William Leggett

What is a User Profile..?

A user profile on a Microsoft Windows XP system contains all the files and settings needed to configure your work environment. If the user profile becomes damaged, Windows XP will display one of two error messages when you log on to the system.

Why Doesn't it Load..?

Windows cannot load your profile because it may be corrupted. You may be logged in using a temporary User Profile.

OR:

The system has recovered from a serious error.

The operating system will then automatically create a new user profile and log you in to this new profile. When this occurs, you’ll immediately discover that all your personalized settings — such as color scheme, wallpaper, and icons — are gone. Even more disturbing is that the My Documents folder doesn’t show any of your documents. You’ll also discover that Outlook Express and Internet Explorer will be void of any of your personal settings and data.

When this happens, it’s very easy to quickly go into panic mode and think that you’ve lost everything. However, in most cases, all you’ve actually lost is the user profile and most, if not all, of your data is safe and sound.

You Must Be An Administrator

Keep in mind that in order to perform the recovery operations discussed in this article, you must be working from an account with computer administrator privileges. If the temporary account that Windows XP creates for you when your original becomes damaged has Computer Administrator privileges, you can use it as a staging area for the recovery operation. If it’s not, you’ll need to log off, then log on to the default Administrator account or to another account that has Computer Administrator privileges. I’ll refer to this as the “working account” throughout this article.

Backing Up Your Data

The first thing that you’ll want to do is make sure that the data in your original account is safe and then back it up. To begin the backup operation, launch Windows Explorer and navigate to the C:\Documents and Settings folder. Then, locate and open your original account folder. At this point, you should see all the files and folders in your original user profile, as shown below

You’ll then want to copy your crucial data files to another location. For example, you’ll definitely want to copy the contents of your My Documents folder, which will appear as UserName’sDocuments. (On my example system, it’s called William.Leggett’s Documents.) You may also want to copy the contents of the Favorites folder. If you’re using Outlook Express, you can find the files that make up your e-mail messages stored in the Local Settings\Application Data\Identities\{#####}\Microsoft\Outlook Express folder. You’ll find your Address Book file in the Application Data\Microsoft\Address Book folder. If you’re using Outlook 2000/XP, you’ll find the PST file in the Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook folder.

Once you’ve backed up your crucial data files, you can proceed with the recovery operation knowing that your data is indeed safe and sound.

Using System Restore

The first thing to try when attempting to recover a damaged user profile is a System Restore operation. As you know, the System Restore utility is designed to allow you to return your computer to the state it was at an earlier time period. In this case, the goal is to return your system to the state it was in before the user profile was damaged.

Before you attempt this operation, there are two things you need to be aware of. First, if there are multiple user accounts on the system, performing a System Restore operation will return all user profiles to the state they were in at that earlier time. Second, depending on the severity of the damage to the user profile, performing a System Restore operation may not be able to rectify the problem.

You’ll find the System Restore utility on the All Programs | Accessories | System Tools menu. Once you launch System Restore, you’ll see the Welcome To System Restore page and can simply click Next. On the Select A Restore Point page, select the last restore point created before

the damage to the user profile became apparent, then click Next. When you’re prompted to confirm the operation, click Next, and the restore operation will begin.

Once System Restore finishes, it will restart the system. When it does, you can attempt to log on using your original user account. If System Restore was able to successfully recover the user profile, everything should be the way it was.

If you’re still unable to log on to your original account, it’s time to escalate your user profile recovery operation to the next level. However, you may first want to undo the System Restore operation.

To undo the System Restore operation, log on to the working account and launch System Restore. When you see the Welcome To System Restore page, you’ll discover a new option titled Undo My Last Restoration. Just select that option, click Next, and follow the onscreen instructions.

Copying Your User Profile

In this user profile recovery technique, you’ll attempt to revive the user profile by creating a new account and, subsequently, a new user profile. You’ll then copy your old user profile in its entirety to the new account. While this may sound like an operation that will simply replicate the problem over to the new account, it does indeed revive the user profile on occasion. Again, keep in mind that the success of this attempt depends on the severity of the damage to the user profile. However, since it’s a relatively painless operation, it’s worth a shot.

To begin, access the Control Panel and launch the User Accounts tool. Next, select the Create A New Account link. Then, give the account a name and click Next. When prompted to pick an account type, make sure the Computer Administrator option button is selected, and then click the Create Account button.

Once you create the new account, close the User Accounts tool. Then, click Start | Log Off. When you see the Log Off Windows dialog box, click the Log Off button. When either the Welcome Screen or the Log On To Windows dialog box opens, select or type the name you used for the new account. As soon as you do, Windows XP will create a user profile for the new account.

When the user profile creation procedure is complete and the system starts up, immediately click Log Off. Then, log back on to the working account.

Now, open the Start menu, right-click My Computer, and select Properties. When you see the System Properties dialog box, select the Advanced tab. Then, locate and click the Settings button in the User Profiles section. You’ll now see a User Profiles dialog

You’ll use the User Profiles tool to copy your old user profile to the new account.

In this example, I’ll be copying the user profile from the William.Leggett account to the William.Leggett2 account. I’ll begin by selecting the William.Leggett user profile and clicking the Copy To button. When the Copy To dialog box appears, click the Browse button and then use the resulting Browse For Folder dialog box to locate the Documents and Settings folder and select the new account.

Once the copy operation finishes, close the User Profiles dialog box and the System Properties dialog box, then log off. At this point, you can attempt to log on to the new account. If this technique was able to successfully recover the user profile, everything should be the way it was.

If you’re still unable to log on to your account, it’s time to move to the next level. However, you’ll first need to completely remove the new user account and user profile. To do so, log on to the working account, access the User Profiles dialog box again, select the profile, and click the Delete button. Then, access the User Accounts tool and delete the new account and its files.

Moving To A New User Profile

In this user profile recovery technique, you’ll move to a new user profile by creating a new account and, subsequently, a new user profile. You’ll then copy your data files and other portions of the user profile from your original to the new one. Keep in mind that when you move to a new user profile in this manner, you will lose all your personalized settings, such as color scheme, wallpaper, and icons.

You’ll follow the instructions I presented earlier for creating a new account and a new user profile. In short, you’ll access the User Accounts tool to create a new account. Then, log on to the new account to create a default new user profile. Finally, log off and then log back on to the working account.

To begin this operation, launch Windows Explorer and navigate to the C:\Documents and Settings folder. Then, locate and open your original account folder. At this point, you should see all the files and folders in your original user profile, as shown earlier in Figure A.

Copy the contents of the folders containing the data that you want to move to your new user profile. In the case of my example system, I’d begin by copying the contents of the C:\Documents and Settings\William.Leggett\William.Leggett’s Documents folder to the C:\Documents and settings\William.Leggett2\William.Leggett2’s folder.

In addition, you’ll want to copy the contents of the Favorites, Outlook Express, and Address Book folders if you’re using that e-mail program, or the Outlook folder. You may also want to copy the contents of Cookies, Templates, and any other folders that contain critical data files.

Be careful not to copy any files that are specifically related to the operating system, as any one of those files could be the culprit in the case of the corrupted user profile. For example, you definitely won’t want to copy Ntuser.dat, Ntuser.pol, or Ntuser.ini from your old user profile to your new one.

When you’re finished copying files, log out of the working profile, and then log on to your new user profile. When you do, you should be able to access all your data files and most of your applications, just as you did with your old profile. However, keep in mind that you may have to reinstall or at least reconfigure some of your applications. And, of course, you’ll need to recreate all your personalized settings.

Cleaning out your old profile

Once you’ve totally moved into your new user profile, you’ll want to permanently delete your old, corrupted user profile. While you may be tempted to do so from within Windows Explorer, you shouldn’t because it won’t completely remove all the settings associated with your old user profile.

To do it the right way, access the User Profiles tool from the Advanced tab of the System Properties dialog box. Once you do, select the old user profile from the list and click the Delete button.

Im often asked by friends or family to take a look at there pc's as they have gone wrong for some reason. Either a virus, malicious software or a sofwtare update has currupted the system. Im often surprised that so few people realise how simple it is to resolve this problem, as XP and Vista both have this functionality built in.

Ok to start with you need to locate the program. this is found by going to Start, Accessories, System Tools. As shown below.  

The next screen is the welcome screen to the system restore process. Select "Restore my computer to an earlier time"

On the Select a Restore Point page, click on a bold date on the calendar pryer to the day of the problem stated. There may also be a restore point for an earlier time on the same day. Try to use a restore point as close as possible to a time just before the problem started. If the problem persists, an earlier restore point can be used.

On the Confirm Restore Point Selection page, click Next. System Restore restores the previous Windows XP configuration, and then restarts the computer.

Click next and the restore will start, this can take varying amounts of time depending on how powerful your machine and how much data is on the drive.

If Windows will not start in normal mode

 System Restore can be run form Safe Mode or Safe Mode Command Prompt.

 Warning: When restoring a system from Safe Mode or from the Command Prompt an Undo restore point will NOT be created!

Or type or paste the following command in the Start - Run box then press Enter.

%systemroot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe

Typing DOS commands on the Windows Command Line prompt is a most efficient and faster way of doing things in Windows XP. Here's a run-down of the most useful DOS commands available in Windows XP. Some of these DOS commands even do not have an visual alternative.

DOS Command-line tools must be run at the prompt of the Cmd.exe command interpreter. To open Command Prompt, click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then click OK.

ipconfig - Windows IP configuration
Useful for troubleshooting your internet connection. Displays the current IP address of your computer and the DNS server address. If you call your ISP for reporting a bad internet connection, he will probably ask you to run ipconfig.

fc - Free BeyondCompare in XP
FC is an advanced DOS Command that compares two files and displays the differences between them. Though the file comparison results are not as interactive as BeyondCompare or Altova DiffDog, fc is still very useful. You can even set fc to resynchronize the files after finding a mismatch.

type - open text files sans Notepad
Similar to Unix cat command, Type is my favorite DOS command for displaying the contents of a text files without modifying them. When used in combination with more switch, type splits the contents of lengthy text files into multiple pages. Avoid using the type command with binary files or you'll hear alien PC beeps and see some greek characters on your PC.

ping - Say hello to another computer
Ping network command followed by the web-address or IP address tells you about the health of the connection and whether the other party is responding to your handshake request. Ping tool can also be used to convert the web address to a physical IP address.

tree - visual directory structure
You often need to take prints of your physical directory structure but XP has no simple "visual" commands for printing directory contents. Here, try the Tree DOS command and redirect the output to a text file.

tree > mydirectory.txt
print mydirectory.txt

attrib - make hidden files visible
Attrib lets you change attributes of System files and even hidden files. This is great for troubleshooting Windows XP. Say your XP doesn't boot ever since you edited that startup boot.ini file (Hidden), use attrib to remove the Hidden attibute and edit the file using EDIT dos command.

assoc - which program will open that .xyz file
The assoc DOS command can be used to either isplay or even modify the file name extension associations. The command assoc .htm will quickly tell you the name of your default web browser (see picture)

move - more flexible than copy-paste
Say you got a lot of XLS and DOC files in you MyDocuments folder and want to move only those XLS files that have their name ending with 2006. In XP Explorer, you have to manually select each file and then cut-paste to another folder. However, the DOS move command make things much simpler. Just type the following at the command prompt:
move *2006.xls c:\2006Reports\

find - advanced file search with filter
Find is the most powerful DOS command and even more useful than the Windows Desktop Search tool or the Windows Find Wizard. The find command searches for a specific string of text in a file or files. After searching the specified file or files, find displays any lines of text that contain the specified string.

To search your hard disk to find and display the file names on drive C: that contain the string "Google" use the pipe (|) to direct the results of a dir command to find as follows:
dir c:\ /s /b | find "Google"

Quick tip - Drag to avoid typing: When your command acts on a file or folder, you must type the path to that folder after the command. You can save typing time by dragging the file or folder from Windows Explorer into the command window.

To view help at the command-line, at the command prompt, type the following:
CommandName /?