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I had exactly that message when I booted up my laptop to finish my workday at home today. I let the boot finish, restarted the machine, and voila, my user profile was, indeed, intact, and not corrupted. This works about 95% of the time. If it doesn't work, you can then proceed with the fixes given here, though I would avoid the system restore, since it seems to do more damage than fixing when it is run.
Some time ago I did a system restore to try to recover from a program installation that had caused a minor problem. I found out that the system restore didn't correct that problem, and therefore decided to undo the restore. In the middle of the undo process, I received an error message saying something like "Windows is unable to undo the system restore". I ended up with a completely messed up, unusable system, and had to reinstall Windows XP from scratch.
So, I would avoid using System Restore, except as the very last resort, if nothing else works. Of course, if you have first performed a full backup (not only of the user data, but a complete disk image), then you can try System Restore, because you know that you can actually recover if it messes up.
So, I would avoid using System Restore, except as the very last resort, if nothing else works. Of course, if you have first performed a full backup (not only of the user data, but a complete disk image), then you can try System Restore, because you know that you can actually recover if it messes up.
Sorry to hear of the bad experience. However, I have used System Restore numerous times on systems I support and have had excellent results. As with any type of recovery/repair procedure, always make backups of critical data, onto a media other than the media that has the issue being addressed; preferably, a removable media or different system, NAS, file server, etc.
If the problem is due to a CRC problem with the Ntuser.dat file, then just run a chkdsk on the hard drive in question, and most likely the problem will be cured
My problem is not a corrupted user account folder. I had to create a new user account with a NEW DOMAIN, that created a new set of folders under the Documents and Settings folder. There is a ton of Application Data folders, Local Settings folders, etc. etc. Is there an easy way to move this data to the new user account folders WITHOUT screwing up my system? Thanks for your help.
Google "moveuser.exe". It's a tool we used to migrate local Windows profiles to AD profiles. Everything transfered over EXCEPT the stored Outlook password.
XP will create a new profile every time you change domains. You should be able to copy over the profile information including the NTUSER.dat file and come up with the same settings. Now in doing this it will carry over any exchange settings and what not as well, so keep in mind that you will have some conflicts. Also know that once a profile is active, a reboot is required to unlock the profile; therefore you will not be able to copy the complete profile without errors until you restart.
Backup the old user profile as described in the article, Create a new profile as described in the article, log out and log in as working user or administrator, from the command prompt navigate to the old domain user profile folder, do the commands "attrib -s -h ntuser.ini", "attrib -s -h ntuser.dat.log", repeat this command in the new domain user profile folder, delete the entire contents of the new domain user profile folder, copy the entire contents of the old profile to the new profile using (by entire contents, also include hidden files,etc), attrib +s +h ntuser.ini and attrib +s +h ntuser.dat.log on the new domain user folder, reboot and log in as new domain user - works 99% for me
First, thanks to everyone for their inputs. It is very much appreciated. After a bit of searching, I was able to find an absolutely outstanding solution at http://www.forensit.com/Profwiz/index.htm
This wizard actually uses your existing profile and allows you to share the profile with another user/domain. It's pretty cool. Please read the user manual to understand it better than my description.
I used this yesterday and am now running all my existing "stuff" under my new username/domain. It works very well. BTW, single user license is free.
Again, thanks to everyone.
P.S. THIS SOLUTION WOULD MOST LIKELY ONLY WORK WITH UNDAMAGED PROFILES. SO BEWARE IF YOU ATTEMPT TO USE IT WITH A DAMAGED PROFILE.
This wizard actually uses your existing profile and allows you to share the profile with another user/domain. It's pretty cool. Please read the user manual to understand it better than my description.
I used this yesterday and am now running all my existing "stuff" under my new username/domain. It works very well. BTW, single user license is free.
Again, thanks to everyone.
P.S. THIS SOLUTION WOULD MOST LIKELY ONLY WORK WITH UNDAMAGED PROFILES. SO BEWARE IF YOU ATTEMPT TO USE IT WITH A DAMAGED PROFILE.
I know this post is old and the solution could be some where but I have not seen it. In Windows XP Log in as local administrator or an account that has Admin rights. Create the account (make all the accounts admin the process just seems to work better) in user accounts close,
reboot and log into the account to finish creating,
reboot to the admin account which can not be the source or destination account,
Right click My Computer, go to Advanced tab, down to User Profiles, click settings,
here you will see the accounts highlight the account you want to copy
click copy to and browse to the folder with the new account name and click ok,
then click ok again to copy the account when you get the copy confirm click yes, wait and then wait some more for it to finish
log into new account.
No cut and paste, No command line in terminal, No using ADMT or USMT, no google program.
Does that suck?
reboot and log into the account to finish creating,
reboot to the admin account which can not be the source or destination account,
Right click My Computer, go to Advanced tab, down to User Profiles, click settings,
here you will see the accounts highlight the account you want to copy
click copy to and browse to the folder with the new account name and click ok,
then click ok again to copy the account when you get the copy confirm click yes, wait and then wait some more for it to finish
log into new account.
No cut and paste, No command line in terminal, No using ADMT or USMT, no google program.
Does that suck?
Hi !
Dear Sir,
This e-article is fabulously paramount of importance. It is an atombomb in the administration of system administration.
A lot of golden thanks for TechRepublic are kept.
With thanks & regards,
Swapan Singha Roy.
Dear Sir,
This e-article is fabulously paramount of importance. It is an atombomb in the administration of system administration.
A lot of golden thanks for TechRepublic are kept.
With thanks & regards,
Swapan Singha Roy.
Wonderful! I think you could package the final part - automatic backup of the user profile - as a separate tip, expanding the bit on how to get to User Profiles.
Another trick I've used when a second profile for a user is created (in a domain it usually has an extended suffix of .000, .001 etc.) particularly in XP if you have to rejoin a domain, is as follows.
Run regedit and locate the :-
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList
Here you will see a list of all the profiles stored on the PC. Scroll down each one in turn until you find the new one where the ProfileImagePath reflects the newly created one. Change the path to the original and reboot. All your original settings are restored including your Outlook folders etc.
Another trick when setting up a new PC in a business or college environment for multiple users, if you want everyone to have the same settings, create an administrator account eg. ITSupport, and configure the settings you want for the computer, desktop, menus etc. Then reboot, log in as Administrator and in My Computer\Documents and Settings - copy the newly created (and hidden) ntuser.dat files from the ITSupport folder to the Default User.
Now anyone logging in for the 1st time will have these same settings applied.
Run regedit and locate the :-
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList
Here you will see a list of all the profiles stored on the PC. Scroll down each one in turn until you find the new one where the ProfileImagePath reflects the newly created one. Change the path to the original and reboot. All your original settings are restored including your Outlook folders etc.
Another trick when setting up a new PC in a business or college environment for multiple users, if you want everyone to have the same settings, create an administrator account eg. ITSupport, and configure the settings you want for the computer, desktop, menus etc. Then reboot, log in as Administrator and in My Computer\Documents and Settings - copy the newly created (and hidden) ntuser.dat files from the ITSupport folder to the Default User.
Now anyone logging in for the 1st time will have these same settings applied.
That second tip for multiple users on one machine is nice. It will same me some time on setups
This creates a default local profile for every new user that logs in to the computer, either locally or in a domain.
If you run gpedit.msc when creating your default you can also set options regarding display settings, login settings, and restrict what options the User can apply.
e.g. If you set a default home page in the internet explorer settings (User Configuration\Windows Settings\Internet Explorer\URLs\Important URLs) this also prevents the - "about:blank" - page encountered sometimes after someone visits one of those unwanted sites.
If you run gpedit.msc when creating your default you can also set options regarding display settings, login settings, and restrict what options the User can apply.
e.g. If you set a default home page in the internet explorer settings (User Configuration\Windows Settings\Internet Explorer\URLs\Important URLs) this also prevents the - "about:blank" - page encountered sometimes after someone visits one of those unwanted sites.
I had the same problem of getting a temporary user profile. Then I performed a disk check and found that NTUser.dat was damaged. I let Windows do a Check Disk with all options active (Automatically fix file system errors, and Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors) and voila, my user profile was restored!
I will have to try this. I am currently working from a machine with a corrupted profile.
The only problem it gave me is I can no longer reset passwords in Active Directory Users and Groups. Everything else works fine.
I tried copying my profile.
"How to copy data from a corrupted user profile to a new profile in Windows XP"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/811151
But it did not fix the problem.
I have too many other programs , utilities etc. to start over. Since I have two other computers on my desk, changing passwords is not an issue, but I would like to correct the prioblem.
If nothing else it will let me test your solution.
The only problem it gave me is I can no longer reset passwords in Active Directory Users and Groups. Everything else works fine.
I tried copying my profile.
"How to copy data from a corrupted user profile to a new profile in Windows XP"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/811151
But it did not fix the problem.
I have too many other programs , utilities etc. to start over. Since I have two other computers on my desk, changing passwords is not an issue, but I would like to correct the prioblem.
If nothing else it will let me test your solution.
A full HD can cause all sorts of problems including the appearance of a corrupted profile. It can also cause Windows to generate new profiles because it can't load the old. If you see profiles named with the USERNAME_1(or 2, 3 etc) then Windows created a new instead of going temp.
Not as much an issue now with the large drives but I used to have this problem all over the place a few years back.
Not as much an issue now with the large drives but I used to have this problem all over the place a few years back.
I've had this happen before, thanks for the write up with all the options. As usual, I know all this stuff but it is scattered in my head (need to defrag). Its nice to have everything concise and step by step and in one place..it is now in my "Tool Box"
I've found that instead of restoring a corrupt profile it is better to start over. I'll rename the old profile, have the user logon and create a new "clean" profile. Then go back and move over the data that is unique to the individual. What you do need to know is what programs your running that stores user settings/data in the profile.
In the article it referred to the Outlook PST folder location, you'll also want the archive.pst file. I know a lot of IT people miss the Outlook.NK2 file though. It is located in the D & S\user.name\application data\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook folder. For those that don't know, this is the email address auto-complete feature.
If the user uses a lot of unique Word features then you'll need their .DOT file also.
In the article it referred to the Outlook PST folder location, you'll also want the archive.pst file. I know a lot of IT people miss the Outlook.NK2 file though. It is located in the D & S\user.name\application data\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook folder. For those that don't know, this is the email address auto-complete feature.
If the user uses a lot of unique Word features then you'll need their .DOT file also.
So, if you set the profile path to D:\userprofilebackup , does it actually backup the profile to this location at every log off,and create a second copy, or is it running the original profile from there ?
It will copy your profile to this location everytime you do a log off, and it will load it from this location everytime you do a log on.
So, I don't think this would be of much value if the coruption is just copied but better than nothing.
So, I don't think this would be of much value if the coruption is just copied but better than nothing.
Funny, I just had this happen to me yesterday. Makes me wonder why, when I've never seen it before in years of Windows computing. Anyway, I researched the problem and arrived at the same solution that Greg posted. I didn't try System Restore, because I diabled that long ago. Greg's method seemed to work until, during the profile copy process, I ran out of HD space. I have about 97 GB on my 120 GB laptop HD. Not enough space!
My ultimate solution was to simply re-image my drive from my Acronis True Image backup on an external USB HD, which was only 2 days old. That worked perfectly and virtually nothing was lost.
Image backups have saved my bacon on several occasions and I recommend them highly. Daily incremental backups are truly worthwhile.
But I still wonder how my profile could become corrupt?
My ultimate solution was to simply re-image my drive from my Acronis True Image backup on an external USB HD, which was only 2 days old. That worked perfectly and virtually nothing was lost.
Image backups have saved my bacon on several occasions and I recommend them highly. Daily incremental backups are truly worthwhile.
But I still wonder how my profile could become corrupt?
My guess is that when windows shuts down a disk or memory write occurs while the profile is closed. On next boot up bam! your in trouble.
I haven't had it happen in a very long time, but when it did it was only a day later I discoverd that my HD had a bad sector on it.
I haven't had it happen in a very long time, but when it did it was only a day later I discoverd that my HD had a bad sector on it.
There is a better way: assume that the profile is going to get corrupted. Take backups of your browser favorites periodically (HTML export works great from either Firefox or IE). Don't put your documents in the My Documents folder. (Now some will say - but then I can't use Windows' built-in encryption which is based on the user profile... Oh, right.)
I've dealt with lots of corrupt profiles, and it is a nasty, recurring problem on computers that have been shared around. Store your documents on a flash drive or back them up to a server, but take the mindset of preparing for this eventuality.
I've dealt with lots of corrupt profiles, and it is a nasty, recurring problem on computers that have been shared around. Store your documents on a flash drive or back them up to a server, but take the mindset of preparing for this eventuality.
It looks like UPHClean can help prevent some user profile problems (I don't know if actual profile corruption is one of them).
"UPHClean is a tool to help resolve the problem of user profile hive not unloading. When user profile hives do not unload you get a variety of problems including slow logoff (on Windows 2000), no reconciliation of roaming profiles, possible kernel memory exhaustion and a variety of error events logged in the application log."
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=1B286E6D-8912-4E18-B570-42470E2F3582&displaylang=en
"UPHClean is a tool to help resolve the problem of user profile hive not unloading. When user profile hives do not unload you get a variety of problems including slow logoff (on Windows 2000), no reconciliation of roaming profiles, possible kernel memory exhaustion and a variety of error events logged in the application log."
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=1B286E6D-8912-4E18-B570-42470E2F3582&displaylang=en
I beat my head against a wall with this on my wife's Vista laptop, and finally determine that the real problem was that her account no longer had read/write
to the NTuser.dat file - I fixed this and the problem disappeared.... always check permissions on files and directories first before going to more extreme measures!
-- Dave
to the NTuser.dat file - I fixed this and the problem disappeared.... always check permissions on files and directories first before going to more extreme measures!
-- Dave
something changed the permissions on the ntuser.dat? Sounds like a virus or spyware to me.
Thank you very much to all TechRepublic Team.
Great, that is what I am looking for long time ago, instead by using this technic, I wouldd't need to manually copy user profile.
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