• How To Recover a Damaged User Profile in XP

    How To Recover a Damaged User Profile in XP

    Jayesh Limaye, Feb 20, 2009 1228 hrs IST

    Have had problems with a damaged User Profile?Help is at hand. Read on...

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Windows XP is a really good operating system as long as it is running fine, but when it doesn't, you have to scurry around looking for solutions to get it back to normal. Once in a while, it so happens that you get a message that reads something like this:



Windows cannot load your profile because it may be corrupted. You may log in using a temporary User Profile.


Or


The system has recovered from a serious error.


This happens when the user profile becomes damaged.





Empty Windows XP desktop after logging in post a damaged user profile


Windows does boot up, but when you arrive at the desktop, you are shocked to find that the desktop items are missing. That's not all; you find that all the personal settings such as theme, wallpaper, and icons are gone too. As if this is not enough, you find that the my Documents folder doesn't contain any of your documents. Internet Explorer bookmarks and Outlook Express personal settings are gone too, along with your emails. Sounds nightmarish, doesn't it? Don't worry, today we will show you how to get everything back in order.


We will first explain how the above scenario takes place and the cause for it. The reason behind such a situation is that the user profile gets damaged (as we mentioned earlier). A user profile contains all the files and settings for a particular user, and when there are many users using a Windows XP computer, there are as many user profiles, each with its own unique settings. When a user profile gets damaged (due to various reasons such as the file system getting corrupted), Windows XP creates a new user profile and logs you into this new profile. The new profile will be that of a user logging in for the first time  - bland and devoid of any customizations.



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Discussion Board
(8) Comments
ALIM QAZZAFI
,Patna, India, on Mar 26, 2009 09:22 AM
How can we recognise a motherboard without touching it inside the Case? OR What mohterboard is installed on a PC? How can we find out?
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Tim
,Topeka, on Mar 07, 2009 02:55 AM
Under "clean up old user profile", I cannot delete the files. I've logged on as the Administrator, as another user with administrator rights, but nothing will allow me to remove the "My Document" files under the corrupt profile. Any suggestions?
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Jon
,Helena, Montana, on Feb 25, 2009 06:40 AM
this is simiular but? It is DEP which as one boots up things look normal until just a blue screen(on mine) and a small microsoft window(there is a virus of sorts in your operational system etc.). I tried virul? antivirus from Norway. No help. after read Microsoft explanation(DEP). I do the control,alt,delete and in the task window, down below on the right(new task) type: explorer. exe. and lo &behold everything turns back to normal. But have to do all over again at the next boot. xp pac2, was using avg, zonealarm, and another. Doesn't matter which windows,
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Vishal Uderani
,Mumbai, on Feb 21, 2009 03:10 PM
* Why go through usch a long method ?? * The only reason is that the NTUSER.DAT , NTUSER.DAT.LOG and NTUSER.INI files gets corrupted due to reasons unknown * There will be additional profiles created if the machine is a part of the domain which will go like this : * username * username.domain * username.domain.000 * Rename the old/original profile to username.domain.bak or backupusername.domain * Delete all other profiles mentioned above except the original one (of course) * Have the user log back and log out * Login as Administrator and copy the old profile into the new profile except the above mentioned files * Reboot the machine and this should solve the issue
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Gopal
,Chennai, on Feb 24, 2009 10:10 PM
easier for you to say, but not for the technologically challenged people like me. i would rather follow the way stated in this article as i find it safer
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Chakravarthy
,Bangalore, on Feb 23, 2009 08:07 PM
I have a serious problem with my XP always rebooting infinitely when I was boot up. Any solution around with out re-installation. My 5 years data was in that. I have not taken any back up. I have tired to restore the previous dates in safe mode. I would thanks full any solutions around
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patel rafeeq
,chennai, on Feb 24, 2009 05:52 PM
first take a backup of your data. connect your Hard Disk to other working system and take the backup of your Datas in that system.
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patel rafeeq
,chennai, on Feb 24, 2009 05:47 PM
fine i have learned how to safegaurd a user profile
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