User Profile Corrupt, Lost My Documents Folder

[Kent]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

hi, when I booted my XP Pro system, my user profile (admin) was corrupt and
all my user settings were lost. Then I found that my documents were gone
too. The files do not appear anywhere on my hard drive. no docs & settings
folder has them. btw, no viruses found on my pc.

When I use a undelete file utility, I can see the files at c:/documents &
settings/temp, but windows explorer does not see this folder. Nor does
explorer see any *.doc, *.xls, *.jpg, or any other file that I had saved in
"My Documents"

The file resoration free ware that I downloaded (to usb drive) does recover
some files that have not been written over. However, I have multi GB of data
that's on my HD that I cannot access with windows. Any suggestions please?

Help!

 

[Kent]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

In addition, I attempted system resore at 3 points back. No help.

"Kent" wrote:

> hi, when I booted my XP Pro system, my user profile (admin) was corrupt and
> all my user settings were lost. Then I found that my documents were gone
> too. The files do not appear anywhere on my hard drive. no docs & settings
> folder has them. btw, no viruses found on my pc.
>
> When I use a undelete file utility, I can see the files at c:/documents &
> settings/temp, but windows explorer does not see this folder. Nor does
> explorer see any *.doc, *.xls, *.jpg, or any other file that I had saved in
> "My Documents"
>
> The file resoration free ware that I downloaded (to usb drive) does recover
> some files that have not been written over. However, I have multi GB of data
> that's on my HD that I cannot access with windows. Any suggestions please?
>
> Help!

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

If System Restore does not work, in that Administrator logon go to
Control Panel and create a new user account that will replace the
damaged one.
Now open My Computer windows on the two user's profile folders, and copy
across the folders inside, from the old into the new One now you can
remove the old one and its files.


regards,
ssg MS-MVP
Kent wrote:

> In addition, I attempted system resore at 3 points back. No help.
>
> "Kent" wrote:
>
>
>>hi, when I booted my XP Pro system, my user profile (admin) was corrupt and
>>all my user settings were lost. Then I found that my documents were gone
>>too. The files do not appear anywhere on my hard drive. no docs & settings
>>folder has them. btw, no viruses found on my pc.
>>
>>When I use a undelete file utility, I can see the files at c:/documents &
>>settings/temp, but windows explorer does not see this folder. Nor does
>>explorer see any *.doc, *.xls, *.jpg, or any other file that I had saved in
>>"My Documents"
>>
>>The file resoration free ware that I downloaded (to usb drive) does recover
>>some files that have not been written over. However, I have multi GB of data
>>that's on my HD that I cannot access with windows. Any suggestions please?
>>
>>Help!

 

[FrankyBkk]

Hi,

I want to help the many people who have the same problem.

This problem occurs only if you shut down your Windows Xp without let it rewrite the new data for the user. Unfortunately Windows XP hangs sometimes at shut down.

When you restart, it shows your profile with an empty My Documents folder and a new installation.

To resolve this problem without losing any data exist only one way:

You connect an external harddisk.

Then you start in Safe Mode. The Key F8 shortly after the reboot pressed does it.

If windows seems to hang while it is loading its files for the safe mode, wait, wait, wait. Sometimes it needs 5-10 minutes, but it will start, because if it does not start in safe mode, Dr. Watson jumps in and force it to start.

When the login screen for safe mode shows, use your old profile with the old password. It will work, because it use the secondary password check.

After you logged in, the System will ask that you want to make an System restore. DONT DO THAT.

After this, you will be on your normal desktop in safe mode, you will see all your documents. You can copy them now to the attached external harddisk. You will need a lot of time, because it will be a slow progress, but you safe your data. That is sure.

I hope that I helped some people with this problem.

Nice greetings to Toms Hardware, your webpage is amazing.

Frank M.
Software Engineer and Programmer since 30 years