Loading Wrong User Profile

[Chris Curtis]

Hi
I have a friend who yesterday who after logging on as per normal discovered
he had no user files and a minimal desktop. Of course, what was happening is
he was inadvertantly loading a 'new' profile.
His user name is terry but he is now loading a user profile called
terry.terry. All his original files and settings are still intact in his
original user profile folder.
I have no idea what has caused this but in the short term how do I get his
logon to access the correct profile?

Regards
Chris Curtis

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Hi
I have a friend who yesterday who after logging on as per normal discovered
he had no user files and a minimal desktop. Of course, what was happening is
he was inadvertantly loading a 'new' profile.
His user name is terry but he is now loading a user profile called
terry.terry. All his original files and settings are still intact in his
original user profile folder.
I have no idea what has caused this but in the short term how do I get his
logon to access the correct profile?

Regards
Chris Curtis

Log on as administrator and copy his old profile over the
top of the new profile: Control Panel / System / Advanced /
User Profiles.

 

[Chris Curtis]

Log on as administrator and copy his old profile over the
top of the new profile: Control Panel / System / Advanced /
User Profiles.

Thanks for the quick response.
When my colleague (who is over 100 miles away!) goes into User Profiles as
you suggested his old account is titled Account Unknown I'm assuming this
was his old account). When it is highlighted the option to Copy profile is
greyed out.
Any other thoughts?

Regards
Chris

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Thanks for the quick response.
When my colleague (who is over 100 miles away!) goes into User Profiles as
you suggested his old account is titled Account Unknown I'm assuming this
was his old account). When it is highlighted the option to Copy profile is
greyed out.
Any other thoughts?

Regards
Chris

Reboot the PC before logging on as admin, to unlock
both profiles.

 

[Chris Curtis]

Reboot the PC before logging on as admin, to unlock
both profiles.

I got him to reboot and log on as administrator and the Copy Profile button
for Unknown Account is still greyed out.

Chris

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I got him to reboot and log on as administrator and the Copy Profile button
for Unknown Account is still greyed out.

Chris

This suggests that this account is locked, perhaps because of a
scheduled process, or that the admin account has insufficient
access rights, in which case you need to seize ownership.

You can test what's going on by running this command from
a Command Prompt:

xcopy /s /h /y /e "c:\documents and settings\terry" c:\TempProf\ | more

When I say "Command Prompt" then I mean the Command
Prompt and not the "Run" box!

You are moving in an administrator's environment that may
not be entirely appropriate for a user at the far end of a
telephone line!

 

[Chris Curtis]

You are moving in an administrator's environment that may
not be entirely appropriate for a user at the far end of a
telephone line!

I'm rapidly coming to that conclusion myself!

 

[Dave Patrick]

If the profile is corrupt, you can rename the profile(while logged on as
local admin), then when the user logs on again a new profile will be created
from the image in \default user. You can then copy over the items you need
from the renamed profile. Copy the folder contents not the folders
themselves. When your sure you have all you need, you can delete the renamed
profile(s). Use the import function of your e-mail software. Don't overwrite
ntuser.dat

--

Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
| Hi
| I have a friend who yesterday who after logging on as per normal
discovered
| he had no user files and a minimal desktop. Of course, what was happening
is
| he was inadvertantly loading a 'new' profile.
| His user name is terry but he is now loading a user profile called
| terry.terry. All his original files and settings are still intact in his
| original user profile folder.
| I have no idea what has caused this but in the short term how do I get his
| logon to access the correct profile?
|
| Regards
| Chris Curtis
|
|

 

[Chris Curtis]

This suggests that this account is locked, perhaps because of a
scheduled process, or that the admin account has insufficient
access rights, in which case you need to seize ownership.

You can test what's going on by running this command from
a Command Prompt:

xcopy /s /h /y /e "c:\documents and settings\terry" c:\TempProf\ | more

When I say "Command Prompt" then I mean the Command
Prompt and not the "Run" box!

You are moving in an administrator's environment that may
not be entirely appropriate for a user at the far end of a
telephone line!

That produced a message 'too many parameters' or something similar.
Also Outlook is unable to create a new profile within terry.TERRY so there
is more to this.
He has managed to get all his data off.
Frankly I'm now exhausted! I don't know how Tech Support people cope.

I've told him to contact a local consultant who can visit him and sit in
front of the machine.
Nevertheless, your assistance was greatly appreciated and if nothing else I
have learnt how to copy profiles!

Regards
Chris

 

[Chris Curtis]

Thanks for that Dave
As you will see from my reply to Pegasus I have retired exhausted!

Chris