Windows XP cannot find profile on startup

For various reasons, it sometimes happens that a user account becomes damaged. Often the experience you had is a sign that the account is in trouble. BUT. It is only that account, not the whole system. It is not really hard to switch over to a new account.

1. Start up in Safe Mode and log into the overall System ADMINISTRATOR account. Most of us have an account with Admin rights, but there is also an account named Administrator. In XP Home that may only be found in Safe Mode. As the very first screen starts up after pushing the power button, begin pressing F8 twice a second until you get a black screen with white writing. One of the lines will be highlighted. Use the arrow keys to move the highlighting to Safe Mode and then press Enter.

2. Once the desktop is loaded (It will look primitive-all normal) open the User Accounts applet of the Control Panel and create a new account with Admin rights.

3. While still in the ADMINISTRATOR account, open Documents and Settings. There you will find both your 'old' user account and the new one. Double click the 'old' named account, go to Edit up at the top, and Select All. Then hold down the Ctrl key and left click:
•Ntuser.dat
•Ntuser.dat.log
•Ntuser.ini
This will clear them of highlighting. Then right click a portion that is still highlighted, and choose copy.

4. Close the 'old' name and open the new account folder. Right click and choose Paste. Windows will say that there are already files and folders with those names in there. Do you want to replace them? This time--Yes to all...

5. When done copying, reboot your computer and log into the new account. It will be just like your old one, but won't give you trouble. Later, after you are sure that everything is OK, you can delete the 'old' account from User Accounts in the Control Panel.

Here is the official Microsoft explanation: http://support.micro...om/?kbid=811151

Edited by 1101doc, 24 November 2007 - 11:17 PM.

Does the same procedure apply to XP and does the Microsoft Outlook file need to be transferred seperately?

Hello Zazu.... Welcome to GeeksToGo,
I suggest you start a new topic in the Email Browser forum.
This topic is over a year old and I highly doubt you are going to get any assistace responding here.
Thank you for your cooperation and understanding.

It should, those files contain the settings, configuration data, Documents and Settings folder (which includes info about your MS Outlook files) for that specific user account.

I renamed the affected user account to the exact same name it already had and the user was able to logon just fine, without needing to copy files.

Hi, I've been having this same issue with a very problematic twist. The user account in question is my administrator account. Is there any way of fixing this?