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Thread ID: 63082 2005-10-28 21:32:00 Help please! Strange user profile backup JonathanF (9159) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
400122 2005-10-28 21:32:00 Hello,

I'm not sure if that title is accurate, but I'm not really sure what has happened, so apologies if it's way off.

Turned on my PC (Windows 2000) to find the desktop looking as if it was the first time the PC had been used (e.g. only recyle bin, internet explorer, my computer, etc. icons there, not all the documents/files/shortcuts I normally have lying around). Panicked, then found all my stuff in a file: C:\Documents and Settings\Jezebel.bak (Jezebel is login name).

My questions are:

1) any idea why it might have done this? (I'd like to avoid it in the future!)

2) how can I get things 'back to normal'? (Can I just cut and paste all the files that are in Jezebel.bak into C:\Documents and Settings\Jezebel ? Or do I have to do something more complicated)

Any advice/suggestions appreciated! As you can probably tell, I'm no expert at this stuff, so if you can explain things simply, I'd be most grateful!

Thanks in advance!

Jonathan
JonathanF (9159)
400123 2005-10-28 21:50:00 Have you got system restore enabled.?
Description of the System Restore Utility in Windows Millennium Edition
support.microsoft.com
hth
johnboy (217)
400124 2005-10-28 21:54:00 It sounds like your login has become corrupted, and it has reverted to a default login.

When this happens (and its not uncommon) all files created under C:\Documents and Settings\<your login> are at risk from being lost. This time it sounds like an automatic backup was done by the system, so thay have been saved.

Just copy and paste to the appropriate places.

BUT- If you do not have to store your data under C:\Documents and Settings\<your log-in> (if you are the only computer user, or its not needed to be hidden from others) then simply do NOT use that location. Create a new directory directly under C:\ (I use one called Data) and store everything in subdirectories there, so if my profile goes bad, no data is lost or at risk.
godfather (25)
400125 2005-10-28 23:23:00 See this forum (www.experts-exchange.com)

Check your event log for any strange things (i.e. errors) in there.

May want to consider installing User Profile Hive Cleanup Service (www.microsoft.com)

Make sure your win2k install is up to date.

Probably your user registry just got corrupted.
gibler (49)
400126 2005-10-30 23:04:00 Thanks for your replies! I think it's sorted now.

As suggested, it seems that the user login got corrupted, and, since nothing was lost (as far as I can tell...), then I just needed to move things from the backup file.

And thanks for the suggestion about storing data 'outside' of the profile, godfather - sounds like a wise move!

Thanks again, all, for your help.

Cheers,

Jonathan
JonathanF (9159)
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