Hi Ramesh,
What was happening was, when I rebooted, a new All Users folder was created,
which of course I couldn't delete or rename, as it was in use. Also, I
couldn't rename All Users.WINDOWS to All Users, because the name already
existed. Catch 22.
The answer was so obvious I couldn't see it. I made a copy of All Users, set
the registry value to "Copy of All Users", and rebooted. Now all I had to do
was rename All Users.WINDOWS to All Users, point the registry value to it,
and reboot again. Job done!
One tiny issue, though - a couple of my applications, that were installed
for all users, can't find their data files (because the path has changed),
but I can easily fix that.
Thanks for your help!
Regards Tony.
Tony,
Did you reboot the system after updating the registry value? I was able to
rename the All Users folder after changing the value, and rebooting once. I
had to close my anti-virus software (Grisoft AVG) as it was having a lock on
its log file in the All Users folder.
--
Regards,
Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows Shell/User]
Windows® Troubleshooting
http://www.winhelponline.com
Hi Ramesh,
Well, I followed your instructions - no problem with Default User.WINDOWS,
but Windows won't let me rename All Users.WINDOWS. It says it's a system
file and cannot be renamed, even though I've changed those values in the
registry.
Just to be safe, I've now gone back to the restore point I created
beforehand, so nothing lost - I'm back where I started. Maybe there's a bit
more work to do in the registry?
Regards Tony.
Ramesh said:
Yes. Change-Reboot and rename the folder. Before that, make a complete
registry backup using ERUNT, and also create a restore point.
[ERUNT] Registry Backup and Restore for Windows
http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/
[ERUNT Download URLs]
http://www.aumha.org/downloads/erunt.zip
http://www.aumha.org/downloads/erunt-setup.exe
[Installing & Using ERUNT]
http://www.winxptutor.com/regback.htm
http://www.silentrunners.org/sr_eruntuse.html
http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/erunt.txt
--
Regards,
Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows Shell/User]
Windows® Troubleshooting
http://www.winhelponline.com
Thanks, Ramesh - under the registry key you suggested
(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList), the profiles listed are All Users.WINDOWS
and Default User.WINDOWS, and no other.
If I read you correctly, I can delete All Users And Default User from
Documents and Settings (obviously, I'll back them up).
What I'd also like to do is remove the .WINDOWS extension from the profiles
that are in use. Can I do that if I change the registry values accordingly?
I realise I don't *need* to do this - I'd just like to tidy things up!
Regards Tony.
Type in Start, Run:
cmd /k set
The real ALLUSERSPROFILE folder that's in use, will be shown.
Alternately, you can find the folder paths from the registry.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList
Values named "AllUsersProfile" and "DefaultUserProfile" contain the full
path to the respective folders.
The remaining ones can be deleted after backing them up.
--
Regards,
Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows Shell/User]
Windows® Troubleshooting
http://www.winhelponline.com
Hello group,
Due to a re-installation of Windows XP when the machine was new, I have two
unused user folders - Default User and All Users. The machine uses Default
User.WINDOWS and All Users.WINDOWS.
Can I delete the unused ones, and rename the others without the .WINDOWS
extension? Or will my machine go bang? And if I can, is it as simple as
that, or will I have to do other stuff as well?
Everything works fine, it's not a big problem, I can live with it, but it's
untidy and it bugs me (a little).
If it makes a difference, it's OEM, SP1 with SP2 installed afterwards.
TIA Tony.
