Local Profile Problems

On NT/2000 every user has his/hers own profile that includes My Documents, Start Menu, Desktop etc.
When a user logs on NT PC, his/hers profile is usually stored on C:\Winnt\Profiles\%Username%. (On Win 2000 it is in \Document and Settings\%Username%).

So, if there is anything worth saving, look in this location and copy it to safe place.

Then you can delete the complete directory for that user (for example \Winnt\Profiles\John). When user John logs on again, the system will create a newdefault set of objects for him.

I understand about where everything is located, but what I am trying to figure out is what could cause it to re-create itself each time you log on?

Is this user logging on to a domain or just the workstation, or both? If he's got both a local workstation user account and a domain user account, it may be that he's logging on differently each time. NT systems will see a user logging on using a local account as a different user than when he/she logs on using a domain account, even if the user ID and password are the same. Therefore, NT will create a new profile, or use a different existing profile, depending upon whether the user selects the local computer or the domain when he/she logs on. Hope this helps!

The user is logging into the domain everytime. Nothing is being changed but each time when he logs into the domain it deletes the previous profile that was created.

Did you try from another Workstation to log in, or each time you are using the same?!..
Are you sure that the roming profile is created in the correct folder?
Please check the roming profile..and check on another workstation if you have the same problem.

This kind of error indicates a problem in loading the NTUSER.DAT files into the registry and in most cases indicates a permissions problem. Check the permissions on the NTUSER.DAT file in the user's local profile after the user has logged off the system and see what it says. It should reflect the correct user account (should be domain in this case), the local Administrators group and the local SYSTEM account.

Another thing to do is log on as the local administrator, run REGEDT32, go to the HKEY_USERS window, highlight the HKEY_USERS key in the window, go to the Registry menu, Select Load Hive, locate the users NTUSER.DAT file and add it in (name it whatever you want), highlight the added key then go to the Security/Permissions menu and view the permissions for the hive. The user's login account should be listed here. If not add it in and make sure to select propagation to the sub keys.

There are other permission areas to check (like the user's rights on the system, groups he/she is in, etc...). You could also make sure to check the User Profile tab in the Control Panel/System area for listings of additional 'ghost' profiles (usually indicated by the Account Unknown entry) and see if the user's profile is listed as local orroaming.

Just a few things to check. Good luck!

This question was closed by the author