:\Users<you>[Documents,Music,Pictures,...] folders are what matter. AppData is hidden by default and is that way because application will store temporary data there that isn't critical or shouldn't be easily modified by the user.

Do you specifically save files there or did you just notice it had a lot of data in the AppData folder?

Share via

How do I merge two Users into one?

4 answers