Rename Administrator.WORKSTATION folder?

[GAlan]

I'd just finished doing a fresh install of 2KPro, all the drivers and
apps and everything. It was 5:00 AM.*

Right! So I deliver the box, plug it all in, hit the power and it
....BLUE SCREENS! WTF! It's self destructed a chunk of the registry and
Repair "can't find" a Windows 2000 installation. (Mumbles something
about forgetting to do the ERD thing...**)

Right! I got the custom built, bootable 2K CD-R right there with all the
drivers and apps, so I'll just reinstall everything.

Tooling right along, it totally wipes the WINNT directory tree, no
problem there, reinstalling all... It overwrites things in the Program
Files tree, leaving things not part of 2k alone. That's good.

Then I notice that instead of simply overwriting or blowing away the
Documents and Settings tree, it's created Administrator.WORKSTATION All
Users.WORKSTATION and Default User.WORKSTATION folders. I figure, "Eh,
must be like how 9x offers to do a reinstall into windows.000, except 2K
doesn't offer a choice, it just *bloody well goes and does it without
asking!*" Oh well, it'll work, no worries, right? I'll just delete the
old ones..."***

WRONG!

I've run into some programs, among them Netscape 7.2, that absolutely
cannot handle the Administrator folder being named anything but
Administrator. It will not finish installing so it won't run.

So, now that you know how I got into this situation (with *help* from
"Choices? You don't get choices!" 2K Pro install, how do I fix it so
those three folders can have the .WORKSTATION amputated from their
names?

I've dug through the Registry and found that the Administrator folder is
NOT referenced in any Values, just Data attached to Values, so that
could be edited to point to a new Administrator folder, except there are
files in that subtree it won't allow to be copied. The All Users and
Default User subtrees CAN be fully copied, but those two are referenced
multiple times in Values, which cannot be edited with regedit.


Soooo, how do I fix this short of "nuke and pave"? (Again!)


How about a little "Repair/Rename Administrator and User Folders and all
Registry References" program? It'd show all those folders under
Documents and Settings, with checkboxes by the ones you wish to fix,
which activate edit boxes to enter the new names. Clicky the Restart
button and watch it work the magic during boot before 2000 locks things
down? (Like how the BEST defragger for 2000 and XP, O&O Defrag, takes
care of the MFT and other exclusively locked files.)

*Had to fight for a while with a hard drive that was pulled from a new
HP cheap-PC, and you know the dirty nasty things HP, Compaq etc often do
to their drives to try and keep you from simply using them in a new box.
"NTLDR is missing"! Zero fill, baby, ZERO FILL! (For several hours...)

**It _was_ 5:00 AM, remember!

***How about fixing this with SP5 so that when I make streamlined
install CDs, this little "issue" of creating these other default
folders _never happens again_? Or at least give users the CHOICE
to use the existing folders!

 

[Dave Patrick]

You didn't format the drive before the reinstall. These articles may help.

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=314045

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=296834

--
Regards,

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

:
| I'd just finished doing a fresh install of 2KPro, all the drivers and
| apps and everything. It was 5:00 AM.*
|
| Right! So I deliver the box, plug it all in, hit the power and it
| ...BLUE SCREENS! WTF! It's self destructed a chunk of the registry and
| Repair "can't find" a Windows 2000 installation. (Mumbles something
| about forgetting to do the ERD thing...**)
|
| Right! I got the custom built, bootable 2K CD-R right there with all the
| drivers and apps, so I'll just reinstall everything.
|
| Tooling right along, it totally wipes the WINNT directory tree, no
| problem there, reinstalling all... It overwrites things in the Program
| Files tree, leaving things not part of 2k alone. That's good.
|
| Then I notice that instead of simply overwriting or blowing away the
| Documents and Settings tree, it's created Administrator.WORKSTATION All
| Users.WORKSTATION and Default User.WORKSTATION folders. I figure, "Eh,
| must be like how 9x offers to do a reinstall into windows.000, except 2K
| doesn't offer a choice, it just *bloody well goes and does it without
| asking!*" Oh well, it'll work, no worries, right? I'll just delete the
| old ones..."***
|
| WRONG!
|
| I've run into some programs, among them Netscape 7.2, that absolutely
| cannot handle the Administrator folder being named anything but
| Administrator. It will not finish installing so it won't run.
|
| So, now that you know how I got into this situation (with *help* from
| "Choices? You don't get choices!" 2K Pro install, how do I fix it so
| those three folders can have the .WORKSTATION amputated from their
| names?
|
| I've dug through the Registry and found that the Administrator folder is
| NOT referenced in any Values, just Data attached to Values, so that
| could be edited to point to a new Administrator folder, except there are
| files in that subtree it won't allow to be copied. The All Users and
| Default User subtrees CAN be fully copied, but those two are referenced
| multiple times in Values, which cannot be edited with regedit.
|
|
| Soooo, how do I fix this short of "nuke and pave"? (Again!)
|
|
| How about a little "Repair/Rename Administrator and User Folders and all
| Registry References" program? It'd show all those folders under
| Documents and Settings, with checkboxes by the ones you wish to fix,
| which activate edit boxes to enter the new names. Clicky the Restart
| button and watch it work the magic during boot before 2000 locks things
| down? (Like how the BEST defragger for 2000 and XP, O&O Defrag, takes
| care of the MFT and other exclusively locked files.)
|
| *Had to fight for a while with a hard drive that was pulled from a new
| HP cheap-PC, and you know the dirty nasty things HP, Compaq etc often do
| to their drives to try and keep you from simply using them in a new box.
| "NTLDR is missing"! Zero fill, baby, ZERO FILL! (For several hours...)
|
| **It _was_ 5:00 AM, remember!
|
| ***How about fixing this with SP5 so that when I make streamlined
| install CDs, this little "issue" of creating these other default
| folders _never happens again_? Or at least give users the CHOICE
| to use the existing folders!

 

[GAlan]

You didn't format the drive before the reinstall. These articles may
help.

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=314045

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=296834

There were files on the drive I'd salvaged from the original drive
that was going bad. Couldn't format the drive with no way to
save those files.

Microsoft just needs to fix this "feature" of creating new
folders under Documents and Settings when not doing a 100%
squeaky clean install.

With 95 and 98, installing Windows over itself is an often
useful way to fix many problems.

With 2000, it's 1/3 "nuke and pave" where it totally wipes
the WINNT directory tree, 1/3 9x style "over-install" where it
simply overwrites Windows' files in the Program Files tree,
and 1/3 creating problems with new folders in
Documents and Settings.

Hopefully I can fix the thing without having to reinstall it
all again.

And brickbats to Netscape for making their installer incompatable
with a non-default Administrator folder name!

What I'd love to know is how a system that had just the night
before been running fine and properly shut down, no install
cleanup or anything else pending for the next boot, blow its
own Registry to bits while simply starting up? It was the
Software section it was complaining about.

 

[Dave Patrick]

win9x doesn't do profiles hence the difference. Not sure why microsoft is
responsible for your lack of backup capability. Check those articles for
how. For the other issue this may help.

Possible Data Loss After You Enable the "Write Cache Enabled" Feature
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=281672

--
Regards,

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

:
| There were files on the drive I'd salvaged from the original drive
| that was going bad. Couldn't format the drive with no way to
| save those files.
|
| Microsoft just needs to fix this "feature" of creating new
| folders under Documents and Settings when not doing a 100%
| squeaky clean install.
|
| With 95 and 98, installing Windows over itself is an often
| useful way to fix many problems.
|
| With 2000, it's 1/3 "nuke and pave" where it totally wipes
| the WINNT directory tree, 1/3 9x style "over-install" where it
| simply overwrites Windows' files in the Program Files tree,
| and 1/3 creating problems with new folders in
| Documents and Settings.
|
| Hopefully I can fix the thing without having to reinstall it
| all again.
|
| And brickbats to Netscape for making their installer incompatable
| with a non-default Administrator folder name!
|
| What I'd love to know is how a system that had just the night
| before been running fine and properly shut down, no install
| cleanup or anything else pending for the next boot, blow its
| own Registry to bits while simply starting up? It was the
| Software section it was complaining about.

 

[GAlan]

win9x doesn't do profiles hence the difference. Not sure why microsoft
is responsible for your lack of backup capability. Check those
articles for how. For the other issue this may help.

Possible Data Loss After You Enable the "Write Cache Enabled" Feature
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=281672

What does the write cache have to do with reinstalling Windows 2000
creating new directories in Documents and Settings, which causes
various programs to not work?

I tried at least a dozen different methods of fixing this "feature"
to get the directories back to their proper names.

I finally gave up and reinstalled 2000 with formatting the drive.
Fortunately I hadn't yet wiped the customer's old, failing, drive
and was able to connect it to her PC and recover most of the important
files.

I consider this a lesson learned. You can't install Windows 2000
over itself if trying a repair install fails, it'll cause problems
instead of fixing them!

 

[Dave Patrick]

:
| > Possible Data Loss After You Enable the "Write Cache Enabled" Feature
| > http://support.microsoft.com/?id=281672
|
| What does the write cache have to do with reinstalling Windows 2000
| creating new directories in Documents and Settings, which causes
| various programs to not work?
* Possibly addresses the original problem.

| I tried at least a dozen different methods of fixing this "feature"
| to get the directories back to their proper names.
* 314045 and 296834 addressed this issue.


--
Regards,

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