Lost User settings

[scobe]

Hi,

I am new here so please go easy on me!

I have a Dell Dimension 2300, with windows XP Home.

There are five users, myself being addmin.

When I logged on to my user name, All of my settings have gone, the pc sees me as a new user. I have lost all my saved documents, photo,s everything.

All other users start as normal.

Have just noticed that some of the key pad buttons are not working in the correct order.

I hope you can make some sense of what I am trying to say!

Any thoughts & advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

scobe

 

PS, I have tried a system restore

[snow]

Hi scobe, welcome to FPCH

 

It sounds like your user account has been put back to default settings. This might happen if your profile was deleted, moved, or re-named.

 

Navigate to C:\Documents and Settings\

 

How manny different accounts do you see there?

Can you see your own account listed, or more than one copy of it?

[scobe]

Hi Snow

Thanks for your reply.

I looked where you requested, there are 13 files, my account is not listed.

 

Can I recover it? Or is all lost?

 

scobe

[scobe]

Just found all of my settings in "Owners account" in C:\Documents and Settings\. :)

 

How do I reinstate this as my user account?

 

Again any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

scobe

[RandyL]

If I'm not mistaken if your account profile is corrupted the best thing might be to make a new account and copy your data over to it.

 

Have a look at post 3 by Tootech in this other thread.

 

It would be a good idea to hear what snow has to say first though before doing anything.

[scobe]

Thanks allot Randy,

 

At least I can recover my old files.

 

Will I have to keep the old user account? I see from your link that some files cannot be copied, I presume not allowing full admin/owner rights with the new user account.

 

I will hold for on now, to see if Snow has any other fixes.

 

Much appreciated!

 

scobe

[RandyL]

Wait for snow please scobe.

 

Any data files such as pics and text can be recovered if it's just the account profile that is corrupted as the files themselves still exist. If a new Admin account is created it can access all users files whether it be user or admin files. I've done it.

 

snow or tootech will know more so please wait for them or other members to post.

[danzil]

i agree with RandyL following tootech's advise and you will be up and running in no time at all.

 

post back if you have any problems....

 

regards

danzil

[snow]

Sorry for not getting back sooner,

 

You can't copy the User account your are currently logged in with. The best thing to do would be to login as the 'Administrator' account to do this.

 

To copy a user profile in XP, Click start, then right-click on 'My Computer' and choose Properties.

 

Click the 'Advanced' tab. Under the 'User Profiles' heading click 'Settings'.

 

Highligh the user profile you want to copy, and select 'Copy to'

[scobe]

Thanks everyone for the help!

 

Snow,

 

I logged onto my original admin user account, then went through the process you listed above.

 

I have already opened a new user account, so tried to copy to this account.

 

I then received this message.....

 

Confirm Copy.

 

"User name" already exists. The current contents of this directory or this file will be deleted during this operation. Are you sure you want to continue?

 

So I click yes, only to receive another message.....

 

Profile Error.

 

Failed to set security destination profile. Error-Access is denied.

 

What am I doing wrong?

 

I know I followed your instructions. I logged onto my original account & tried to send to an account not logged on.

 

scobe

[scobe]

A little update!

 

I tried Snows method again this morning.

 

All went well, definitely copied.

 

Typed in the user account I wanted to send it too, but when I opened said account, there was nothing there. Now I don't know where It has gone!

 

I must be getting close! I Don't want to re-copy as it uses a bit of disc space.

 

Any ideas of how to find where it went?

 

scobe

 

Just a thought!

 

If the original file was corrupt, would a straight copy also have the corruption?

[snow]

If you look in C:\Documents and Settings\

 

Are there any new accounts listed now? What happens if you try copying from your old account to a completely new one?

 

I don't see why your original account data would be corrupt. This would only happen if your hard disk was having problems. The old account should be fine as long as it remains on your drive.

[scobe]

I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong. I did copy to a new file, but it seems to have copied to a temporary file. I don't know why.

 

When assigning a place to copy too, I just typed in the name of the new user account. Is this right?

 

I have looked in C:\Documents and Settings\.

There are new accounts including the temporary file, But most, (except the temp file) appear to be almost empty.

 

I'm worried about re-trying, as so much disc space is used.

 

What should I do next? Bearing in mind I am a beginner in these matters!

 

scobe