User login creates a new user profile

[Doug Starkey]

This may not be the best place for this posting, but I'm not sure where
it fits. I'll gladly take any recommendations for a more appropriate
forum.

I have a desktop machine that has been working fine for several weeks
now. Running XP Professional SP2. User comes in this morning and logs
in... all of her normal "Desktop stuff" is gone. All shortcuts, folders,
etc. None of her documents are in "My Documents".

I log on as administrator and find that there is now a second user
profile with her name, except appended with a ".000". EG:
C:\Documents & Settings\username
C:\Documents & Settings\username.000

Why would this happen? Nothing has changed that I am aware of in terms
of DNS settings or Workgroup membership. Is there something else I am
missing? How do I/can I stop this?

Thanks,

 

[R. McCarty]

Corrupted Profile data (NTUser.Dat) file likely. With a valid username
& password the system simply couldn't access the existing profile and
instead created a new one (e.g. the same name appended with .000)
The NTUser.Dat represents the User Hive of the Registry. When this
cannot be loaded, the appearance and settings of the original profile
will not be available in the temporary profile XP creates).

 

[Doug Starkey]

Okay, is there a way to fix that? restore from a backup possibly? Or do
I simply copy all there "personal" stuff into the new profile directory
& delete the old one?

Sorry, I'm still pretty new at this, so your answer did not suggest an
immediate solution to me.

Thanks,

-Doug

 

[R. McCarty]

It's possible, but many settings and program options are stored inside
of NTUser.Dat. If that file is corrupted, you can recover data, like My
Documents, Favorites but other items will be lost.
If a backup of the data hasn't been done, I would suggest you login to
the another Administrator level account and burn the contents of the
original profile to CD-R disk for safety.

To copy profiles must be done from an account/username not currently
logged in. ( Profile is in use by the Registry )

Basically, it works like this:
1. Create a new account.
2. Log into that account one time to initialize it with default settings.
3. Log out and back into another Administrator level account.
4. Right Click My Computer, Left Click Properties
5. When the Details box opens, Click Advanced (Tab)
6. Click the Settings button in the middle section User Profiles
7. Highlight the profile you want to copy from (Left Click, Turns Blue)
8. Click the Copy To Button
9. Use Browse & Navigate to the C:\Documents & Settings (folder)
10. Select the newly created Profile named sub-folder, OK (Be Careful!
that you are picking the right profile, this operation is not
reversible)
11. Change User access rights to include the newly added profile
12. Login to the new account and see if Settings & Data are replicated
from the original profile.

If unsure about this process, re-post with specific questions and please
take time to backup before starting.

 

[Allen M]

Something has changed in her profile. Did you remove her from any local
machine groups such as Administrators?

 

[Guest]

Doug,
Thanks for posting! Having the same problem with students and their
laptops. All of a sudden a student logs in and it creates the "user.000"
account and they lose access to everything. Wish someone could figure out
what is causing it. I don't think it is Allen M's idea because they have
limited rights and can't change groups etc. Problem seems to be increasing
though, have had it occur probably 5 times in the last week or so (among 125
laptops).