Renaming user account short name.

MacBook 5,2 OSX 10.8.1

Bought a used MacBook a couple of months ago, the seller reinstalled Lion but had to create a user account to add his copy of MS Office. He named it User, and I have wanted for a while to change that.

Enabled root user and logged in but can't change the name of my user account folder /User in the folder /Users. I have checked permissions etc. and should be fine to rename it (especially on root) but it just hasn't let me (tried right clicking it, highlighting and pressing enter, double tapping the name slowly)

This has been annoying me greatly for a while now - +1 internet for anyone who can help!

Have you followed these instructions?
OS X: How to change user account name or home directory name

4. Select the Home folder with the short name you want to change, and rename it just like you would rename any folder. Keep in mind that the shortname must be all lowercase, with no spaces, and only contain letters.

Click to expand...

That is where it goes wrong for me, it won't let me rename the home folder.

Tried doing a get info and renaming there?

cradom said:

Tried doing a get info and renaming there?

Click to expand...

Yep, unfortunately it gives me no option to do so there.

If you're absolutely sure you have the right folder try this:
Open Terminal
cd /Users
mv user newname (whatever you want to change the name to)
Close Terminal
Don't do this if you're uncomfortable using Terminal as one mistake can really bork things up.