Share via

How do I move Files from one user profile to another in Windows 11?

Anonymous
2022-11-14T19:02:43+00:00

Hello,

I have a laptop running Windows 11 that is uses an old free Microsoft account (One Drive) to log into and is the administrator profile. Example: ******@abc.com

I now have a shared family Microsoft 365 account associated with a different email of mine (Example ******@gmail.com) that I would like use to log into and manage this laptop as the administrator so that I can get the benefits of the larger One Drive Account and to be able to share files with another computer on my home network. Ultimately, I would like to remove the old user account ******@abc.com.

My question is how do I move all of the files and apps associated with profile/account ******@abc.com to the new account administrator profile ******@gmail.com? I basically just want to move everything over to the active Microsoft 365 account so that when I log into my computer using ******@gmail.com it will be a carbon copy of ******@abc.com and I can remove the ******@abc.com administrator profile without deleting any important files.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Accounts, profiles, and login

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

1 answer

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. EmilyS726 225.5K Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2022-11-14T21:15:41+00:00

    Hello there, this is Emily.

    Because you want to keep both of your files and your apps it would make better sense to move your data from the new user profile to the current admin account because this move cannot transfer apps it only transfers data.

    First you want to remove your Microsoft accounts from both user profiles. Do this for both:

    Settings > accounts > your info. Click on “sign in as a local user instead” and follow the prompt to set up the local username and password. Restart the computer after that. Log into your admin user profile. Go to Settings > accounts > your info. Click on “sign in with your Microsoft account” and follow the prompt to sign in with the new Microsoft account that has the paid OneDrive service. Restart your computer and now you have your old user profile linked to the new Microsoft email account instead. If you need to transfer any personal files from the new user profile to the admin to user profile you can go to the c:\users. Copy the files from the folder you want to transfer from and then paste it into the folder you want to transfer into. This step must be done while you are logging in as the admin users.

    I hope this helps. Good luck!

    10+ people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments