Multiple Administrator entries in Documents and Settings

[Bert Hyman]

Windows XP Pro SP3

Looking in the "Documents and Settings" directory, I see directories named
thus:

Administrator
Administrator.<machine name>
Administrator.<machine name>.000
Administrator.<machine name>.001

The Date Created for "NTUSER.DAT" and "NtUser.dat.LOG" in the first is
8/23/2007, and the others is 8/24/2007.

The date modified for NTUSER.DAT in the first 3 is 5/7/2008 and for the
last is 7/9/2009.

The date modified for NtUser.dat.LOG for the first 3 is the same as for
NTUSER.DAT, while for the last it's 8/25/2009 (yesterday).

The last directory is more fully populated than the first 3, with a
Desktop, NetHood, PrintHood and a few other directories which the other 3
don't have.

Examining "Users" in "Local Users and Groups", there's only one entry for
"Administrator"

What's going on here?

 

[John John - MVP]

If your profile folder is corrupt or if you lose read permissions on
your profile folder Windows cannot log you on using your profile. If you
supplied valid credentials to log on to Windows instead of locking
you out because it can't read or access your profile folder Windows logs
you on and creates a new profile for you. Being that the Documents and
Settings folder already includes a folder with your UserName Windows
creates a folder named <UserName.ComputerName>. If in turn that new
profile also becomes inaccessible, the next time you log on Windows will
create numbered profile folders <UserName.ComputerName.000>, and the
next time it will create <UserName.ComputerName.001> This is explained
here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/324734

You can use the SET USERPROFILE command at the Command Prompt to see
which profile you are using.

John