Missing Data/Settings (XP Pro User Profile)

[kram 2.0]

Hello everyone,

I encountered my second ThinkPad software problem in four days - and this one, unfortunately, deals with missing data/documents and settings.

A few hours ago, I fired up my ThinkPad (T60) and was greeted to the usual log-in prompt, asking for me to swipe my finger prints. However, I was prompted with a message asking me to back up my data. I assume it was a ThinkPad proprietary software - it noted that the system was shut down when it was last scheduled to run. So I click OK.

After that, I started having problems. When entering the Windows environment, everything seemed like it was in factory-default settings. My Documents was clean. My Wireless settings were reset. In short, it seems as if the system created a new (hopefully temporary) User Profile under my current username. Judging by how I can still log in with the same password that I've always used (and the same finger print scans), I assume that my main old User Profile still exists, but is either corrupted or the settings have changed. Because this happened after the backup software ran, I assume the software is largely responsible for the inaccessible User Profile. However, I can not seem to get the Windows login to recognize my old profile - if it exists. Has anyone dealt with a similar problem? Can anyone help me out here?

Thanks in advance.
kram

[thefultonhow]

There are two methods -- the easy but inconvenient way, and the technically challenging but convenient one.

Let's start with the easy way. Copy everything you want to save out of your original profile folders (put it from C:\Documents and Settings straight into the C drive root), create a new temporary account, delete the old account and log in on the temporary one, create a new permanent one, copy everything back to the new permanent one, and then log in on the new permanent account and delete the temporary account.

EDIT: I suppose logging in as Administrator in Safe Mode instead of using a temporary account would work for this one too.

The technically difficult way is to research the environment variable or registry entry that corresponds to your user folder, log in as local admin in Safe Mode, point that variable or setting to the old user folder, and then reboot in regular mode and log in normally. That should fix it, but I am not sure how exactly to go about it. The other method is pretty surefire.

BTW, I assume that was Rescue and Recovery prompting you to back up. I would uninstall that -- it causes more problems than it solves and is fairly useless to begin with because it backs up to a partition on the hard drive. So if your hard drive fails the backup is worthless.

[Jose Suarez]

Also save your documents and important information usually in a cd, insert your OEM non pirate XP boot disk and pefrom a clean install, there is also another tool out there, lets you migrate to other PCs

[thefultonhow]

Actually, ThinkPads use a recovery partition rather than a CD, but there is no need to reformat. This is a simple user profile problem -- reformatting in this situation would be akin to using napalm to clear weeds out of your garden.

[glc]

Jose, please look at the following rule:

Sound Advice Giving intentionally bad or malicious advice to any user, for any reason, is prohibited. All must keep in mind that this forum has people of all levels of experience, and everybody must be able to count on the quality of advice given on these forums.

Suggesting a clean install in this case is bad advice.

[kram 2.0]

Thanks for your help so far.

Unfortunately, I cannot delete my older profile even through a self-created temporary make-shift account. Windows XP prompts me with "cannot delete userclass.dat" error. Now, I noticed that when I access User Profile under My Computer/Advanced/Settings, my usual user profile is labeled "Backup", while the other accounts (temporary I created, the temporary account the system created) are labeled "local". I also noticed that under the Documents and Settings directory from C-root, the user profile that the system created is simply username.systemname (of course, replacing username with real username and systemname with real system name).

I'm guessing that the system logs me into this make-shift user profile because my usual profile is labeled a backup. Any ideas on how to reverse this so that it reads "local" instead of "backup"? I've tried to get ahold of IBM support, but I gave up waiting after about forty minutes.

Thanks again.
kram

[kram 2.0]

Update: It was quite complex, but I was able to fix it. Here are the methods I used:

The culprit was, unsurprisingly, the ThinkVantage Rescue and Recovery software. Essentially, it labeled my default user profile as a backup and left it there. As a result, when I logged after ordering a backup, the system had secrurity information on me (fingerprints are stored on the hardware level), but it did not have a physical accessible profile since the one it wanted to access was labeled a backup. As a result, Windows NT-based systems default to username.systemname as the defaut renaming scheme. This new profile was, to my knowledge, labeled as the "primary access" user profile and so everytime I logged in under my usual username, it went directly there.

As a result, the user profile that I usually wanted no longer had the primary console and was labeled a backup. I found this out through My Computer > Properties > Advanced/Advanced > User Profiles. One, which was about 65 MB, the size of all my local documents and settings, was labeled backup. Windows XP Pro does not allow the user to change this even if they are admin. After stumbling around transferring documents from one to the other (it didn't transfer all main settings, unforutnately - just data), I did a little research - anything that can't be done through the interface can be done through the registry .

NOTE - if anyone follows this, ALWAYS backup your registry on an external drive BEFORE proceeding. I used a thumb drive - anything NOT local works. I DO NOT recommend playing with the registry if you do not have experience. (And I am not, therefore, responsible for any data-loss or corruption)

No one had a similar problem so that support was a bit slim. I was directed to where the user profiles are listed under:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList

The system creates a series of SID's (Security ID's) which correspond to individual user profiles. You can find which SID values correspond to each by simply looking at the location under which the files are stored (Documents & Settings/PROFILENAME). The State identifier within the ProfileList listing correponds to individual states each UserProfile has. For example, 0x00000100 (or 100) corresponds to default administrative accounts. ...800 deals with temporary accounts set by the OS. The system labeled by usual username with the value 0X00008100 - which, I would guess, means backup. I changed this value to 100 (for admin).

In addition, I completely wiped the account that the system created (username.systemname account) through the User Profiles prompt accessed thorugh My Computer Properties. With all that done, I was able to access my normal user profile thorugh normal Windows login. It does put me thorugh a quick quirk on the fingerprint reader by I assume all I would need to do is to re-enroll my fingerprints.

Hope that helps if anyone has the same obscure problem.
kram