Need help with Windows 2000 Professional

[Mrwurm]

Help ! !

My computer locked up and the only way to bring it back to life was to unplug it and then re-start it. When it booted back up, it displayed an error message that said the profile 'User' was corrupt and could not be loaded. It then said it was logging me in as a guest.


Here is what I know:

'User' had the same priviledges as 'administrator'
'Guest' has access to all my program files under the start button, but the desktop has no icons except the basic windows defaults. Also, lost all explorer favorites, internet settings, and cookies.
I can log in as 'administrator' but the desktop icons are still gone. Also, no explorer favorites, internet settings, or cookies.


Here are my questions.

Is there any way to find the 'user' profile and debug/ repair it ?
Can I create a new 'user' profile and tell the system to use it as the default. (even if I log in to 'Administrator' the system still tries to log on 'user' at boot up and then reverts to 'guest.' This question could be shortened to. How can I create a new profile and set it as the default log-in ?

Ok go ! Computer guys !

 

[anojones]

I don't have much advice as I'm not sure how to fix a broken profile in win2000. However, when you are logged in as the admin you should have access to your desktop settings, favorites etc of the corrupted profile. It would be on your C drive in the "documents and settings" folder, it should have info for all the profiles on the compter. What I might try to do is create a new user profile and transfer your all your data from the corrupt profile into that one (just dragging and dropping from the old profile to the new one). Reboot into the new profile- if you have everything you need, then I would delete the old user profile. You can add/remove profiles in the control panel.

 

[Mrwurm]

Ok, thanks. I'll see what I can find in 'documents and settings.'

 

[Amontilado]

Depnding upon how up to date you have your patching, be carefull when copying from account to account, especially to/from the Administrator account.

When I rebuilt my Win200 machine(with a service pack 4 CD). I had to do a base install, then get the backup files for each account individually to get all the permissions correct. Retreiving the files from my back-up system as administrator resulted in the blank screen when I logged into each account. There were no icons, taskbar, no nothing, except a blank screen. Could call up the task manger to log out that way, thankfully. You could go to Microsoft's web site, then drill down to the Windows200 Resource Kit online to see if the have anything there.

Steve