I changed my account to admin and lost all my files =(

[LOLivia]

Hey guys,
I was hoping someone could help me out with this -
I recently changed my account privelieges to be an administrator and after a few hiccups logging in, i finally logged into a new screen and layout but lost all my files - everything from music to Word documents and pictures =(
if anyone can help me out id be so greatful please and thank you! xo

 

[graywolf]

Your files are not lost. You left them in the original account.

There had to be one admin, originally. Who was that?

Is the old account name still in User Accounts? Go in under your new account, make the old one an admin, then use that ID for your logins.

 

[digitalprospecter]

I don't think you have lost your files, but it sounds like your profile hiccuped as you say and set up a new profile for you.

Using My Computer or Windows Explorer, navigate to C:\documents and settings and see what folder names are there. For example: If your logon name was LOlivia, then you will likely see two folders. One called LoLivia and one called LoLivia with some extra characters on the end of the folder name. The folder with the extra characters will be your new profile and the plain LoLivia folder will be your old profile folder and you should find all your data files within this folder. You can copy and paste your data files over into the proper folders in your new profile.

If this works and you need help with other data files like Outlook email and such, please let me know.

If this isn't the solution, try using the Windows Search function to search for a file name that you know is missing or even the type of file... like Microsoft Word Documents by specifying *.doc or *.docx as the file name in the search function.

Cheers!

 

[LOLivia]

oh thanks guys i'll try to do that now
but umm no see we have an administrator account and on THAT account I used the control panel to make my account - Olivia - also an administrator account, does that make sense??
and then when i logged off the Administrator account and logged into Olivia the desktop had changed and my files were all gone
so should i still be able to locate them all using your methods?

p.s. thank you so much for replying digital prospecter & graywolf! really appreciate it =)

 

[digitalprospecter]

Yup... they should be there. You should not have had this happen because of the process that you state, so I would put it down to a glitch (or a hiccup as you aptly described it).

I would suggest following up with a full virus scan using your installed antivirus software just to be safe. Also, once you have all your data files accounted for and backed up to an external source, it might be a good idea to go to My Computer, Right-click on the Local Drive C: icon, choose Properties and use the tool tab to run the Error Checking Feature (put a check mark in each of the two boxes). Windows will tell you that it can't do the check until the next restart of Windows, click yes and then Restart Windows. This process will check your hard disk for bad sectors or file system corruption (which could be causes for your profile corrupting). Don't try this Error Checking until you find and backup all your data files first. The reason the backup is so important is because if the hard disk is badly corrupted then data loss is possible. So be safe and backup everything up first. But do the scan before too much time goes by, because it would be much better to catch potential problems now before you get a nasty surprise at a really crucial time. Odds are you don't have a problem anyway, but it never hurts to check.

We are always glad to help!

 

[digitalprospecter]

Olivia,

Let us know how you make out and if we were correct then please award Best Answer to graywolf. He posted what I think is the correct answer first! <grin>

Don't forget to back that data up!!!!

Cheers.

 

[graywolf]

She.

But I don't think malware is the problem here. I've had my account changed for very strange things within Windows.

Get back to us, Olivia.

 

[digitalprospecter]

Sorry graywolf! My mistake. I just didn't know there were any female NY Yankees fans out there!!!! The hat tricked me!!! <grin>

 

[graywolf]

Sorry graywolf! My mistake. I just didn't know there were any female NY Yankees fans out there!!!! The hat tricked me!!! <grin>

You've never been to a baseball game, I guess. But let's not get OT on her thread. Olivia's upset enough already.

 

[LOLivia]

oh wow that was pretty magical hahahaha GUYS THANK YOU SO MUCH i have a paper due tomorow that I saved and now I've got it again, you're saints
and graywolf I admire you even more as you're a woman =)
but digitalprospecter thank you too, you both helped me out immensely! i hope you're having a good week even though it's Monday =( xo

 

[LOLivia]

Best answer selected by LOLivia.

 

[digitalprospecter]

That's great Olivia. Best of luck on your paper!

 

[graywolf]

Olivia, one more thing: Did you have both accounts with the same name?

 

[jessicat555]

I am having the SAME exact problems.. i wanted to change the name of the account from "Administrator" to "Jessica" and add a password bc people at work were using this computer. So when I couldn't change the name I added a new account "Jessica" with password and it said I had to make an Administrator to add or what ever so I made "Jessica" the administrator. I soon realized all pictures and documents had vanished. I then tried what you recommended for Olivia by going to User Accounts and switching back to the "Administrator" account to put them in a shared folder or something but when I went to User Accounts the account name that was once "Administrator" was no longer there and I never deleted it or changed it I just added a new account "Jessica" and it asked if I wanted it to be the administrator account and I said yes and now I can't find the old account anywhere!!!! YIKES!

..driving myself crazy!

 

[Saga Lout]

I am having the SAME exact problems.. i wanted to change the name of the account from "Administrator" to "Jessica" and add a password bc people at work were using this computer. So when I couldn't change the name I added a new account "Jessica" with password and it said I had to make an Administrator to add or what ever so I made "Jessica" the administrator. I soon realized all pictures and documents had vanished. I then tried what you recommended for Olivia by going to User Accounts and switching back to the "Administrator" account to put them in a shared folder or something but when I went to User Accounts the account name that was once "Administrator" was no longer there and I never deleted it or changed it I just added a new account "Jessica" and it asked if I wanted it to be the administrator account and I said yes and now I can't find the old account anywhere!!!! YIKES!

..driving myself crazy!

I missed this post because you tagged on to an old thread marked instead of starting your own. Anyway, in My Computer, choose Folder Options from the Tools menu and then choose View. Scroll down and tick to "Show hidden files and folders" then a little further down, untick "Hide protected files" Click Apply, accept the warning and then OK your way out. Now navigate to Documents and Settings and see if there's a folder callled Administrator followed by a full stop then the computer name. If there is, it contains all the files you thought you'd lost. Copy them and paste them into Jessica then delete the old ones after you;ve finished pasting.

All you've done is rename a User Account which had Administratyor privileges - you can't delete or rename the System Administrator's account, which you can see if you go into Safe Mode by tapping Funciton 8 at boottime.

 

[jrravindran]

Hi jessicat,

The problem is normal and happens to everyone who work in a domain system. Your files are all in the folder c:\Documents and Settings\Administrator (Must be that as you had stated that previously you were an administrator). Since you have changed the name of the administrator as jessica, the old account still exists and will have all the files in it and you can gain access to the files within the Administrator folder named Administrator's Documents. Once you copy them and paste them to your new account your problem is solved.

If you want to get into the old administrator account just press Ctrl + Alt + Del twice when the welcome screen appears and you will be given access to the traditional log in screen where you can enter the user name as Administrator and the old password you used.

jrravindran