NT WkStn trouble creating profile for new logons

[MaestroG]

I have a NT 4.0 Workstation with SP 6a running that is having some sort of trouble logging in any users that have not logged onto it before.

Any users that have logged into the machine before can login and run applications just fine. Any new users to the machine get a message that the OS couldn't create the profile and then it goes back to the Ctrl-Alt-Delete prompt. Curiousy, it creates the user profile folder and profile contents under c:\winnt\profiles at each attempt at logging in.

I have used the "Copy To" feature under the System Properties User Profiles tab to no avail. I actually got it to allow a new user to logon by copying the contents of an existing/working user profile into the folder it created for the new logon that wouldn't work, replacing everything that the OS put in there initially...But no applications would run and an error mentioned the profile again.

There are no policies running on the computer, but just to make sure, I ran policy editor and went through every option for the computer and the user and found only default settings. No roaming profiles are in use. I have re-applied SP6a twice.

HAS ANYONE BEEN THROUGH THIS BEFORE? It is driving me nuts. It is an engineering workstation for a power user and has 2 versions of customized AutoCAD and about 5 other related engineering applications plus all the usuals like Office Pro. I am trying to avoid a (dredded) re-build.

HELP HELP HELP HELP HELP!!!!! ;-)

 

[Mubashir]

Strange indeed...

I assume you would've checked the contents of the All Users and the default User folder in the Profiles folder of systemroot. Have you compared the contents of the existing user profiles and the new ones. Apart from the shortcut stuff in the existing profiles do you see anything unusual?

And why don't you use roaming profiles as a workaround? Copy any existing profile to the server, associate it with new users and see what happens. RPs should work if all goes fine.

Is there anything in the logs? Look for any unusual application or utility in the task mgr which might be hindering an otherwise peaceful startup drill.

Any configuration change which might have a delayed side effect. If I were you, I would have tried to track down the root in retrospect. There's a point of time when the things start to go wrong. Your test is to dig up the cause and reverse the change. Well so much talk... and nothing definite X-) . But then that's all I can do.... :-V

Mubashir

 

[Voyager1]

Not to overlook the obvious, but:

1. Is your hard disk by any chance almost full?
2. If the users are logging into a domain, does their ID have 'create' rights on this PC?

- Bill

"You can get anything you want out of life, if you'll just help enough other people get what they want" - Zig Ziglar

 

[BOKA]

Also, do you have anything specified in User Manager under User Profile Path? How about Home Directory Path?

 

[MaestroG]

Looks like I have a bad block on the Hard-Drive. That's the only message I am getting in Event Viewers besides the one about the OS was unable to load your profile.

I'm doing a full backup now and will run ChkDsk on it to see if it can fix the problem on the HD.

Thanks for your pointers everyone.

G

 

[johncurtis]

Also, check that your registry size hasn't reached the maximum allocated.