XP's "duplicates" in My documents

[Bazza]

Hope I'm in the right spot for this question ...
Not much luck from Google so far, hence my asking here.

Some installs of XP (but not multiple installs) have resulted
in the 'My Documents and Settings' containing 'duplicates'
I think they appear according to the setup procedure and
whether a network was installable at the time (not always
possible if the MB chips are not S/W enabled)

Anyway, I get these things
All Users
All Users.WINDOWS
and
Default User
Default User.WINDOWS

The simple shorter) names (folders) are deletable but the others are not
and additionally, the folder sizes are different, not much, but different.

1. What is the cause of this.?
I'm seeking enlightenment here. It would be nice to avoid generating this
double set of 'definitions', if that's the right word, in the first place.

2. Is it possible to remove the longer named set ?
(Reverting to what I think is a 'standard' definition)

3. Would there be trouble in merging the two (if it's poosible)?

4. Is there a rule of thumb about this? Data? Web site? Pointers?

Thanks

 

[Kent W. England [MVP]]

Bazza wrote on 20-Sep-2004 6:49 PM:

Hope I'm in the right spot for this question ...
Not much luck from Google so far, hence my asking here.

Some installs of XP (but not multiple installs) have resulted
in the 'My Documents and Settings' containing 'duplicates'
I think they appear according to the setup procedure and
whether a network was installable at the time (not always
possible if the MB chips are not S/W enabled)

Anyway, I get these things
All Users
All Users.WINDOWS
and
Default User
Default User.WINDOWS

This is caused by a reinstall of Windows on top of an existing Windows.
The "All Users" is from the first install and the "All Users.WINDOWS" is
from the reinstall. As you said, you can delete the former but not the
latter, as the latter is in use by the current install of Windows, but
the former is an orphan and no longer in use.

Same holds true for Administrator and any accounts which you duplicated
in the new install. Enter %userprofile% in the Address bar to find out
which profile is currently in use. %allusersprofile% will get you the
current "All Users" profile folder.

 

[Bazza]

Ah good. That's a help.

Some of the installs have ended up more complicated than
I've just described but, essentially, I know where I'm going now.

Are there any white papers / etc / which will encompass the subject ?


Thanks

 

[Kent W. England [MVP]]

Bazza wrote on 22-Sep-2004 6:48 PM:

Ah good. That's a help.

Some of the installs have ended up more complicated than
I've just described but, essentially, I know where I'm going now.

Are there any white papers / etc / which will encompass the subject ?


Thanks

There might be a KnowledgeBase article on it. Try searching at
support.microsoft.com. Their search has gotten a lot better lately. One
thing you might need to know is that you can't change your profile
location defaults except by using an unattend file whilst installing XP.
But you can move your profile, although moving it out of D&S isn't
recommended by me. Better to relocate only parts of it, like My Documents.

If you do another reinstall, you might want to rename your orphan
account profile folders before you recreate your old accounts. That way
you won't get the suffix, but your old profile will still be there to
grab stuff out of. You might need to "take ownership" of your orphaned
profile since that SID is no longer valid. Read in Help and Support on
your PC about "taking ownership". Lots of explanation.

If you need to repoint your well-known accounts back at their old
profiles, the ProfileImagePath key in the registry is the one where you
do that, but be careful. If the profile is corrupted, you will not be
able to login. Make sure you create a new admin account to do this
manipulation, so you can change it back if the profile is corrupt.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\S-1-5-21-1078081533-152049171-1957994488-500\ProfileImagePath
is where your Administrator profile folder is defined.