Windows XP Pro profile corrupt - status backup

[Bollard04]

Hello all,

I have an XP Pro SP3 client with a corrupt profile. On right clicking My Computer > Properties > Advanced > Profiles, the profile has status "Backup"

What is the best way to restore this? I know there are lots of guides online (which i have read), but they dont seem to go into much detail. They all seem to say, create a new profile and copy the data over. But, do i copy over ALL of the data in the profile (will that copy over the corruption?) and since i obviously want to keep the same username, wont there be a problem there?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[goombawaho]

I would create a new profile and then copy over everything in C:\Documents and Settings\OldUser to C:\Documents and Settings\NewUser EXCEPT the NTUSER*.* files

That won't copy corruption, just all files and settings associated with the user.

I might scan that whole folder though (OldUser) with a malware/anti-virus scanner before copying over. Lot's of malware hides in some of those subfolders.

 

[Bollard04]

Thanks for the reply.

But how do i keep the same username? The computer is connected to a SBS 2003 network and so the username is important to retain?

 

[intelwizrd]

Log in as a different user that is an admin.
Rename the user profile folder to something like usernametemp
Have the user login, this will cause the system to create a new profile as if the user is logging in for the first time
Log out
Log in as a different user that is an admin
Copy the settings over as goombawaho mentioned
Log out
The user should have their favorites and documents and most other settings back when he/she logs in.

 

[linney]

Perhaps you should remove the old user from the Server and add the new user to it?

Only guessing, but I would imagine even if you created the same user name things like SID numbers for that user would be different from the old user?

 

[goombawaho]

^^^^^^What intelwizrd said above regarding logging in/out/name change.

Who mentioned server?? Is this in a MS server environment or stand-alone PC/workgroup PC?

 

[Bollard04]

Thanks for the replies guys. I followed intelwizrd's instructions but ran into a few problems (when the user logged in for a second time there was an access denied message on logon). This was all complicated by the fact that Windows had created a temporary profile that it kept forcing on the user. However, i managed to get the bulk of the profile back (expect what was in the TEMP profile).

All is now working fine thank you.

Any tips to avoid profile corruption? I noticed an Event message about caching of Offline folders, so i corrected that. Anything else?

 

[linney]

Make use of backups, perhaps the type that image the partitions. Profile corruption is like an occupational hazard and there is no real and guaranteed prevention.

A well maintained and secured machine is less likely to have that problem than one that is abused and at risk to malware and corruption. Faulty hardware with constant crashing is perhaps another cause.

 

[goombawaho]

Yep - a corrupted profile is like a car that started yesterday but won't turn over today. You never know when it's going to happen, even on a healthy PC. But malware, improperly shutting off or faulty hardware will certainly raise your chances.