Remove the Username From the Start Menu in XP
Let me start by saying that I have no idea why anybody would want to do this, and it's perhaps one of the most useless articles I've ever written. That said, if you've ever wondered how to remove the username from the Start menu in Windows XP, this article is for you.
I suppose this could also be used in reverse, if your start menu does not have the username you could check this registry setting. I'm quite sure that somebody somewhere will find a use for this topic.
Note that this only applies to the XP style menu, not the classic menus… since they don't have the username anyway.
Manual Registry Hack
Open up regedit.exe through the start menu run box, and then browse down to the following key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
Create a new DWORD value on the right-hand pane with the following values:
- Name: NoUserNameInStartMenu
- Value: 1
To remove, either set the value to 0 or just delete the key. You will have to log off and back on to see the start menu without the username:
You could also remove the picture by deleting or renaming this folder:
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\User Account Pictures\Default Pictures
Doing so would remove the picture from the login page as well, and it doesn't remove the blue border across the top.
(please remove my previous)
Thanks for the tip. Might appear to be useless, but with my extremely long name on my work pc, it is a bit annoying, so this trick is godsent
I knew somebody would find it useful… =)
This is also useful for me because I have my real name on my test/tutorials install of XP and when I make video tutorials I'd rather my name not be shown. So thanks for this.
Hi, I have the opposite problem: I cannot see the picture next to my name. How do I add it in? I do have the "Default Pictures" directory as specified above. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks …