Retrieve documents that were moved to TEMP user profile

[flep]

I have a user that logged into her Windows XP PC and didn't realize she was
in a TEMP user profile. She then moved all the files from her true windows
profile to the temp profile. She then rebooted and lost all the documents
from her desktop.

Is there any way to recover the documents that were in the TEMP profile?

Thanks in advance!

 

[John John - MVP]

Please explain what is the "TEMP" profile. Who created the TEMP
profile? Was the profile and its files deleted by someone after she
logged out? If not the files should still all be there in the TEMP profile.

John

 

[flep]

Literally temporary user profile. In folder documents and settings where are
all profiles was hidden folder (/profile) called "TEMP" and when I restarted
system it was gone! With files

 

[John John - MVP]

Was the user using a roaming profile?

John

Literally temporary user profile. In folder documents and settings where are
all profiles was hidden folder (/profile) called "TEMP" and when I restarted
system it was gone! With files

 

[flep]

I'm sorry but what does roaming user mean?
A computer was used by it's owner but windows made (I don't know why) a
temporary user profile which was deleted after reset and win came back to
normal profile...
Now i need to restore files from this temp profile

 

[John John - MVP]

Then I take it that the user's computer is not joined to a domain?

It would be unusual for Windows to create a TEMP user profile under
C:\Documents and Settings on a standalone workstation. Usually these
temporary profiles are created by Windows when the user profile becomes
corrupt or if the user loses access permission to his profile folder.
On standalone workstations the usual naming for these temporary profiles
follows this naming scheme:

* If the UserName folder does not already exist, Windows names the
new profile folder:
UserName

* If the UserName folder already exists, Windows names the new
profile folder:
UserName.ComputerName

* If the UserName.ComputerName folder already exists, Windows names
the new profile folder:
UserName.ComputerName.000

* If the UserName.ComputerName.000 folder already exists, Windows
uses the next available increment of the UserName.ComputerName.000
naming scheme.

For example:
UserName.ComputerName.001

This is explained here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/324734
How To Restore a User Profile in Windows Server 2003

When on a domain where the user profile is stored locally Windows uses
this naming scheme: UserName.DomainName.000 and so on.

A Roaming Profile is a profile that is stored on a server, as opposed to
stored locally, that way the user can log on to the domain from any
workstation on the domain and have all his files and settings the same
regardless of where he logs on. In this scenario if the user loses
access to his profile, or if the profile becomes corrupt, Windows
creates a local TEMP profile as you explain (C:\Documents and
Settings\TEMP) and then, being that roaming profiles are never stored
locally, Windows deletes the TEMP profile when the user logs off. In
that case unless a copy of the files are backup or still stored on the
server the files and settings in the TEMP folder are lost. A file
recovery utility might be able to recover the files.

John