Ubuntu :: Changing The Username And Home Directory?

People usually suggest workarounds to do this, as it's not possible with usermod while the user is logged in. Did I overlook anything or is this method not preferable over creating a new account, setting the user permissions, then moving the files and messing with the file permissions? Using the right tool for the job would seem to be less error-prone to me. 1. Activate the root account by setting a password.

Code:
sudo passwd
2. Log out and log into the root account.
3. Change the username and home directory from user1 to user2. This will also move the files to the new home directory and rename the group to user2.
Code:
usermod -l user2 -d /home/user2 -m user1

[Code]...