Trying to restore old account after XP reinstall.

[Guest]

PC with XP pro has recently had XP re-installed. The old user acct was for
Paul then after re-install acct Ringo was created. Problem is email & links
to software and, I think, the old User registry is in Paul. I am looking for
solution to restart Paul & eliminate Ringo & both .WINDOWS dirs.
Current view of C:\Documents and Settings:
Administrator\same old stuff
All Users\old stuff
All Users.WINDOWS\new & not much now
Default User\old stuff
Default User.WINDOWS\new & not much now
Paul\all the old email & lots of old stuff + prob old user registry
Ringo\not much
Currently safe mode only gives login to Administrator & Ringo. I had a plan
to make backup of registry then use my Nortons registry editor to change all
occurances of Ringo -> Paul, Default User.WINDOWS -> Default User, & All
Users.WINDOWS -> All Users. I see either a nice solution to a reoccuring
problem or a MAJOR MESS. Please let me know what my options are.
Thank, Dave

 

[Anagram]

I recommend starting fresh and importing whats important. This is the
cleanest and most reliable way, if a bit more tedious.

1. rename the old paul directory in c:\documents and settings\
directory to paul.backup .
2. create a new user account "Paul"
3. login as Paul and start a "manual import" by copying key folders.
For instance: copy the Favorites folder and the Desktop folder and the
My Documents folder from paul.backup to Paul, confirming "Yes" if
Windows asks you if you want to overwrite existing folders. The
trickier things will be Outlook and/or outlook express importing. Take
a look at support.microsoft.com for detailed instructions on that.
4. copy over any things in Ringo profile directory if they are
valuable, or if you are sure you don't need anything in there, delete
the account. Often deleting the account leaves the profile folder, so
once you have deleted the Ringo account (and you are *sure* you need
nothing else from the profile) you can just delete the profile folder
while logged in with Administrator privileges.

-- Anagram

 

[Guest]

Well, I thought it might come to that or something nearly like it. In
the past I've been able to restore a best candidate acct from several by
renaming all but Administrator dirs under settings dir to temps befor the
fresh install, much as you suggest. When the new user acct is created it can
be renamed temporarly from a amin login and best candidate dirs renamed to
match newly created acct name.
So in my case I would login admin and append .BACKUP to the 6 dirs Paul,
Ringo, All Users, All Users.WINDOWS, Default User, & Default User.WINDOWS.
Then begin fresh install and create a new Paul acct and I'll get new All
Users & Default User dirs also. Login as admin and rename by appending .TMP
to new Paul, All Users, & Default User dirs. Change old dirs Paul.BACKUP ->
Paul, All Users.BACKUP -> All Users, & Default User.BACKUP -> Default User.
At this point I could consolidate any useful links from other defunct accts.
In my case I wouldn't need to since there is onlly 1 acct. Once I'm sure I've
got favorites, email & the important things I can delete the dirs that end in
..BACKUP & .TMP because they are now defunct with no login that will access
them. All that is left is old Paul, All Users, Default User, & Administrator
as it should be. I don't delete anything until I'm sure it'll fly.
This has worked for me in the past. The advantage to this is that I dont
wind up copying many (if any) files. People become quite comfortable with old
setups and I usually get quite close. Also I don't have to reinstall software
as happens sometimes when you start from a new user acct after fresh install.
I think what happens is many of the file associations are lost even though
you can find or create links to existing files under Program Files dir so I
don't even try. I go straight to either restore old acct or reinstall all the
software.
I had hoped there was an easy way around all that. You are right that
clean results can be tedious.
Thanks Dave