My notebook came back from a repair yesterday. Its HDD was replaced with an SSD, with a fresh installation of Windows 10 Home Single Language (Update 1903), no backup. It also came with an administrator account called something like 'user'. This detail was bothering.
I should have made a better research fist, but I was too impatient. So, my first try was changing user name on Control Panel. But the user folder name remained the same. Then, I executed Control UserPasswords2 and changed the username there. Running it second time, I couldn't see any user listed, but I just had to reboot. I don't remember what user name was there before, but by then the new one was displayed. But, again, the folder name didn't change.
I noticed another strange thing: my Wi-Fi was duplicated. I could use, let's say, 'NET' and 'NET 2'. This was solved by removing both networks. Just in case, I checked whether the Temp folder was duplicated, and it wasn't.
Then, I made a longer research and many places were indicating a solution which required changing all matching user path values in registry, about 100 entries. Using a PowerShell script looked a good idea. I didn't found any code for that, but I was already playing with PowerShell. Trying some simple things.
I thought that sticking to Get- commands and avoiding Set- would be safe. But when I executed the following:
PS C:\Windows\system32> 1, 2, 3 | Get-ItemProperty
The output was:
Diretório: C:\Windows\system32
Mode LastWriteTime Length Name
---- ------------- ------ ----
-a---- 14/07/2019 11:21 8 1
-a---- 14/07/2019 11:10 2 2
Get-ItemProperty : Não é possível localizar o caminho 'C:\Windows\system32\3' porque ele não existe.
No linha:1 caractere:11
+ 1, 2, 3 | Get-ItemProperty
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (C:\Windows\system32\3:String) [Get-ItemProperty], ItemNotFoundException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : PathNotFound,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GetItemPropertyCommand
I found it strange, because there was a table with information mixed with an error message, like it did altered something.
I looked at System32 folder and there were two files, without extension, named as 1 and 2. Those are the only files created and modified today in that folder. And 1 is older than 2.
Here is what is inside 1:
3
The file 2 is empty.
The files stay there even closing the PowerShell.
Here is the history of commands I executed at the last (and only, I think) session:
PS C:\Windows\system32> help GetItemProperty
PS C:\Windows\system32> GetChildItem -path HKCU:\ | GetItemProperty
PS C:\Windows\system32> Get-ChildItem -path HKCU:\ | Get-ItemProperty
PS C:\Windows\system32> Get-ChildItem -path HKCU:\
PS C:\Windows\system32> Get-ChildItem -path HKCU:\ | Get-ItemProperty Name
PS C:\Windows\system32> Get-ChildItem -path HKCU:\ | Get-ItemProperty -Name
PS C:\Windows\system32> Get-ChildItem -path HKCU:\ | Get-ItemProperty -Property "Name"
PS C:\Windows\system32> Get-ChildItem -path HKCU:\ | Get-ItemProperty
PS C:\Windows\system32> Get-ChildItem -path HKCU:\
PS C:\Windows\system32> 1,2,3 | Get-ItemProperty
PS C:\Windows\system32> 1, 2, 3 | Where $_ > 2
PS C:\Windows\system32> 1, 2, 3 | Where ($_ > 2)
PS C:\Windows\system32> 1, 2, 3 | Where $PSItem > 2
PS C:\Windows\system32> 1, 2, 3 | Where $_ -eq 2
PS C:\Windows\system32> 1, 2, 3 | Where -($_ > 2)
PS C:\Windows\system32> 1, 2, 3 | Where-Object $_ -eq 2
PS C:\Windows\system32> 1, 2, 3 | Where-Object -$_ -eq 2
PS C:\Windows\system32> 1, 2, 3 | Where -$_ -eq 2
PS C:\Windows\system32> 1, 2, 3 | Where -$_ = 2
PS C:\Windows\system32> 1, 2, 3 | Where -$_ == 2
PS C:\Windows\system32> 1, 2, 3 | Where - $_ -eq 2
PS C:\Windows\system32> 1, 2, 3 | Where -$_ -eq 2
PS C:\Windows\system32> 1, 2, 3 | Where -$_ -greater 2
PS C:\Windows\system32> 1, 2, 3 | Where -$_ -gt 2
PS C:\Windows\system32> 1, 2, 3 | Where -$_ -gt 0
PS C:\Windows\system32> 1, 2, 3 | Where -gt 0
PS C:\Windows\system32> 1, 2, 3 | Where-Object -$ -gt 1
PS C:\Windows\system32> 1, 2, 3 | Where-Object -$_ -gt 1
PS C:\Windows\system32> 1, 2, 3 | Where-Object -gt 1
PS C:\Windows\system32> 1, 2, 3 | Where -Property $_ Value 2
PS C:\Windows\system32> help Where
PS C:\Windows\system32> 1, 2, 3 | Where { $_ > 1 }
PS C:\Windows\system32> 1, 2, 3 | % { $_ > 1 }
PS C:\Windows\system32> 1, 2, 3 | % { $_ > 1 } | Write
PS C:\Windows\system32> 1, 2, 3 | % { $_ > 1 } | Write-Verbose
PS C:\Windows\system32> 1, 2, 3 | Where { $_ -eq 1 }
PS C:\Windows\system32> 1, 2, 3 | Where { $_ -gt 1 }
PS C:\Windows\system32> 1, 2, 3 | % { $_ -gt 1 }
PS C:\Windows\system32> 1, 2, 3 | % { if ($_ -gt 1) { Write $_ } }
PS C:\Windows\system32> help Write
PS C:\Windows\system32> 1, 2, 3 | Get-ItemProperty
I'm not planning changing registry, I think just putting back the old name and creating a separate account is fine. But should I be worry with that two files?
Sorry for the long post. Thank you in advance.
Any time you're doing "> 1" you're creating a file called "1". Or "> 2" for "2". It's (almost) the same as | out-file 1. Greater than in powershell is "-gt". You seemed to catch on to that later.
echo hi > 1 # makes a file, encoded in unicode
echo hi > 2 # can also overwrite a file
echo hi >> 1 # append a file, but can mix encodings
echo hi >> 2
Yes, these make a file called "1", even with a terminating error.
1 | where $_ > 1
1 | where ($_ > 1)
1 | where -($_ > 1)
1 | where $psitem > 1