Missing Accounts

[randy]

I have multiple user profiles in XP and have had an issue where XP
rebooted and lost all user accounts - except the administrator. After a
power outage yesterday, the PC lost my profile and one for the family.
No data has been lost, and the profiles under Documents and Settings
are still there. The pain of the matter is that many installed
programs will only work under the profile that they were installed
under.

I looked at system restore, but the only one showing is yesterday right
after the outage. It's like it set everything back to day one, except
that all of the programs and data are still there...

any thoughts on how to re add the accounts and use the profiles that
are already there???

thanks
Randy

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I have multiple user profiles in XP and have had an issue where XP
rebooted and lost all user accounts - except the administrator. After a
power outage yesterday, the PC lost my profile and one for the family.
No data has been lost, and the profiles under Documents and Settings
are still there. The pain of the matter is that many installed
programs will only work under the profile that they were installed
under.

I looked at system restore, but the only one showing is yesterday right
after the outage. It's like it set everything back to day one, except
that all of the programs and data are still there...

any thoughts on how to re add the accounts and use the profiles that
are already there???

thanks
Randy

There seems to be some confusion here about "accounts" and
"profiles". You write "the PC lost my profile and one for the family.
<snip> and the profiles under Documents and Settings are still there."
Now either the profiles were lost or they are still there. You can't
have them lost and still there. It is also not clear what exactly you
mean when you write that Windows lost all user accounts.

Let's perhaps agree on what each term means. An account is an
entry in the SAM. You can list all existing accounts by doing this:
- Click Start / Run / cmd {OK}
- Type this command:
net user{Enter}

A profile is a folder under c:\documents and settings. You can see
all existing profiles in Explorer or in My Computer.

Armed with this information, you should be able to answer these
questions:
1. What accounts are currently defined?
2. Are any accounts missing? Which ones?
3. What profile folders are currently in existence?
4. Are any profile folders missing? Which ones?
5. What is your current profile folder?

You can get the answer to the last question like so:
- Click Start / Run / cmd {OK}
- Type this command:
echo %UserProfile%{Enter}

 

[randy]

Sorry for the confusion... The profiles are still there under
Documents and Settings.
When I go through Computer, manage, local users and groups, the only
accounts that are there are the administrator, Guest, HP_Administrator.
The one for me, and the separate one for the rest of the family are
gone, but the profile folders are still there under Docs and Settings.
I tried recreating the account for the family, hoping it would use the
profile that was already there, but it still created a new one.

I am currently logged in as administrator...

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Now please try the command I gave you to list all
existing accounts:

net user {Enter}

 

[Ayush]

Create a new account and set its profile path to the existing one.

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Ayush [ Be ''?'' Happy ]

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