Duplicate users being created in Win 2K Pro

[Guest]

I have a client whose Win 2K Pro box intermittently creates a duplicate user
account at login. They will log in to the network, see a nearly blank
desktop, and freak. What I find in Documents and Settings is a ghost user
named "username.domain.000". I fixed it last week by copying all desktop
stuff over to the new identity and resharing desktop folders, but it happened
again yesterday. Has anyone seen this before and can you point me in the
right direction? Thanks!

Jim Pandzik
A+, Net+, CCNA, CFOI
... but no help here!

 

[John John]

It's usually caused by a corrupt user profile. You have to completely
dump the user profile and his folders. Backup the user's data and then
restore the data only to the new account you create for him/her. By
simply copying the whole (old) folders from the corrupt profile to the
new user you are reintroducing the corruption to the new user's folders.
The error can also occur when permissions are missing but in that case
I would expect the error to be consistent at every logon, not just
intermittent.

John

 

[Steven L Umbach]

It is not really creating a new user account but another profile for the
user. Since the user already had a profile you will see extensions such as
you mention for additionally created profiles. Offhand I do not know why
that is happening but I would be sure to run Check Disk on the computer and
configure it to automatically fix file system errors, make sure that users
have read/list/execute permissions to the documents and settings folder and
full control and is owner of their profile folder, and check the logs via
Event Viewer to see any error/warnings are recorded that may help pinpoint
the problem. Of course also make sure to check the computer for malware and
spyware. If nothing obvious is found you may want to consider doing an
upgrade/repair install before doing a pristine install after of course
backing up user's data and EFS private key to a password protected .pfx file
if the user uses EFS. --- Steve

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/292175/ --- upgrade/repair install
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;314045&sd=tech ---
info on why you see the "username.domain.000".

 

[Roger Abell [MVP]]

You have good, and sufficient replies already.
However, I picked up on one thing that you have said
"resharing desktop folders". Does that mean you have
folders stored on the account's desktop that are shared
over the network ??? That might be a causal agent in
the corrupting you are seeing. Normally, when a user
logs off you want the system to be able to disengage
from it without seeing anything in use.

 

[Guest]

Uh-oh... That may be where the problem is. The client is the teacher stuck
with doing the Middle School yearbook this year. She has two directories (one
photos, one draft yearbook pages) that are huge and also shared out. Thanks
to all who answered, I really appreciate it. I will get cracking on getting
stuff off of her computer and onto a server share where it belongs! Thanks!