Strange Problem - Switching Between User Profiles.

[Guest]

I have a relatively minor but puzzling problem that I was hoping someone
could shed some light on.

I usually operate two user profiles in XP Professional (which both have
administrator status). The first one is the account that I use 99.9% of the
time, the second one is mainly for just checking whether any issues I am
having in my main account are replicated in another user account (and gets
used infrequently). The second account actually gets created and deleted
quite regularly.

Recently I have been encountering the following problem on average about
once a week.

When I log-off from my main account and try to login to the secondary
account (WITHOUT performing a restart) I get the following error message:

"Windows cannot load the locally stored profile. Possible causes of this
error include insufficient security rights or a corrupt local profile. If
this problem persists, contact your network administrator."

And then a second error pops up that says:

"Windows cannot find the local profile and is logging you on with a
temporary profile. Changes you make to this profile will be lost when you log
off."

After this, it loads me on to the temporary profile.

If I then restart my computer and try to load the secondary profile, after a
delay of about one minute as the user settings are applied (which takes much
longer than normal) everything works fine - and the problem won’t occur again
for about a week.

I never have a problem loading my main account.

My questions are:
- Is it normal for this to occur some times? However, I don’t recall this
happening until about 1 month ago.
- I suspect that the problem occurs more frequently when I have made setting
changes in my main account (eg to IE7 or WMP11). Is it possible that after I
make these changes my computer requires a restart before it can switch to
another user profile? I rarely restart my computer, as I leaving it running
24/7.
- Can anyone shed any light on this issue?

I would greatly appreciate any help.

Cheers,

Craig

 

[Guest]

- Can anyone shed any light on this issue?

I would greatly appreciate any help.

I've had this problem in some of my users. Usually the fault lies with some
system/configuration/temp file stored in your 2nd account. I suggest this:
- create a new acount;
-login to it;
- using windows explorer (or 2 windows side-by-side), go to "C:\Documents
and Settings" and copy any docs/music/video files , favorites folder, CONTENT
of "desktop folder" (not the folder itself), etc from account 2 (the "bad"
account) to account 3 (the new one). Just this; DO NOT copy any temps,
settings, etc.
-check everything is ok with account 3;
-using "control panel", users, delete account 2. Then manually delete all
files of account 2 in "C:\Documents and Settings"

 

[Guest]

I've had this problem in some of my users. Usually the fault lies with some
system/configuration/temp file stored in your 2nd account. I suggest this:
- create a new acount;
-login to it;
- using windows explorer (or 2 windows side-by-side), go to "C:\Documents
and Settings" and copy any docs/music/video files , favorites folder, CONTENT
of "desktop folder" (not the folder itself), etc from account 2 (the "bad"
account) to account 3 (the new one). Just this; DO NOT copy any temps,
settings, etc.
-check everything is ok with account 3;
-using "control panel", users, delete account 2. Then manually delete all
files of account 2 in "C:\Documents and Settings"

Thanks for your response.

The strange thing is that I regularly delete the secondary account and
recreate another account (without transferring any of the files) as the
secondary account is really only an account that I test things with if i have
a problem with my main account.

I guess the question is why the secondary account keeps getting corrupted
such that it will only open if I restart the computer.

 

[Guest]

I guess the question is why the secondary account keeps getting corrupted
such that it will only open if I restart the computer.

Sometimes the most basic solutions are the best...

Reboot in safe mode, full disk scan and defrag...

 

[Guest]

:

Reboot in safe mode, full disk scan and defrag...

Thanks for your advice, I will give it a go.