Windows XP changing User Profile

A

Archie

Windows XP Home Edition SP2 + post SP2 patches up to May 13, 2008. DHCP from
Linksys router, Running MSSQLServer in background.

Have been running this computer for several years. I booted into safeMode
to run some virus checks and when I rebooted my user profile had been
changed. I did some research in these discussion groups and came across the
post of 4/15/2008 “Losing Windows XP Profile Association†from John.

Further research in C:\Documents and Settings showed that the original
Administrator and HP_Owner directories where still there and still had the
correct information but two new ones had been created.

I now have:
Administrator and
Administrator.computerName (not actual computername used)
HP_Owner and
HP_Owner.computerName

The main log in was HP_Owner and that directory seems to have all the
correct information in the directories but does not have a NTUSER.dat. There
is a ntuser.ini, hpothb07.dat, hpotho7.tif . Not sure how to read this dat
file but look at it in word I can see errors associated with Documents and
Settings\HP_Owner.

All three other directories have NTYSER.dat files with the HP_Owner one
being the largest. HP_Owner was the normal sign on and HP_owner was set up
as Admin I believe.

The computerName it is attaching is the computer name in System Properties
to identify the computer on the net work. It has now shown up in User
Profiles as ComputerName\Administrator and ComputerName\HP_Owner with no
reference to the two original ones that do not have the computer name
appended but are still there.

I checked and C:\Windows\System32\config.. has the info from the directory
HP_Owner.ComputerName that it is log into.

I noticed that John said that after he straightened it out by deleting
directories that it returned after he rebooted. I expect it is some new
network rules in naming in the latest MS updates and will continue so it is
probably good to move to the new naming.


Several things:
1) I have used safemode lots of times and never had this occur.
2) This looks like a new naming policy from Microsoft but how do I get my
original configuration back and still present their new naming?
3) John mentioned and showed the contents of some log. Where is this and
how do I read it?
4) What can validly be done with the C:\Documents and Settings directories?
5) Can I move the NYUSER.dat file between directories?
6) Can I move the New directory with the attached computername and then
rename the old one to that name to satisfy the user name now stored in the
user profiles?
7) Since the HP_Owner was assigned Administrator it seems to have the
NYUSER.dat file in all directories except the original HP_Owner directory,
which is the one I need to use. It only seems to have log files. How do I
put a NTUser.dat back in here as the one that was here and was moved to
HP_Owner.ComputerName is the largest one as that was the one used daily?

Sorry this is so long winded, and Thanks for the help.

Archie
 
P

Pegasus \(MVP\)

Archie said:
Windows XP Home Edition SP2 + post SP2 patches up to May 13, 2008. DHCP
from
Linksys router, Running MSSQLServer in background.

Have been running this computer for several years. I booted into safeMode
to run some virus checks and when I rebooted my user profile had been
changed. I did some research in these discussion groups and came across
the
post of 4/15/2008 "Losing Windows XP Profile Association" from John.

Further research in C:\Documents and Settings showed that the original
Administrator and HP_Owner directories where still there and still had the
correct information but two new ones had been created.

I now have:
Administrator and
Administrator.computerName (not actual computername used)
HP_Owner and
HP_Owner.computerName

The main log in was HP_Owner and that directory seems to have all the
correct information in the directories but does not have a NTUSER.dat.
There
is a ntuser.ini, hpothb07.dat, hpotho7.tif . Not sure how to read this
dat
file but look at it in word I can see errors associated with Documents and
Settings\HP_Owner.

All three other directories have NTYSER.dat files with the HP_Owner one
being the largest. HP_Owner was the normal sign on and HP_owner was set
up
as Admin I believe.

The computerName it is attaching is the computer name in System Properties
to identify the computer on the net work. It has now shown up in User
Profiles as ComputerName\Administrator and ComputerName\HP_Owner with no
reference to the two original ones that do not have the computer name
appended but are still there.

I checked and C:\Windows\System32\config.. has the info from the
directory
HP_Owner.ComputerName that it is log into.

I noticed that John said that after he straightened it out by deleting
directories that it returned after he rebooted. I expect it is some new
network rules in naming in the latest MS updates and will continue so it
is
probably good to move to the new naming.


Several things:
1) I have used safemode lots of times and never had this occur.
2) This looks like a new naming policy from Microsoft but how do I get my
original configuration back and still present their new naming?
*** What is the importance of the profile folder's name?
*** Isn't it its contents that counts?
3) John mentioned and showed the contents of some log. Where is this and
how do I read it?
*** You should post its name.
4) What can validly be done with the C:\Documents and Settings
directories?
*** You can do anything with these folders (except for your current
*** profile folder) but you should really leave them alone.
5) Can I move the NYUSER.dat file between directories?
*** I assume you mean NTUser.dat. If you move it around
*** then you will probably cripple that particular profile.
6) Can I move the New directory with the attached computername and then
rename the old one to that name to satisfy the user name now stored in the
user profiles?
*** This is much same question as 5) above. I don't think it's
*** a good idea.
7) Since the HP_Owner was assigned Administrator it seems to have the
NYUSER.dat file in all directories except the original HP_Owner directory,
which is the one I need to use. It only seems to have log files. How do
I
put a NTUser.dat back in here as the one that was here and was moved to
HP_Owner.ComputerName is the largest one as that was the one used daily?
*** The NTUser.dat file is part of your registry. It does not
*** get moved around. If you cannot see this file in some
*** profile folders then it's either because it is hidden or else
*** because nobody has ever logged on under this account.
Sorry this is so long winded, and Thanks for the help.

Archie

*** I don't know why a now profile folder was created for your
*** logon account. The simplest way to resolve the issue would
*** be to change a registry entry so that it points once more
*** to your original profile folder. Its location is kept here:
*** HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList
*** To play it safe, you could do this:
*** 1. Log on as Administrator.
*** 2. Create a Restore Point.
*** 3. Make the registry change.
*** 4. Reboot.
 
A

Archie

Thanks for your response.

*** What is the importance of the profile folder's name?
*** Isn't it its contents that counts?

Yes, but the old profiles are no longer available for use and the new one
was created as just a basic set with none of the setups, favorites, network,
e-mail etc. It seemed to be a copy of the original administrator account
that came with the machine. If I could get to the old user profile I could
create a new one but even though I have the directories they don’t show up in
the User Profiles window either in normal boot or safemode.


*** You should post its name.

 post of 4/15/2008 "Losing Windows XP Profile Association" from John.

I will try the steps you suggest and see if I can get to the original.

Thanks so much,
 
A

Archie

Pegasus

Created a restore point made the change to the registry and did a reboot.

Windows created a new directory under C:\Documents and Settings

I now have:
Administrator and
Administrator.ARCHNEWHP
HP_Owner and
HP_Owner. ARCHNEWHP and
HP_Owner. ARCHNEWHP.000

And the entry in the registry is HP_Owner. ARCHNEWHP.000 where I had
changed it back to HP_owner. Again even though the original users names were
HP_owner and Administrator and the directories are still under C:\Documents
and Settings they do not show up in the user profiles. The login screen or
the user accounts in the control panel show only HP_Owner, sub computer
administrator.

Registry looks like this:
ProfileList
S-1-5-18
S-1-5-19
S-5-1-20

S-1-5-21-44457510-2906858678-3850451479-1009
S-1-5-21-44457510-2906858678-3850451479-500

The two with the long numbers are the the admin with computername and
HP_user with computername.

Registry entry:
%SystemDrive%\Documents and Settings\HP_Owner.ARCHNEWHP.000

Name on start window and if I try to log off and switch logins, is only
HP_Owner.

Thanks
 
P

Pegasus \(MVP\)

Log on under your normal account, then use "My Computer"
to open up your original profile folder in "C:\Documents and
Settings". Do you have full access to all files and folders? Can
you open some files? Can you create and save a file in
"C:\Documents and Settings\HP_Owner"?
 
A

Archie

Pegasus,

I seem to be able to open, copy, edit, store files there. I stored one into
the HP_Owner folder and the favorites folder; copied from the favorites to
the HP_Owner; opened files in most directories. I did the same in all the
profiles and they seem to act the same. Accessing HP_Owner is very slow
compared to the others.

Other data:

Administrator, NTUSER.dat 10/10/2006
Administrator.ARCHNEWHP, NTUSER.dat 5/30/2008
HP_Owner , no NTUSER.dat, ntuser.ini 5/30/2008, Temp folders 5/29/2008
HP_Owner. ARCHNEWHP NTUSER.dat 5/30/2008
HP_Owner. ARCHNEWHP.000, NTUSER.dat 5/31/2008 , 9:16 AM


Looking through the registry it seems most everything is still pointing at
HP_Owner as the user.

hiveList points to HP_Owner. ARCHNEWHP.000
Session manager\Environment points to HP_Owner

HKU..windows\explorer all points to HP_Owner. ARCHNEWHP.000
 
P

Pegasus \(MVP\)

I assumed for a while that the HP_Owner account had lost
the proper access rights to its own profile folder, hence the
proliferation of profile folders. This is obviously not the case.
I also have no explanation for the slow disk access, unless you
have a damaged disk (which you would see in the Event Viewer
accessible with the command eventvwr.exe).

I have run out of silver bullets. If this was my machine then
I would stop running round in circles and concentrate on
restoring a stable mode of operation. I would do this:
1. Create a new account, e.g. Archie
2. Reboot a few times to ensure that the profile folder sticks.
3. Log on as administrator and give Archie full access right
over the profile folder that contains the original files.
4. Copy all data files across to the new profile.
5. Reconfigure EMail and any other application that needs
configuring.
 
A

Archie

Thanks, I will try rolling back to before the 28th. I ran eventvwr.exe and
see some system errors for service control manager and DCOM for
Administrator. don't know what that means. Will do some research. will do
some damage control and see where I get. I'll let you know what I find.
 
A

Archie

Pegasus,
I have the new account set up and access rights set. In Home edition the
process of permissions involves going to safemode as the feature is not
available in normal mode. But it is done.

You say copy “data files†across. It is all data to the computer so which
ones are off limits. Contacts, Favorites, local settings, start Menu, and
Start Up all look like they could be copied but can I move most everything
except the NTUSER.dat that is out side of the sub folders???

After I have this up and stable I am considering copying the other user
directories to my G: drive for safety. Deleting the odd directories and
copying the working one to a new user name and giving it Admin rights.
Almost everything on this computer was done in Admin mode so access to most
things are now denied. I’ll wait and see how the next steps work out.
 

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