copying a profile, misses local settings so misses email

  • Thread starter Thread starter q_q_anonymous
  • Start date Start date
Q

q_q_anonymous

hi, I seem to have run into some strange win2k issue,

is there a way to copy a profile? the whole thing.

I see that with win2k, copying profiles with explorer doesn't work. And
so there's an option ctrl panel..system..user profiles

But when I used that method to "copy" a profile, I noticed that the
copy had less files than the original. On closer examination - with
WinDiff, I saw that it hadn't copied
-c:\documents and settings\useraccount1\local settings [1]

this is serious, because
c:\documents and settings\useraccount1\local settings

contains 3 folders. temp,temporary internet files, Application Data.

Outlook express by default stores email within that local settings
Application Data directory.

There is another "application data" directory in c:\documents and
settings, it copies, but that doesn't have outlook express mail. And
it gets copied anyway.

OE refers to the directory in local settings application data (OE -
tools..options..maintenance..store folder)

So, I find it very odd , am I missing something?

I could copy the dbx and wab(OE 'windows address book') files
separately. But, this feature is odd and dangerous if it misses this,
so I must be missing something surely. This must be a standard problem
with a standard safe solution.


Look forward to any responses,

thanks



[1]
The diff in files was like 1002

c:\documents and settings\useraccount1\local settings
that had like 1000 files in there. (in temp folders so differ from
comp to comp)

The difference in files count, was 1002. The other 2 were that "local
settings" directory itself , and one of the ntuser files.
 
(e-mail address removed) wrote:
<snip>

to summarise the problem

Does anybody notice a problem with win2k when you copy a profile it
doesn't copy the 'local settings' directory so misses outlook express
emails? i'm guessing this is a standard problem. And i'm missing
something

odd for a key feature to have such a problem
 
You can't copy a profile that is in use.

You can use the Copy To function to mirror the profile. Create the new
account. Logon with the new account at least once. Then while logged on as
another user (with administrative rights) Control Panel|System|User
Profiles, select your olduser, Copy To, Browse to
%systemdrive%\Documents and Settings\newuser
Change "Permitted to use:" to "newuser" OK.

See Tom Koch's web site for some excellent help on backup/restoring your
Outlook Express stuff.
http://www.insideoe.com/

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

| hi, I seem to have run into some strange win2k issue,
|
| is there a way to copy a profile? the whole thing.
|
| I see that with win2k, copying profiles with explorer doesn't work. And
| so there's an option ctrl panel..system..user profiles
|
| But when I used that method to "copy" a profile, I noticed that the
| copy had less files than the original. On closer examination - with
| WinDiff, I saw that it hadn't copied
| -c:\documents and settings\useraccount1\local settings [1]
|
| this is serious, because
| c:\documents and settings\useraccount1\local settings
|
| contains 3 folders. temp,temporary internet files, Application Data.
|
| Outlook express by default stores email within that local settings
| Application Data directory.
|
| There is another "application data" directory in c:\documents and
| settings, it copies, but that doesn't have outlook express mail. And
| it gets copied anyway.
|
| OE refers to the directory in local settings application data (OE -
| tools..options..maintenance..store folder)
|
| So, I find it very odd , am I missing something?
|
| I could copy the dbx and wab(OE 'windows address book') files
| separately. But, this feature is odd and dangerous if it misses this,
| so I must be missing something surely. This must be a standard problem
| with a standard safe solution.
|
|
| Look forward to any responses,
|
| thanks
|
|
|
| [1]
| The diff in files was like 1002
|
| c:\documents and settings\useraccount1\local settings
| that had like 1000 files in there. (in temp folders so differ from
| comp to comp)
|
| The difference in files count, was 1002. The other 2 were that "local
| settings" directory itself , and one of the ntuser files.
|
 
Dave said:
You can't copy a profile that is in use.

You can use the Copy To function to mirror the profile. Create the new
account. Logon with the new account at least once. Then while logged on as
another user (with administrative rights) Control Panel|System|User
Profiles, select your olduser, Copy To, Browse to
%systemdrive%\Documents and Settings\newuser
Change "Permitted to use:" to "newuser" OK.

See Tom Koch's web site for some excellent help on backup/restoring your
Outlook Express stuff.
http://www.insideoe.com/

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect
Click to expand...

thanks. i'm not sure if my original reply to you got posted. google
may have fouled up.

from what you said, i found the problem.

here are my current conclusions.

I was mistaken when I said profiles can't be copied in explorer. They
can and it's the best and perhaps the only reasonable way.

the win2k start..ctrl panel..system..user profiles.. is an
unwelcome "easy button". One that suffers from doing -less- than it's
supposed to. It excludes the "local settings" directory. I realised
that ntuser.ini (one of the files within the profile that isn't copied)
has written in it an " ExclusionList " , and "local settings" is
listed. That should explain why "local settings" was excluded/omitted
from being copied. Though when I cleared that list, it still didn't
copy 'local settings'. Doesn't matter. That option is a toy option
anyway. It didn't survive into win xp and presumably not into w2k3.
"more serious" people, and infact, anybody aware of the pitfalls, would
use the explorer option.

Another issue I ran into (and resolved), was when Copying profiles,
(with explorer)..
I tried deleting folders with those files (within explorer), same
problem when attempting to delete those files
it said-
cannot delete cannot find the specified file
cannot copy file: the filename you specified is invalid or too long

turned out these files were in local settings\temp and local
settings\temporary internet files. (or maybe just the (latter)
"temporary internet files directory").

It wasn't a HDD problem. chkdsk /f and even /r took a while and didn't
help.
It was some files with strange filenames which had got in there whilst
browsing. No doubt the files were probably malicious. They included
jpgs with very long names, and a ".bin" file. win2k couldn't rename
them.
rmdir /s got rid of those directories , no problems. I didn't have to
recreate new ones because they regenerate on next log in.

So, when copying a profile , best to not use that win2k "easy button".
But also delete those 2 temp or temporary directories before the copy -
as oppose to afterwards or not at all. They'er a waste of space, and
explorer may not be able to copy/delete them e.g. if they contain
malformed filenames.
I think it's only "temporary internet files" where the problem might
lie. The "temp" directory probably doesn't fill up from the internet.

thanks for the insideoe link, i've seen it before, but it has been very
useful.
 
Sounds like your system has some real problems.

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

| thanks. i'm not sure if my original reply to you got posted. google
| may have fouled up.
|
| from what you said, i found the problem.
|
| here are my current conclusions.
|
| I was mistaken when I said profiles can't be copied in explorer. They
| can and it's the best and perhaps the only reasonable way.
|
| the win2k start..ctrl panel..system..user profiles.. is an
| unwelcome "easy button". One that suffers from doing -less- than it's
| supposed to. It excludes the "local settings" directory. I realised
| that ntuser.ini (one of the files within the profile that isn't copied)
| has written in it an " ExclusionList " , and "local settings" is
| listed. That should explain why "local settings" was excluded/omitted
| from being copied. Though when I cleared that list, it still didn't
| copy 'local settings'. Doesn't matter. That option is a toy option
| anyway. It didn't survive into win xp and presumably not into w2k3.
| "more serious" people, and infact, anybody aware of the pitfalls, would
| use the explorer option.
|
| Another issue I ran into (and resolved), was when Copying profiles,
| (with explorer)..
| I tried deleting folders with those files (within explorer), same
| problem when attempting to delete those files
| it said-
| cannot delete cannot find the specified file
| cannot copy file: the filename you specified is invalid or too long
|
| turned out these files were in local settings\temp and local
| settings\temporary internet files. (or maybe just the (latter)
| "temporary internet files directory").
|
| It wasn't a HDD problem. chkdsk /f and even /r took a while and didn't
| help.
| It was some files with strange filenames which had got in there whilst
| browsing. No doubt the files were probably malicious. They included
| jpgs with very long names, and a ".bin" file. win2k couldn't rename
| them.
| rmdir /s got rid of those directories , no problems. I didn't have to
| recreate new ones because they regenerate on next log in.
|
| So, when copying a profile , best to not use that win2k "easy button".
| But also delete those 2 temp or temporary directories before the copy -
| as oppose to afterwards or not at all. They'er a waste of space, and
| explorer may not be able to copy/delete them e.g. if they contain
| malformed filenames.
| I think it's only "temporary internet files" where the problem might
| lie. The "temp" directory probably doesn't fill up from the internet.
|
| thanks for the insideoe link, i've seen it before, but it has been very
| useful.
|
 
Dave said:
Sounds like your system has some real problems.

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect
Click to expand...


I disagree.

I'm sure the issue of start..ctrl..system..user profiles, skipping
'local settings' is a standard one. google through up someting on it.
Including a poor fellow that assumed all te files were there and later
realised it hadn't copied his email over.

and it's very common when a person browses around with internet
explorer, just as people get spyware, so people get jpgs with long
names in the temp folders, and 2k's explorer won't delete them.

these are standard problems, standard solutions.

it's just a matter of having them documented better.

These are far from "real problems"

infact, it comes under the category of typical windows annoyances.
 
OK, good luck.

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

| I disagree.
|
| I'm sure the issue of start..ctrl..system..user profiles, skipping
| 'local settings' is a standard one. google through up someting on it.
| Including a poor fellow that assumed all te files were there and later
| realised it hadn't copied his email over.
|
| and it's very common when a person browses around with internet
| explorer, just as people get spyware, so people get jpgs with long
| names in the temp folders, and 2k's explorer won't delete them.
|
| these are standard problems, standard solutions.
|
| it's just a matter of having them documented better.
|
| These are far from "real problems"
|
| infact, it comes under the category of typical windows annoyances.
|
 
Yes, I saw what you posted.

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

| thank you, but it's solved. I posted the solutions in those posts - I
| guess I didn't document it so well then either ;-)
|
 
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