Profile/My Documents issue

[Bob S]

I'm setting up my new Dell Computer with WinXP. On the first
day a bunch of programs disappeared from the system tray,
although they were still running in the background. Dell
tech support said that the way the problem was showing
itself seemed somewhat unique (we worked on it for an hour,
it seemed). They said that the profile evidently was
corrupted, and they recommended that since I had not yet
installed very many programs and had not transferred any
data as yet, the best solution was simply to delete my user
profile and start over. Sounded fine to me. We did it
several days ago and everything now works ok.

Here's the only issue. In the original set up I named my
user account "Bob." The way Dell approached the issue was to
first create a new account, which they called "Test." They
then deleted the old "Bob" profile and renamed "Test" as
"Bob."

As stated, the new profile is now fine. But the path to My
Documents is now through "Test" rather than through "Bob":
that is, it's located at "C:\Documents and Settings\Test\My
Documents," even though when I look in User Accounts through
the Control Panel the account appears as "Bob." Dell tells
me that this is because My Documents keeps the path name as
originally set up, and that nothing can be done about it.

Now when I do things that require a path name through My
Documents, I have to use "Test," not "Bob." This is a petty
annoyance, but an annoyance nonetheless.

Is there any way to "fix" this?

Thanks.

 

[Malke]

I'm setting up my new Dell Computer with WinXP. On the first
day a bunch of programs disappeared from the system tray,
although they were still running in the background. Dell
tech support said that the way the problem was showing
itself seemed somewhat unique (we worked on it for an hour,
it seemed). They said that the profile evidently was
corrupted, and they recommended that since I had not yet
installed very many programs and had not transferred any
data as yet, the best solution was simply to delete my user
profile and start over. Sounded fine to me. We did it
several days ago and everything now works ok.

Here's the only issue. In the original set up I named my
user account "Bob." The way Dell approached the issue was to
first create a new account, which they called "Test." They
then deleted the old "Bob" profile and renamed "Test" as
"Bob."

As stated, the new profile is now fine. But the path to My
Documents is now through "Test" rather than through "Bob":
that is, it's located at "C:\Documents and Settings\Test\My
Documents," even though when I look in User Accounts through
the Control Panel the account appears as "Bob." Dell tells
me that this is because My Documents keeps the path name as
originally set up, and that nothing can be done about it.

Now when I do things that require a path name through My
Documents, I have to use "Test," not "Bob." This is a petty
annoyance, but an annoyance nonetheless.

This is the way that user accounts in Windows work. Renaming a user
account is only cosmetic; all the underlying files and folders will
retain the name of the original user account (Test in your case). You
can either live with this or:

1. Rename the user account back to Test.

2. Create another user account called Bob. Log into this account once.

3. Now log into the built-in Administrator account. If you have XP Home
you'll need to go into Safe Mode* to do this. If you have XP Pro, do
Ctrl-Alt-Del at the Welcome Screen to get the classic logon box where
you can type in "Administrator" (without the quotes). Unless you changed
it, the default password is a blank.

4. Follow the instructions at this link to copy the Test account's data
and settings to the new Bob account.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=811151

5. After you've done that, log into the new Bob account and see all your
stuff. When you are sure you have everything, you can then go back to
the Test account and delete the data or delete the account. I don't
suggest deleting the account because having an extra user account just
makes things easier to recover if your daily user account gets
corrupted. If you are the only user on the computer and want to
automatically logon to your account and not see the Welcome Screen with
the extra account, this is easily done:

Configure Windows to Automatically Login (MVP Ramesh) -
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/Autologon.htm

*To get into Safe Mode, repeatedly tap the F8 key as the computer is
starting up. This will get you to the right menu. Navigate using your Up
arrow key; the mouse will not work here. Once in Safe Mode, you will see
the normally hidden Administrator account. The default password is a blank.


Malke

 

[Nepatsfan]

I'm setting up my new Dell Computer with WinXP. On the first
day a bunch of programs disappeared from the system tray,
although they were still running in the background. Dell
tech support said that the way the problem was showing
itself seemed somewhat unique (we worked on it for an hour,
it seemed). They said that the profile evidently was
corrupted, and they recommended that since I had not yet
installed very many programs and had not transferred any
data as yet, the best solution was simply to delete my user
profile and start over. Sounded fine to me. We did it
several days ago and everything now works ok.

Here's the only issue. In the original set up I named my
user account "Bob." The way Dell approached the issue was to
first create a new account, which they called "Test." They
then deleted the old "Bob" profile and renamed "Test" as
"Bob."

As stated, the new profile is now fine. But the path to My
Documents is now through "Test" rather than through "Bob":
that is, it's located at "C:\Documents and Settings\Test\My
Documents," even though when I look in User Accounts through
the Control Panel the account appears as "Bob." Dell tells
me that this is because My Documents keeps the path name as
originally set up, and that nothing can be done about it.

Now when I do things that require a path name through My
Documents, I have to use "Test," not "Bob." This is a petty
annoyance, but an annoyance nonetheless.

Is there any way to "fix" this?

Thanks.

Go back to Control Panel -> User Accounts and rename the Bob account to Test.
Create a new account named Bob.
Log on at least once with the Bob account.
Log off and log back on with an account other than Test or Bob that is a
Computer Administrator.
Note:You might want to create another administrative account named Temp which
can be used just for this procedure. This account can be deleted after the
procedure is complete.
Log on with the Temp account.
Go to Control Panel and double click System.
Click on the Advanced tab.
Click on the Settings button in the User Profile section.
Click on the Test profile and hit the Copy To button.
Browse to C:\Documents and Settings\Bob.
Click OK twice.
Click Yes when asked if you want to overwrite the contents of this folder.
Once all the files have been copied, click OK twice.
Log off the Temp account and log on as Bob.

For more info, take a look at these articles.

How do I copy a user profile in Windows XP? Why is the COPY TO button grayed
out?
http://www.petri.co.il/copy_user_profiles_in_windows_xp.htm

Courtesy of Ramesh Srinivasan, MS-MVP
Create a duplicate user profile with a different name
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/dupprofile.htm

Good luck

Nepatsfan

 

[Bob S]

[snipped]

Thanks for the replies. I'll get working on this tonight.

 

[Bob S]

[snip]

I followed your instructions and they appear to have worked
for me.

While I copied and pasted everything in safe mode from one
account to the other per the instructions at the link you
gave me, I got a message that userclass.dat couldn't be
copied because it was in use by another person or program.
When the paste operation was done, I did a search in the
"test" folder (nothing was hidden, per the instructions),
and the search reported that there was no such file?

Any idea what that was about.

In the meanwhile, I logged into the new "Bob" account, and
it's not identical to "Test," although I can't tell whether
there's any significant difference. The only thing I see so
far is that the desktop icons aren't organized as I had
them, and the color scheme had gone back to the default.

If there turn out to be other differences, I report back.
Otherwise, I'm just wondering about the supposedly missing
dat file.

Thanks for your help.

 

[Bob S]

[snip]

I tried your suggestion first, since it seemed simpler.
However, the copy to button wasn't active, so I couldn't do
it that way.

I went over it twice to make sure I had followed all the
steps, but no luck. Any idea what the problem could have
been?

In the meanwhile, I followed Malke's suggestion, and as
reported above it worked for the most part.

Thanks very much.

 

[Nepatsfan]

[snip]

I tried your suggestion first, since it seemed simpler.
However, the copy to button wasn't active, so I couldn't do
it that way.

I went over it twice to make sure I had followed all the
steps, but no luck. Any idea what the problem could have
been?

In the meanwhile, I followed Malke's suggestion, and as
reported above it worked for the most part.

Thanks very much.

Which account were you logged in with when you tried the procedure I suggested?
It sounds like you were logged on with the Test account.

To copy one profile into another you need to be logged on with a third account.
For example, if you wanted to copy the Test account profile into the Bob account
folder you'd either have to be logged on with the built-in Administrator account
or another account that's a Computer Administrator. Being logged on as Test
would account for the "Copy to" button being grayed out. I suspect when you
tried the procedure that Malke suggested you were also logged in with the Test
account.

Nepatsfan

 

[Bob S]

Which account were you logged in with when you tried the
procedure I suggested? It sounds like you were logged on with
the Test account.

I definitely was in the temp account. I went back just now
(since I haven't deleted it) and the copy to button is still
grayed out. And just for good meansure I looked in all of
the accounts, and the copy to button is grayed out for every
one of them in every single account (except the
administrator account).

This isn't to say that I know for sure that I'm following
your instructions with exactitude, but I think that I am.

[snip]

I suspect when you tried the procedure that Malke suggested you
were also logged in with the Test account.

You may be right about that one. Although my recollection is
that I followed the instructions pretty closely, I went back
just now and went through the procedure again, making doubly
sure I was in the administrator account. This time I didn't
get any message about a folder being in use during the paste
operation, and the setup for the Bob account now appears to
be identical to that of the Test account.

Thanks very much for suggesting that that was how I may have
gone wrong.

 

[Malke]

[snip]

I followed your instructions and they appear to have worked
for me.

While I copied and pasted everything in safe mode from one
account to the other per the instructions at the link you
gave me, I got a message that userclass.dat couldn't be
copied because it was in use by another person or program.
When the paste operation was done, I did a search in the
"test" folder (nothing was hidden, per the instructions),
and the search reported that there was no such file?

Any idea what that was about.

In the meanwhile, I logged into the new "Bob" account, and
it's not identical to "Test," although I can't tell whether
there's any significant difference. The only thing I see so
far is that the desktop icons aren't organized as I had
them, and the color scheme had gone back to the default.

If there turn out to be other differences, I report back.
Otherwise, I'm just wondering about the supposedly missing
dat file.

Userclass.dat has to do with cached roaming profiles I believe. Since
you aren't on a domain and everything is working, I wouldn't worry about
it. Yes, you do need to set up the cosmetic aspect of the new account
the way you like it.


Malke

 

[Nepatsfan]

Which account were you logged in with when you tried the
procedure I suggested? It sounds like you were logged on with
the Test account.

I definitely was in the temp account. I went back just now
(since I haven't deleted it) and the copy to button is still
grayed out. And just for good meansure I looked in all of
the accounts, and the copy to button is grayed out for every
one of them in every single account (except the
administrator account).

This isn't to say that I know for sure that I'm following
your instructions with exactitude, but I think that I am.

[snip]

I suspect when you tried the procedure that Malke suggested you
were also logged in with the Test account.

You may be right about that one. Although my recollection is
that I followed the instructions pretty closely, I went back
just now and went through the procedure again, making doubly
sure I was in the administrator account. This time I didn't
get any message about a folder being in use during the paste
operation, and the setup for the Bob account now appears to
be identical to that of the Test account.

Thanks very much for suggesting that that was how I may have
gone wrong.

You're welcome. Thanks for taking the time to let us know you were able to fix
the problem.

Nepatsfan

 

[Bob S]

[snip]

Actually, a couple of the changed settings were for the
better -- they weren't default when my original profile was
created, and I wasn't especially thinking about them.

So all is well.

Thanks again.