Automatic Updates--Log on problems

[TJM]

My PC completes automatice updates every morning at 3AM. It ran the
following updates this past Monday morning:

Windows Windows Update Agent 7.2.6001.788 Monday, November 17, 2008
Automatic Updates
Windows 2000 Security Update for Windows 2000 (KB955069) Monday, November
17, 2008 Automatic Updates
Windows 2000 Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool - November 2008
(KB890830) Monday, November 17, 2008 Automatic Updates
Windows 2000 Security Update for Windows 2000 (KB957097) Monday, November
17, 2008 Automatic Updates
Windows 2000 Security Update for Microsoft XML Core Services 4.0 Service
Pack 2 (KB954430) Monday, November 17, 2008 Automatic Updates

Although it appears that the first update failed according to the update
history.

My computer boots up and works fine; however, I must log-in as an
administrator to get access to the computer. Additionally, I can no longer
gain access to "My Documents" or my Outlook profile.

I know the files are still there because I see them when the virus scan runs.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Tim

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

My PC completes automatice updates every morning at 3AM. It ran the
following updates this past Monday morning:

Windows Windows Update Agent 7.2.6001.788 Monday, November 17, 2008
Automatic Updates
Windows 2000 Security Update for Windows 2000 (KB955069) Monday, November
17, 2008 Automatic Updates
Windows 2000 Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool - November 2008
(KB890830) Monday, November 17, 2008 Automatic Updates
Windows 2000 Security Update for Windows 2000 (KB957097) Monday, November
17, 2008 Automatic Updates
Windows 2000 Security Update for Microsoft XML Core Services 4.0 Service
Pack 2 (KB954430) Monday, November 17, 2008 Automatic Updates

Although it appears that the first update failed according to the update
history.

My computer boots up and works fine; however, I must log-in as an
administrator to get access to the computer. Additionally, I can no
longer
gain access to "My Documents" or my Outlook profile.

I know the files are still there because I see them when the virus scan
runs.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Tim

Why "must" you log on as Administrator? Log on as yourself and you will see
your files again!

 

[TJM]

Why "must" you log on as Administrator? Log on as yourself and you will see
your files again!

I was having difficulty locating my password; however, I was able to reset
it while logged in as and administrator. Even when I log in as myself, my
files, Outlook, etc. are not showing up. I know they are still on the hard
drive as I can see the directories and file names when the virus scan is
running. It is as if the links to the various directories are gone.

Any other suggestions.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I was having difficulty locating my password; however, I was able to reset
it while logged in as and administrator. Even when I log in as myself, my
files, Outlook, etc. are not showing up. I know they are still on the
hard
drive as I can see the directories and file names when the virus scan is
running. It is as if the links to the various directories are gone.

Any other suggestions.

You need to have a look "under the bonnet" of your Windows installation. Try
this and report the results:
1. Log on as yourself.
2. Click Start / Run / cmd {OK}
3. Type these commands:
echo %UserProfile%{Enter}
dir /b "%AllUsersProfile\.."{Enter}

 

[TJM]

Not sure if I did this correctly but here are the results:

Microsoft Windows 2000 [Version 5.00.2195]
(C) Copyright 1985-2000 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Tim.TIM-02>echo %UserProfile%
C:\Documents and Settings\Tim.TIM-02

C:\Documents and Settings\Tim.TIM-02>dir /b "%AllUserProfile\.."
Desktop
Favorites
My Documents
Start Menu

C:\Documents and Settings\Tim.TIM-02>

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Sorry, I made a mistake. One of the commands should have read
dir /b "%AllUsersProfile%\.."{Enter} instead of
dir /b "%AllUsersProfile\.."{Enter}

Please try again and report its output.

Not sure if I did this correctly but here are the results:

Microsoft Windows 2000 [Version 5.00.2195]
(C) Copyright 1985-2000 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Tim.TIM-02>echo %UserProfile%
C:\Documents and Settings\Tim.TIM-02

C:\Documents and Settings\Tim.TIM-02>dir /b "%AllUserProfile\.."
Desktop
Favorites
My Documents
Start Menu

C:\Documents and Settings\Tim.TIM-02>

You need to have a look "under the bonnet" of your Windows installation.
Try
this and report the results:
1. Log on as yourself.
2. Click Start / Run / cmd {OK}
3. Type these commands:
echo %UserProfile%{Enter}
dir /b "%AllUsersProfile\.."{Enter}

 

[TJM]

Here are the results:

Microsoft Windows 2000 [Version 5.00.2195]
(C) Copyright 1985-2000 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Tim.TIM-02>echo %UserProfile%
C:\Documents and Settings\Tim.TIM-02

C:\Documents and Settings\Tim.TIM-02>dir /b "%AllUsersProfile%\.."
Administrator
Administrator.GRAND_RAPIDS
All Users
Tim
Tim.GRAND_RAPIDS
Tim.TIM-02
Tim.TIM-02.GRAND_RAPIDS

C:\Documents and Settings\Tim.TIM-02>

Does this help?

Thanks!

Tim

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Your report tells me that you have several profile folders. Your current
folder is Tim.Tim-02 but I can also see these other ones:
- Tim
- Tim.GRAND_RAPIDS
- Tim.TIM-02.GRAND_RAPIDS

Which one is the correct one I cannot tell. You can find by yourself out by
doing this:
- Log on as Administrator
- Click Start / Run / cmd{OK}
- Type these command:
dir /ah "c:\documents and settings\tim"
dir /ah "c:\documents and settings\tim.grand_rapids"
dir /ah "c:\documents and settings\tim-02.grand_rapids"

Make a note of the most recent file date. Which folder contains the most
recent date? This would be the profile folder you used before this problem
started. The date should show when you last ran Windows. Let's assume it is
"Tim.grand_rapids". You can now do this:
1. Reboot the machine.
2. Log on as Administrator.
3. Using Explorer, rename the folder "c:\documents and settings\tim.tim-02"
to "c:\documents and settings\tim.tim-02(bad)".
4. Rename the folder "c:\documents and settings\tim.grand_rapids" to
"c:\documents and settings\tim.tim-02".

The net effect of this double rename is that you put your former profile
folder into the place that Windows considers your current profile folder.
Now log off and log on as yourself. It it works, fine. If it does not work
then you need to do this:
- Backtrack Steps 3 and 4 above.
- Repeat Steps 1 to 4 above but select a different profile folder name.

Here are the results:

Microsoft Windows 2000 [Version 5.00.2195]
(C) Copyright 1985-2000 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Tim.TIM-02>echo %UserProfile%
C:\Documents and Settings\Tim.TIM-02

C:\Documents and Settings\Tim.TIM-02>dir /b "%AllUsersProfile%\.."
Administrator
Administrator.GRAND_RAPIDS
All Users
Tim
Tim.GRAND_RAPIDS
Tim.TIM-02
Tim.TIM-02.GRAND_RAPIDS

C:\Documents and Settings\Tim.TIM-02>

Does this help?

Thanks!

Tim

Sorry, I made a mistake. One of the commands should have read
dir /b "%AllUsersProfile%\.."{Enter} instead of
dir /b "%AllUsersProfile\.."{Enter}

Please try again and report its output.

 

[TJM]

I ran the commands and the correct profile folder was "Tim". I renamed "Tim"
to "Tim.TIM-02" and it worked!

I noticed when I was in Explorer that the two profiles that included TIM-02
were last modified around the time that the computer ran the automatic
updates. Do you have any idea of what may have caused this and what I can do
to prevent it from happening in the future?

Thank you very much for your assistance!

Tim

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Thanks for the feedback. I have observed the issue of multiple profile
folders on several occasions but I don't know what causes it. A glitch,
perhaps.