User Accounts- All Users.WINDOWS??? after reinstall and backup

[Guest]

Hi everyone. I have XP Pro and I recently reinstalled Windows XP Pro and used
my external HD and the backup option to restore some files to the Users on my
computer (Heather and Jeff). The files carried over and after some toying
around I have this now in C:\Documents and Settings\
Jeff (Folder)
Heather (Folder)
All Users.WINDOWS (Folder)
I've tried renaming the All Users.WINDOWS to All Users (as it used to be
before the reinstall) but it will not let me. Is there some kind of problem
on my computer because I find this very odd. Are there "overlapping"
installations of Windows XP on my computer or something? Is there any actions
or applications I can use to correct this or would I have to try reinstalling
Windows XP Pro all over again? Thanks in advance.
Jeff

 

[Galen]

In Herbo13 <[email protected]> had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:

Hi everyone. I have XP Pro and I recently reinstalled Windows XP Pro
and used my external HD and the backup option to restore some files
to the Users on my computer (Heather and Jeff). The files carried
over and after some toying around I have this now in C:\Documents and
Settings\
Jeff (Folder)
Heather (Folder)
All Users.WINDOWS (Folder)
I've tried renaming the All Users.WINDOWS to All Users (as it used to
be before the reinstall) but it will not let me. Is there some kind
of problem on my computer because I find this very odd. Are there
"overlapping" installations of Windows XP on my computer or
something? Is there any actions or applications I can use to correct
this or would I have to try reinstalling Windows XP Pro all over
again? Thanks in advance.
Jeff

You have stuff left over from the old installation. You'll probably need to
take ownership of the data before you can delete it.

How to take ownership of a file or folder in Windows XP:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308421

--
Galen - MS MVP - Windows (Shell/User & IE)
http://dts-l.org/
http://kgiii.info/

"We approached the case, you remember, with an absolutely blank mind,
which is always an advantage. We had formed no theories. We were simply
there to observe and to draw inferences from our observations." -
Sherlock Holmes

 

[Guest]

Hi Galen. Thanks for your help. I read your message and the links.So, I
should take ownership of this folder and all the files in it, rename the
folder from All Users.Windows to All Users. Should I delete the folder
afterwords (Will Windows automatically recreate an All Users file on
restart)? And then do I turn back on Simplified and Sharing when I'm done so
all users can access the ALL USERS folder again? Also, is there anyway to
clean out the stuff left over from the old installation? Thanks!
Jeff

 

[Galen]

In Herbo13 <[email protected]> had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:

Hi Galen. Thanks for your help. I read your message and the links.So,
I should take ownership of this folder and all the files in it,
rename the folder from All Users.Windows to All Users. Should I
delete the folder afterwords (Will Windows automatically recreate an
All Users file on restart)? And then do I turn back on Simplified and
Sharing when I'm done so all users can access the ALL USERS folder
again? Also, is there anyway to clean out the stuff left over from
the old installation? Thanks!
Jeff

Hold up a second there... If you have stuff left over you should take
ownership of it and import the data inside the folders and then, when
you're done with that, you can delete the content of the old folders. This
is manually cleaning out the stuff left over from the old installation, what
happened is you left the current file system intact during your installation
and this is the result. If you already have, for instance, an all users
folder (and you should) then taking the old one and renaming it to a new
name would be bad and likely create far more conflicts than you're already
facing. Better to find and move, slowly, what you need and can use and then,
when you're done, remove stuff that's not needed. When you're done you can
re-enable simple file sharing. You only really need to disable it when
you're changing the ownership of files.

--
Galen - MS MVP - Windows (Shell/User & IE)
http://dts-l.org/
http://kgiii.info/

"We approached the case, you remember, with an absolutely blank mind,
which is always an advantage. We had formed no theories. We were simply
there to observe and to draw inferences from our observations." -
Sherlock Holmes