Apparent loss of profile

[cbs604]

This is a doozy.

W2K SP4

User shuts down and restarts the next day to be confronted with a vanilla desktop with basic set of icons. My documents, My pictures etc all empty. All folders created under this user are gone. Everything in local settings gone.

It looks just like it would if the user had been deleted along with all his files and then re-created.

Nothing in recycle bin and no clues in event logs. No one has been near the machine in the intervening period, as shown in the event log.

And of course user has not been diligent with backups, so lotsa data lost.

Any clues on what may have happened here?

Cheers,
Brodie

 

[captaincrunch00]

No idea what may have happened, but if you go to C:\Documents and Settings how many usernames do they have?

Do they have a couple usernames? Like Username and then another folder named Username.COMPUTERNAME or anything?

 

[cbs604]

Thanks Captain. No, nothing like that.

The pc has been isolated since the incident so I can investigate further. I ran a undelete program, and apart from a few files outside of the profile, the folders look just like they do now - empty. The dates and times of the folders (my docs, my pictures..etc) are same as the date and time of that fateful morning.

Bit of a mystery this one. Customer is now very gun shy of this pc.

Cheers,
Brodie

 

[AlecWYork]

I have just suffered the same: normal shutdown yesterday, today no wallpaper, no desktop as always, then Windows 2000 invited me to register, as if a new install. Tried internet, invited me to setup as if a new install. Opened Start\Programs and they seemed there, but without the funny order and highlighting, clicked on Maximizer and it opened as if it were a virgin install - I panicked but found it opened to my data when I selected such. I verified that my data files on E: drive seemed present, but internet had zero of my Favorites. ALL OF MY EFFICIENT SHORTCUTS TO FREQUENT FILES IN DIFFERENT DRIVES ARE GONE. PROGRAMS HAVE LOST INITIAL SETUP PROFILES. I just had my systems provider over and he says he has never seen this. This machine is password protected and I can't see how anyone could have been at it. Of course, I am trying to meet two tight deadlines and am cursing Microsoft's instability yet one more time. If I can't recover, I shall finally go to Linux. I am a forensic accountant and cannot risk this type of danger. Any further ideas on problem and recovery? Thanks. AlecWYork.

 

[AlecWYork]

I forgot another clue: when I tried to open Excel up came a small window, saying "Preparing to Install", and, after various attempts to circumvent it, it actually did open, and seemed functional but lacking templates. It did open a file I tested it with. Then, after shutting Excel down, and the machine itself, opening Excel repeated the above exactly the same, again as if it were a virgin install but still allowed me to open without a disk. Thanks. Alec.

 

[tlcscousin]

Has the NTUSER.dat been changed to NTUSER.MAN
which would make it a mandatory profile and would remove anything created in the next logon session?

 

[mmrsupport]

This is so funny, I was writing a new post about this and saw this one right above it.

This happens at our company once a month, and is getting very irritating. Here's the story:

This is a problem that occurs at random and I'm not sure why. The person's folder under C:\Documents and Settings\username is ignored and a new one is created called C:\Documents and settings\username.domainname. You can tell by the modified dates on the folder when the problem occurred.

What I try to do is remove all folders and date from the new folder "username.domainname" and replace it with all the data from the "username" folder. I have to login as Admin and do this as soon as you login in, because there are system files in there that for some reason the system will lockup and not let you alter.

This is a 20-30 minute fix, so not as bad as creating everyhting from scratch, but still WHY does this happen?! Drives me nuts.

 

[mmrsupport]

Another note - This NEVER occurs under XP to my knowledge, so those of you cursing Windows, get a newer OS. I have too many here to update, so we have to live with it for now.

 

[mmrsupport]

BINGO!

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314045

I never thought to search Google for loss of profile, but after seeing this post, I did and found this article.