Windows XP user profile missing (desktop, hard drive, email, screen)

[South Range Family]

My wife and kids have their own profiles. I have two. One is used as an administrator, the other is used for surfing the net. I have recently given it administrator access, and forgot to switch it back. I went to log on, and was asked if I forgot my password, I typed it in again. The profile name loaded, but it was a fresh Dell screen. All of my settings and files were gone.

I rebooted, and everything was normal. I thought it was just a glitch. It now happens every time I try to log in with that profile. It starts up as a first time user every time. All of my settings and E-mail profiles are gone. Internet Explorer starts with the run once page every time. I noticed the last time that a block came up saying that it couldn't load the profile because it was being used by another program. That concerns me.

If I do a search of the drive, all of my pictures, and files are there. I just can't get the profile to load.

The last program that I downloaded was malware.bytes. It did a real nice job of cleaning up the viruspro2008 problem that I had. It also cleaned up, and added some speed to the computer that it hasn't had in a while.

I have AVG, Spybot, AdAware, and Ccleaner. Have I been hijacked, or is it possibly just a corrupt file? Thanks for any input.

[J Arp]

Here is what I would do...

Go to C:\Documents and Settings\ as the administrator

Locate your profile(s) eg. C:\Documents and Settings\J Arp\ and open them up. Figure out which one has your Documents/Desktop items/email/etc. and copy that entire profile somewhere safe like the root of C:\

Any extra junk profiles that were created might look like
C:\Documents and Settings\J Arp.MyComputerName or C:\Documents and Settings\J Arp.MyDomainName if you were using the same username.

Once you are sure you have copied the old profile with all of your data, delete both or however many copies of the account it made from control panel and make sure they are also deleted from C:\Documents and Settings\
To point out the obvious... you don't want to go deleting your wife or kids profiles, just yours.

Then go to control panel and re-create your account.

Log into your newly created profile and drag all your files from the copy you saved to the root of C:\

[South Range Family]

Thanks. That was a really fast reply.

I found my profile folder. I also found the false profiles. I deleted them, then tried again. It made a new one. I tried dragging my profile to C:\, but wasn't allowed because it was being used by another program. I now see why you said copy it, and then delete all profiles with that name. I'm looking around the house for a flash drive that is bigger than 1 gig. I will feel better copying it that way.

I'm still working on it, but you have definitely sent me in the right direction. Thanks for the help. I'll keep you posted on my results.

[J Arp]

Might want to restart and login as admin to free up those pesky files.

[mensaguy]

Actually, you don't have to recreate the account. Just find your folder and rename it. When you log back into that account, Windows will create a new profile folder. Now go hunt down the folder you made and grab the Desktop, Favorites and MY Documents folders and copy them into your new profile folder. Something in your folder is corrupt (like user.dat). Letting Windows create new ones fixes it. You are still losing your Cookies and custom desktop settings, but (in my opinion) that's a minor inconvenience compared to the ease with shich you can get your account operating properly again.

[themaster]

I would not execute a copy there's one simple reason for that.. you create a new Data Created DATE and if your like me a stickler about dates you should perform a MOVE to keep that date.. then if you want a backup of your data use copy and or use xcopy if you want to keep the normal date.

[South Range Family]

In beteween sleeping on the couch, and getting all of my E-mail settings from my provider, I have logged in on another profile. I can't copy, move, or rename that folder. It says that it is being used by another process. Access denied. I lose all of my settings every time I log in.

I was hoping to retrieve my E-mail, but it is only a shortcut to Outlook express. I haven't found the actual file yet. This thing recently updated itself to Explorer 7.0. It's been trouble ever since.

Thanks for the info......I'm still working on it.

[Roselvr]

You might have to work in safe mode.

Do you know what brand hard drive you have?

[NHDave]

If your old account was password protected, after you create your new account you may need to take ownership of your old files How to take ownership of a file or a folder in Windows XP
In order to recover your Outlook Express data from the old account you first need to unhide hidden files, then search your account folder for outlook express, you should find a folder that has a bunch of files in it with the .dbx extension that correspond to the folders you had, inbox, outbox, etc. Set up your new OE account but don't do a send and receive, then cut and paste the .dbx folders into your new account folder in the same place they were.

[mensaguy]

Originally Posted by South Range Family

In beteween sleeping on the couch, and getting all of my E-mail settings from my provider, I have logged in on another profile. I can't copy, move, or rename that folder. It says that it is being used by another process. Access denied. I lose all of my settings every time I log in.

I was hoping to retrieve my E-mail, but it is only a shortcut to Outlook express. I haven't found the actual file yet. This thing recently updated itself to Explorer 7.0. It's been trouble ever since.

Thanks for the info......I'm still working on it.

In order to do this, you have to be logged in using an account with Administrator privileges. If the account is being used, it may be necessary for you to restart the computer in order to gain access to the files (in other words, for Windows to release the 'in use' status).

Outlook Express files are located in a deeply buried place:

C:\Documents and Settings\Account Name\Application Data\Identities\{really long folder names}\ then the index and database files for each folder you have created in Outlook Express.

When you finally got control of your files, you can often drag and drop them into the folder newly created for your account. Normally, file attributes remain intact.