How to Change the Registered Owner Name in Windows 10

To change the registered owner name in Windows 10, open Registry Editor, go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion, double-click RegisteredOwner, type the new name, and select OK. Edit RegisteredOrganization in the same key to change the company name. This changes the name shown in About Windows; it does not change your account name or how you sign in.

Applies to: Windows 10. Keep in mind that Windows 10 support ended on October 14, 2025. Security updates now come only through the Extended Security Updates program, which stops on October 12, 2027.

What the registered owner name is

Windows keeps two text labels that describe who the copy of Windows belongs to. Microsoft’s documentation calls RegisteredOwner the name of the end user and RegisteredOrganization the organization name of the end user. They are usually filled in when Windows is set up, which is why a secondhand or preconfigured PC can still show a previous owner, a store name, or a generic placeholder.

These labels are separate from the name on the sign-in screen and from your Microsoft account. To change the name you see when you sign in, change your sign-in name in Windows 10 instead.

Before you start

• Use an administrator account. Registry Editor may ask for administrator confirmation when it opens. On a standard account you will need an administrator’s password.
• Make a backup. Serious problems can occur if the registry is modified incorrectly. You will only touch two text values here, but a backup takes a minute. The steps are in the next section.
• Check who manages the PC. On a work or school computer, ask the IT department before editing the registry.

See the current owner name

1. Select Start, type winver, and press Enter. The About Windows box opens.
2. Look near the bottom of the box. The registered owner is listed there, with the organization on the line below it when one is set.

Write down the current names exactly as they appear so you can put them back later if you need to.

Back up the key first

1. Select Start, type regedit.exe, and press Enter. Approve the administrator confirmation if Windows asks for it.
2. In Registry Editor, go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion and click the CurrentVersion key once to select it.
3. Select File > Export.
4. In the Export Registry File dialog, choose a location, type a name in the File name box, and select Save.

For a wider safety net, you can also create a restore point in Windows 10: select Start, type Create a restore point, open the result, and on the System Protection tab select Create….

Change the owner name in Registry Editor

1. With Registry Editor still open on HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion, look at the list of values on the right side.
2. Double-click RegisteredOwner. The Edit String dialog box opens with the current name in it.
3. Type the new name and select OK. The new text appears next to RegisteredOwner in the list.
4. To change the company name as well, double-click RegisteredOrganization, type the new text, and select OK. You can leave this one empty if the PC is for personal use.
5. Exit Registry Editor.

Be careful with the path. There is a similarly named key at SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion, without “NT”. The owner name that About Windows shows is the one under Windows NT. Change only these two values. The reasons to leave everything else alone are covered in whether you should clean the registry in Windows 10.

Change the owner name from the command line

If you prefer typing a command, or need to make the same change on several PCs, the built-in reg command edits the same value. Run it in a Command Prompt window that was opened with administrator rights.

1. Type the following on one line, replacing Jordan Lee with the name you want, and press Enter:
   reg add “HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion” /v RegisteredOwner /t REG_SZ /d “Jordan Lee” /f
2. For the organization, run the same command with RegisteredOrganization after /v and the company name after /d.

In this command, /v names the value, /t REG_SZ sets its type to a text string, /d supplies the new text, and /f makes the change without asking for confirmation. The key path is in quotation marks because it contains a space.

Confirm the change, or undo it

Select Start, type winver, and press Enter again. About Windows should now show the new name. If it still shows the old one, close the box and open it again, then restart the PC if needed.

You can also read the stored value directly with reg query “HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion” /v RegisteredOwner.

To undo the change, repeat the steps and type the old name back in. To restore the whole key from your backup, open Registry Editor, select File > Import, pick the file you saved, and select Open.

Troubleshooting

RegisteredOwner or RegisteredOrganization is missing

Create it. With the CurrentVersion key selected, open the Edit menu, select New, and then String Value. Type the name exactly, with no spaces (RegisteredOwner or RegisteredOrganization), press Enter, then double-click the new value and type the text you want.

Windows will not let you save the change

You are most likely signed in with a standard account, or the PC is managed by an organization. Sign in with an administrator account and try again. On a work or school PC, the IT department decides whether this can be changed.

The name on the sign-in screen did not change

That is expected. The registered owner is only a label stored in the registry. Your account name is a different setting.

An older program still shows the previous name

On 64-bit Windows, 32-bit programs read a separate copy of these values under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion. Microsoft documented this mismatch for 64-bit Windows 7, and the reg command still has a /reg:32 switch for the 32-bit registry view. Add /reg:32 to the end of the reg query command above to see what 32-bit programs see, and to the reg add command to update it. Programs that saved the old name when they were installed keep their own copy and have to be changed in the program itself.

Frequently asked questions

Does this change the name I sign in with?

No. It changes the name shown in About Windows and the name that some installers fill in for you. Your user account, user folder, and Microsoft account stay the same.

Does changing the registered owner transfer the PC or the Windows license?

No. You are only editing a line of text. It does not move files, accounts, or activation to another person.

Is there a setting for this in the Settings app?

Microsoft’s documentation ties the name to the RegisteredOwner registry value and does not describe a Settings option for editing it, so Registry Editor or the reg command is the way to change it.

How long can the name be?

Microsoft’s setup documentation gives a maximum of 256 characters for both the owner and the organization name, and both are allowed to be empty.

Do I need to restart?

Usually you only need to reopen About Windows. Restart if a program keeps showing the old name.

Microsoft’s reference for the backup steps is How to back up and restore the registry in Windows, and the command options are listed in its reg add reference. Next, run winver once more to confirm the new name, and find more help on our Windows Help & Guides page.