Part of profile lost?

[somebody]

Hi all,

A strange things is happening to my W2K laptop. It looks as though
parts of my profile are lost and others are still there.

For example, when logging in there is a "How to use Windows" window,
just as for new users. Outlook thinks that it has never been started
and wants to set up an account. All accounts that have existed before
are gone. However the outlook.pst file is there. The customized
Today page is gone.

Word starts up as it would for a new user, i.e. it asks me for the
name and initials to put in the documents properties.

All the favorites in regedit are gone. I'm sure there are other
things that are gone too.

On the other hand, the install accepts the login credentials. Access
permissions seem OK too. All the document files seem to be there, but
I found a couple of programs that give an error message - that they
have to be reinstalled.

Is this a registry issue? Or are these things stored in Documents and Settings?
Note that there is no recovered user in Documents and Settings.

I have a ghost of the HDD (6 weeks old, unfortunately) plus some much
more recent (5 days) synced copy of the data files on the desktop.

I'm trying to decide on my strategy. Start with the current damaged install
and try to recover the missing part from the ghost? Or ghost the
current install, restore the 6 week old ghost onto the laptop, update
the data files from the sync on the desktop and the ghost of the
current install?

The laptop crashed earlier today when installing a wireless card. I
assume that the crash is the reason for this.

Any advice and insight on how to restore the system would be very much
appreciated.

Roger

 

[Dave Patrick]

Sounds like the profile is corrupt. 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 (import the *.pst)

--
Regards,

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

| Hi all,
|
| A strange things is happening to my W2K laptop. It looks as though
| parts of my profile are lost and others are still there.
|
| For example, when logging in there is a "How to use Windows" window,
| just as for new users. Outlook thinks that it has never been started
| and wants to set up an account. All accounts that have existed before
| are gone. However the outlook.pst file is there. The customized
| Today page is gone.
|
| Word starts up as it would for a new user, i.e. it asks me for the
| name and initials to put in the documents properties.
|
| All the favorites in regedit are gone. I'm sure there are other
| things that are gone too.
|
| On the other hand, the install accepts the login credentials. Access
| permissions seem OK too. All the document files seem to be there, but
| I found a couple of programs that give an error message - that they
| have to be reinstalled.
|
| Is this a registry issue? Or are these things stored in Documents and
Settings?
| Note that there is no recovered user in Documents and Settings.
|
| I have a ghost of the HDD (6 weeks old, unfortunately) plus some much
| more recent (5 days) synced copy of the data files on the desktop.
|
| I'm trying to decide on my strategy. Start with the current damaged
install
| and try to recover the missing part from the ghost? Or ghost the
| current install, restore the 6 week old ghost onto the laptop, update
| the data files from the sync on the desktop and the ghost of the
| current install?
|
| The laptop crashed earlier today when installing a wireless card. I
| assume that the crash is the reason for this.
|
| Any advice and insight on how to restore the system would be very much
| appreciated.
|
| Roger

 

[somebody]

Thanks, Dave. I'm going to give that a try today. I decided that
I'll rather try repairing this install than to go back to a 6 week old
ghost.

Strangely, the profile seems to have become corrupted in very specific
ways while leaving the install operational as a whole.

Welcome messages appear for many programs, as if they had never been
run: Camtasia, Office, Norton, Windows, etc. I have a self-generated
certificate for macros in office and it lost the trust level and
association with the macros, but it did not lose the certificate
itself. There are two identical instances of outlook.pst that open
when running Outlook (already fixed).

On the other hand, the machine runs smooth, all data files are there,
permissions are there..... So, I'll try repairing this one.

Roger

 

[Dave Patrick]

All symptoms of a corrupt profile that has been orphaned.

--
Regards,

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

| Thanks, Dave. I'm going to give that a try today. I decided that
| I'll rather try repairing this install than to go back to a 6 week old
| ghost.
|
| Strangely, the profile seems to have become corrupted in very specific
| ways while leaving the install operational as a whole.
|
| Welcome messages appear for many programs, as if they had never been
| run: Camtasia, Office, Norton, Windows, etc. I have a self-generated
| certificate for macros in office and it lost the trust level and
| association with the macros, but it did not lose the certificate
| itself. There are two identical instances of outlook.pst that open
| when running Outlook (already fixed).
|
| On the other hand, the machine runs smooth, all data files are there,
| permissions are there..... So, I'll try repairing this one.
|
| Roger

 

[Jasper]

I say ghost it and restore your data. This will cost you much less
headache then trying to find wich files/regsettings etc are missing,
and researching if you can restore this at all. Make a backup of all
current data just to be sure.

regards,
Jasper