HELP - Lost User account settings

  • Thread starter Thread starter Neil
  • Start date Start date
N

Neil

While trying to set the kids up with user accounts on my PC (running
windows XP pro) I have inadvertently messed up my main user account
(admin status).

I can see under c:\documents and settings\ my original user account

eg c:\documents and settings\username - which still has all my
original settings intact.

Next to this is a user account of the same name with a domain name
appended to it
eg c:\documents and settings\username.domain - with the basic
settings.

I dont think this second account existed before I started.

I've scoured the newsgroups today trying to find a solution, tried
numerous things while trying to learn what I might have done - but no
joy yet.

How can I reactivate my original account and recover the settings that
I see in the docs and settings folder?

Thanks
 
Neil said:
While trying to set the kids up with user accounts on my PC (running
windows XP pro) I have inadvertently messed up my main user account
(admin status).

I can see under c:\documents and settings\ my original user account

eg c:\documents and settings\username - which still has all my
original settings intact.

Next to this is a user account of the same name with a domain name
appended to it
eg c:\documents and settings\username.domain - with the basic
settings.

I dont think this second account existed before I started.

I've scoured the newsgroups today trying to find a solution, tried
numerous things while trying to learn what I might have done - but no
joy yet.

How can I reactivate my original account and recover the settings that
I see in the docs and settings folder?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Create a new user account for yourself:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=811151

Create a New User Profile in Windows XP Professional

1. Log on as the Administrator or as a user with administrator
credentials.
2. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
3. Click User Accounts.
4. Click the Advanced tab, and then click Advanced.
5. In the left pane, click the Users folder.
6. On the Action menu, click New User.
7. Enter the appropriate user information, and then click Create.

Create a New User Profile in Windows XP Home Edition

1. Log on as the Administrator or as a user with administrator
credentials.
2. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
3. Click User Accounts.
4. Under Pick a task, click Create a new account.
5. Type a name for the user information, and then click Next.
6. Click an account type, and then click Create Account.

Copy Files to the New User Profile

1. Log on as a user other than the user whose profile you are copying
files to or from.
2. In Windows Explorer, click Tools, click Folder Options, click the
View tab, click Show hidden files and folders, click to clear the Hide
protected operating system files check box, and then click OK.
3. Locate the C:\Documents and Settings\Old_Username folder, where C
is the drive on which Windows XP is installed, and Old_Username is the
name of the profile you want to copy user data from.
4. Press and hold down the CTRL key while you click each file and
subfolder in this folder, except the following files:
* Ntuser.dat
* Ntuser.dat.log
* Ntuser.ini
5. On the Edit menu, click Copy.
6. Locate the C:\Documents and Settings\New_Username folder, where C
is the drive on which Windows XP is installed, and New_Username is the
name of the user
profile that you created in the "Create a New User Profile" section.
7. On the Edit menu, click Paste.
8. Log off the computer, and then log on as the new user.

Note: You must import your e-mail messages and addresses to the new user
profile before you delete the old profile. For additional information
see 313055 OLEXP: Mail Folders, Address Book, and E-mail Messages Are
Missing After You Upgrade to Microsoft Windows XP

Then you can delete the incorrect user accounts. It sounds like you
inadvertently made your computer a member of a domain. Check in the
System applet under Computer Name. Is your computer still correctly a
member of a Workgroup?

Malke
 
My computer is still part of a workgroup called MSHOME.
I think you are right, I inadvertently made my original username a
domain member of a domain. I think the 'neil fulcher.domain' username
is taking precedence over the original 'neil fulcher' username which
was part of a workgroup.

How can I drop the 'neil.fulcher.domain' user and reinstate my 'neil
fulcher' workgroup user settings?

BTW, I've tried copying the settings from my original username docs and
setting folder while logged in as 'Test' administrator but get loads of
'file access denied' messages (details below)


'Cannot copy "filename": access is denied'
'Make sure the disk is not full or write protected and that the file is
not in use'

When i hit OK it ends the process.

I started to list those "filenames" that were 'protected' and exclude
them from the copy process. I was only able to select a fraction of the
folders under Application Data and even some cookie files produced the
same error.

Help is greatly appreciated.
 
My computer is still part of a workgroup called MSHOME.
I think you are right, I inadvertently made my original username a
domain member of a domain. I think the 'neil fulcher.domain' username
is taking precedence over the original 'neil fulcher' username which
was part of a workgroup.

How can I drop the 'neil.fulcher.domain' user and reinstate my 'neil
fulcher' workgroup user settings?

BTW, I've tried copying the settings from my original username docs
and setting folder while logged in as 'Test' administrator but get
loads of 'file access denied' messages (details below)


'Cannot copy "filename": access is denied'
'Make sure the disk is not full or write protected and that the file
is not in use'

When i hit OK it ends the process.

I started to list those "filenames" that were 'protected' and exclude
them from the copy process. I was only able to select a fraction of
the folders under Application Data and even some cookie files produced
the same error.

Help is greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

You need to be logged in locally as Administrator to copy the account
successfully. If you have XP home, try starting the computer in Safe
Mode which will give you access to the normally hidden Administrator
account. Unless you changed it, the default password is a blank.

Malke
 
My computer is still part of a workgroup called MSHOME.
I think you are right, I inadvertently made my original username a
domain member of a domain. I think the 'neil fulcher.domain' username
is taking precedence over the original 'neil fulcher' username which
was part of a workgroup.

How can I drop the 'neil.fulcher.domain' user and reinstate my 'neil
fulcher' workgroup user settings?

BTW, I've tried copying the settings from my original username docs
and setting folder while logged in as 'Test' administrator but get
loads of 'file access denied' messages (details below)


'Cannot copy "filename": access is denied'
'Make sure the disk is not full or write protected and that the file
is not in use'

When i hit OK it ends the process.

I started to list those "filenames" that were 'protected' and exclude
them from the copy process. I was only able to select a fraction of
the folders under Application Data and even some cookie files produced
the same error.

Help is greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

In addition to my previous post of this morning, you may need to take
ownership of the files to which you are getting the "access denied"
error. Again, if you have XP Home you will need to be doing this from
the Administrator account in Safe Mode.

Take Ownership of a File or Folder in Windows XP [Q308421] -
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=308421

If you can successfully take ownership of the data files but are still
having difficulties copying the user account (unlikely), the easiest
thing might be to simply make a new user account (while logged in as
Administrator in Safe Mode - XP Home), take ownership of the files,
copy them to the new account's My Documents, and then delete unwanted
user accounts.

Malke
 
In addition to my previous post of this morning, you may need to take
ownership of the files to which you are getting the "access denied"
error. Again, if you have XP Home you will need to be doing this from
the Administrator account in Safe Mode.

Take Ownership of a File or Folder in Windows XP [Q308421] -
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=308421

If you can successfully take ownership of the data files but are still
having difficulties copying the user account (unlikely), the easiest
thing might be to simply make a new user account (while logged in as
Administrator in Safe Mode - XP Home), take ownership of the files,
copy them to the new account's My Documents, and then delete unwanted
user accounts.

Malke
Click to expand...

Malke

Thanks very much for your help.

While trawling through the newsgroups earlier today I found an article
reproduced below which solved the problem.

Simply modifying the ProfileImagePath key in the registry for the
username in question to 'username' (from username.domain) my original
settings are now loading successfully.

Phew! I'll not be messing around to often with user accounts, still,
its a great way to learn something new!

Thanks again.

Details of post to group: microsoft.public.windows.server.migration

......
Yes, Nelson's suggestion is correct.

You also can try to modify the registry directly.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WiindowsNT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\
{SID userid}

Under the ProfileList key, there will be subkeys names with the SIDs
of the
users who have logged on to this computer.

You can find the ProfileImagePath key under each {SID userid}. It's
defined
to each user.

If you original user profile is saved to the c:\Documents and
Settings\username folder, you can see the value of the key
ProfileImagePath
is the c:\Documents and Settings\username.

If the new user profile is saved to c:\Documents and
Settings\<username.domain> folder, you can see the value of the key
ProfileImagePath is the c:\Documents and Settings\<username.domain>.
Modify
the ProfileImagePath value. Change it to c:\Documents and
Settings\username. Then, restart the computer.
 
Neil said:
In addition to my previous post of this morning, you may need to take
ownership of the files to which you are getting the "access denied"
error. Again, if you have XP Home you will need to be doing this from
the Administrator account in Safe Mode.

Take Ownership of a File or Folder in Windows XP [Q308421] -
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=308421

If you can successfully take ownership of the data files but are
still having difficulties copying the user account (unlikely), the
easiest thing might be to simply make a new user account (while
logged in as Administrator in Safe Mode - XP Home), take ownership of
the files, copy them to the new account's My Documents, and then
delete unwanted user accounts.

Malke
Click to expand...

Malke

Thanks very much for your help.

While trawling through the newsgroups earlier today I found an article
reproduced below which solved the problem.

Simply modifying the ProfileImagePath key in the registry for the
username in question to 'username' (from username.domain) my original
settings are now loading successfully.

Phew! I'll not be messing around to often with user accounts, still,
its a great way to learn something new!

Thanks again.

Details of post to group: microsoft.public.windows.server.migration

.....
Yes, Nelson's suggestion is correct.

You also can try to modify the registry directly.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WiindowsNT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\
{SID userid}

Under the ProfileList key, there will be subkeys names with the SIDs
of the
users who have logged on to this computer.

You can find the ProfileImagePath key under each {SID userid}. It's
defined
to each user.

If you original user profile is saved to the c:\Documents and
Settings\username folder, you can see the value of the key
ProfileImagePath
is the c:\Documents and Settings\username.

If the new user profile is saved to c:\Documents and
Settings\<username.domain> folder, you can see the value of the key
ProfileImagePath is the c:\Documents and Settings\<username.domain>.
Modify
the ProfileImagePath value. Change it to c:\Documents and
Settings\username. Then, restart the computer.
Click to expand...

I'm glad you got things sorted. Thanks for taking the time to post the
solution. This will help others.

Malke
 
Back
Top