Can't find user profile

hundredk

Hi, can anyone offer any advice regarding back up of user profiles?

After 2 weeks away I tried to log on to PC as usual but, after clicking my profile recieved a message saying something like "windows could not find your user profile, do you want to log on as a default user?" and an OK button with a countdown to do that anyway.

I logged on as default user, needless to say all desktop shortcuts, files, folders etc were not visible because it was not my profile.

I logged out and logged in as another user and all was fine for that profile. Restarted PC a couple of times and my profile worked and has done for the since this (3 or 4 times).

Anyway my question is, is it possible to back up all the profile info that allows/denies access to folders, shorcuts etc. I have looked in C/Documents and settings/user name and can easily back up some things like favorites and cookies but not enough to restore a profile.

Also, could this be the start of hard disk failing (I think the message may have said something about can't find a sector).

I have all the files I need backed up so the problem would not be loss of files, just the annoyance of trying to remember and restore all user settings.

Thanks

Taffybiker

You may find this page useful. Once sorted (hopefully) it may be in idea to run a disk repair utility such as Checkdisk, -assuming XP OS. For Vista try this link.

hundredk

Thanks Taffybiker, just the job.:T:j

hundredk

Taffybiker wrote: »

You may find this page useful. Once sorted (hopefully) it may be in idea to run a disk repair utility such as Checkdisk, -assuming XP OS. For Vista try this link.

I have now backed up user profiles, run checkdisk and looked at the logs in event viewer.

No bad sectors so disc seems ok but while in event viewer I also found the message that came up when the user profile would not load. It reads:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Userenv
Event Category: None
Event ID: 1502
Date: 21/08/2009
Time: 02:16:15
User: NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM
Computer: XP2004
Description:
Windows cannot load the locally stored profile. Possible causes of this error include insufficient security rights or a corrupt local profile. If this problem persists, contact your network administrator.
DETAIL - The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process.
For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.


Any ideas why/how this happened?

Taffybiker

Anything that modifies the profile in any way can potentially corrupt it. It could be something as simple as installing or updating a program, or if windows crashes while you are logged on etc.