accounts deleted after Sp3 update

[The X]

2 of my three user accounts were deleted after I finally updated to XP SP3.
While the files of these accounts are still under c:/documents and
settings/"Users name", is it possible to re-activate deleted accounts?

It won't create an account with the same name.
I tried creating a new account and copy all files from a deleted one but
when logging in that account, programs such as anti-virus and spybot won't
launch on startup. Do I need to reinstall everything?

 

[Allan]

2 of my three user accounts were deleted after I finally updated to XP SP3.
While the files of these accounts are still under c:/documents and
settings/"Users name", is it possible to re-activate deleted accounts?

It won't create an account with the same name.
I tried creating a new account and copy all files from a deleted one but
when logging in that account, programs such as anti-virus and spybot won't
launch on startup. Do I need to reinstall everything?

There may be a way to recover without losing your user data and
reinstalling. I would run System Restore in order to back out the
installation of SP3 (this is the best way to uninstall it). Then before
attempting to reinstall SP3 use the FaST wizard to copy all your user
accounts individually. You can even create the backup files on the same hard
drive (c:\) if necessary. Copy all your files and settings pertaining to
these user accounts, but not shared files and other file types listed at the
end. Then when you reinstall SP3 you can restore from your FaST wizard
backups to the same computer. If you can no longer log in as the same user
name create new accounts and delete the old ones after restoring their data
successfully.

 

[The X]

I was able to do something with my problem.

First, I created a new admin account called TEST then rebooted.
I logged in TEST and immediatly logged out so the account folder would now
show in C:/documents and settings.
After setting hidden files to be visible, I copied the entire content of my
deleted account to TEST overwritting any existing file.

I "fast user switched" back to TEST and VOILA!!! Everything was back like it
was, settings, sounds, files, etc.

There's still a problem though. If I try to modify TEST's account type from
admin to limited, all settings disapear, only files remain, Even the aspect
on the desktop is like win98 instead of XP.

I'll now try to reproduce the same thing but I'll create a limited account
from the beggining. I'll see if it works.

 

[Allan]

I was able to do something with my problem.

First, I created a new admin account called TEST then rebooted.
I logged in TEST and immediatly logged out so the account folder would now
show in C:/documents and settings.
After setting hidden files to be visible, I copied the entire content of
my
deleted account to TEST overwritting any existing file.

I "fast user switched" back to TEST and VOILA!!! Everything was back like
it
was, settings, sounds, files, etc.

There's still a problem though. If I try to modify TEST's account type
from
admin to limited, all settings disapear, only files remain, Even the
aspect
on the desktop is like win98 instead of XP.

I'll now try to reproduce the same thing but I'll create a limited account
from the beggining. I'll see if it works.

You may want to ask for free advise from Microsoft on your problems with XP
SP3 installation instead of experimenting on your own.
They anticipated just such problems and have made the service free of charge
until April 2009. You can always uninstall XP SP3 and reinstall later when
you have got the problem sorted out with the help of their tech support.