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  • #2239310

    Administrator Profile missing from XP Pro home computer

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    by bigrich ·

    I was asked a question by a friend who said that his wife was using their computer, and that same day when she went to log back in their profile that they were using was no longer there. I suggested trying to log in using the back door by going through safe mode and see if they could do a system restore or by re-creating the profile again. Is there a reason that the profile would just come up missing, and were my suggestion the right suggestions to give?

    Thanks for any comments on this.

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    • #2474283

      Clarifications

      by bigrich ·

      In reply to Administrator Profile missing from XP Pro home computer

      Clarifications

    • #2474279

      Which is it?

      by thumbsup2 ·

      In reply to Administrator Profile missing from XP Pro home computer

      Whis is it? XP Pro or XP Home? Administrator account or User account?

      And no… system restore only resets the registry. It will recreate the user NAME. It does not recreate the folders/files used BY that user. If they’ve deleted their account and the personal files along with it, they’re gone.

      Yes, going into safe mode using the Administrator account will let them look to see if the account and files are still there and a few more things.

      But, giving someone instructions to just go ahead with a system restore after they’ve logged in as Administrator without seeing what’s really going on, may just make the problem worse. Especially if the restore point is really OLD.

      It’s best to let someone who knows what they’re doing look at the system.

      • #2474616

        XP Home

        by bigrich ·

        In reply to Which is it?

        They did succesfully get in through safe mode and was able to do a restore from a point that was two days before the problem occured. After the restore their administrator profile was back and they were able to use their account again. They mentioned that they had been using the computer like normal including shutdown by using the start menu and the next time they had logged in their account was not visible or was not there.

        Because of the admin profile missing that is why I chose to tell them how to get in by using safe mode to get their profile back. Im not sure excatly what happened and why they could not see it but they were thankful for getting back and running.

        Thanks for the advice. It was helpful information that I did not know.

      • #2476082

        Excellent Answer

        by eddieholman ·

        In reply to Which is it?

        Take it to a professional and tell the truth. A lot of time is wasted trying to figure out what a user did. Being honest with the repair technician saves time and money.

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