system process locks ntuser.dat

  • Thread starter Thread starter Joseph Marton
  • Start date Start date
J

Joseph Marton

I'm having a problem with three different users that I just can't figure out.
All of my PCs are running XP SP3. Most users simply log off at the end of
the day, but these three users reboot. When they come in the next morning
they get logged on with a default profile, and when using Process Explorer I
see that "system" has ntuser.dat under C:\Documents and Settings\%username%
locked. What's weird is if I have them reboot again and try to log in
immediately they are then able to login without any problems. I've got the
User Profile Hive Service installed, but still I wouldn't even think that
would come into play here since the problem is when logging in after a reboot
rather than after a simple logout. I thought at first Symantec AV Corp.
Edition might be the culprit, but the realtime scanner is configured to
completely exclude C:\Documents and Settings. Even if that was the problem,
I would imagine I would see a specific Symantec service locking ntuser.dat
and not system.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I can track this down?

Joe
 
It doesn't appear to. I've already completely deleted their profile and had
the problem return. Also, it is quite sporadic. Even though they restart
each night, they may go several weeks without having the problem then
suddenly it happens three days in a row.

Joe
 
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