[Johio]

Hi guys, thanks in advance for reading this. Here are my problems:
I restarted my computer after an accidental hard boot (i.e. didn't go through windows to properly shut down) and my user profile was gone, as well as my desktop. I cannot change the desktop image (but the option is not greyed out), only the color, and the All Programs list is now empty. I cannot add icons to my Start Menu. Also, when I attempt to play music, it runs Setup on Windows Media Player 10 each time, and when I click "Finish" it simply restarts the setup program. It's almost like my computer has short term memory loss.

I just this week changed video cards, CPU's, and my 512 stick of RAM. Could either the CPU or RAM be the culprit? I have read on GeekstoGo about a virus that hijacks the desktop, but I've run Ad-Aware, McAffee Virus Scan, Ewido, and searched through HijackThis and found nothing. Interestingly, when I ran Fixreg, it would allow me to run Figreg1, but not Fixreg2.

Any ideas or help would be very much appreciated.

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When you try to change the desktop image, are you in a limited profile or the admin profile? Try the admin profile and see if you can get your desktop back.

Emery

[S A A B]

When you try to change the desktop image, are you in a limited profile or the admin profile? Try the admin profile and see if you can get your desktop back.

Emery

[Johio]

I'm using the Admin profile. It is the same profile, it wasn't deleted, just everything in it I suppose, and if I create a new profile with admin priveledges it still will not let me log in with it. Also, all the files in My Documents and Desktop are still on the machine and I can access them, but not through the My Documents shortcut or the desktop itself.

[gerryf]

Double click MY COMPUTER, choose C: (LOCAL DISK), choose DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS...what folders are present?

[Johio]

First of all, my computer is named JOSHUA and my profile is Josh

In C:\ there are all of my folders that I had before, which is excellent, but there is one new folder called DOCUME~1. All of the files that I had in my old My Documents folder are here, as well as my start menu items and desktop icons.
[C:\DOCUME~1\Josh contains Desktop, Josh's Documents, Start Menu, and Windows subdirectories]

Also, when accessing the Documents and Settings Folder, These directories are there:

C:\Documents and Settings\Josh\Josh's Documents (empty)

C:\Documents and Settings\Josh.JOSHUA\Josh's Documents (empty)

C:\Documents and Settings\Josh.JOSHUA.000
(I believe this resulted after I copy+pasted my old documents folder (C:\DOCUMEN~1\Josh's Documents into the empty My Documents folder of Josh\Josh's Documents.

I don't know if any of that makes sense but there you go.

I'm happy that I haven't actually lost any files, but the fact that my computer still can't run certain programs and can't seem to retain information (i.e. desktop settings, install programs, etc.) worries me.

[Johio]

Ah I'm sorry, I misspoke, the Josh.JOSHUA and Josh.JOSHUA.000 folders do not have my old files but ARE NOT empty; they have
Application Data,
Cookies,
Desktop,
*Favorites,
Josh's Documents,
Local Settings,
Start Menu,
and for some reason
ntser.dat file

sorry for the mixup

[gerryf]

C:\Documents and Settings\Josh
C:\Documents and Settings\Josh.JOSHUA
C:\Documents and Settings\Josh.JOSHUA.000

I think you've made things worse the more you futz with it. These are classic signs of profile corruption

are there dates on those folders above?

when you log on, what are the exact profiles that show up on the logon menu

[Johio]

yeah I won't mess around with it any more...its already futzed up enough for my tastes.

C:\Documents and Settings\Josh.Joshua = Friday, July 11th 9:41AM
C:\Documents and Settings\Josh.Joshua.000 = Friday, July 11th 9:46AM
(speaking of which, my time and date were also off.)

When I login, I am offered 3 profiles: (Note: I did not have to login at all before this)
1. Fix This (I created this profile with admin privledges when all this happened)

2. Josh

3. Guest

I cannot log into Guest, I get an error message that says Cannot load user profile. I can log into Josh and Fix This, though I was not originally able to log into Fix This, and the first time I logged into Josh it took a very long time to load.

Also, I think my internet may have been affected; it seems to be having trouble updating pages. I was at CNN today multiple times and it displayed yesterday's news and not todays about the tradgedy in London.

Edited by Johio, 07 July 2005 - 11:18 AM.

[gerryf]

C:\Documents and Settings\Josh
C:\Documents and Settings\Josh.JOSHUA
C:\Documents and Settings\Josh.JOSHUA.000

which of these has your data?

[Johio]

None of them did at first, but I copy+pasted my old documents folder into the Josh.JOSHUA.000 folder indirectly (I pasted it into the current documents folder). I can delete them if you'd like, they still reside in the DOCUME~1 folder

[gerryf]

wait a second...what do you mean, none of them?

The folders in c:\documents and settings\{profile name} are your profiles.

If your data was NOT in one of them, where was it?

[Johio]

Sorry if I was confusing:
in the C:\ directory there is a folder called DOCUME~1 [C:\DOCUME~1] that contains everything I used to have, all my desktop icons, start up menu, and contents of the My Documents folder.

In the current C:\Documents and Settings folder, the folders All Users, Fix This, Josh, Josh.JOSHUA and JOSH.JOSHUA.000 contain I assume the default empty startup files

[gerryf]

So, this was previously a winme or win98 machine that you updated?

Let's cut to the chase....the goal here is....what?

[Johio]

Good call. I can't open MP3 files because every time I try to open one Windows Media Player 10 attempts to install. I can't run certain programs like Steam or Starcraft Campaign Editor (It attempts to configure then nothing happens). I can't add programs to my Start menu and I can't change my desktop other than the color. None of my settings seem to last. Those are the problems that I'd like to fix.

As far as updating, I'm pretty sure I've had Windows XP Profession on here the entire time.

[gerryf]

OK, XP home or XP pro?

Is this your machine, a business machine, or perhaps a parent's machine and you are a separate user?