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Help with XP: Interesting Problem

TycoTyco RangerTexas
An interesting problem has occured recently on my machine, which runs WinXP Pro, which began after UO crashes a few days ago.

Every time I log in, the computer starts up as if I am a "Temporary" user. Instead of loading up my normal settings, it thinks that I am a guest user, and everything appears as if I have never used the machine before. It has created two new Documents and Settings folders, "TEMP" and "TEMP.KAOS" (Kaos being my computer)

My normal folder is still there, along with all of the contents, yet it wont load them when i log in.

Anyone have any ideas as how to fix this problem? I figured I'd ask y'all before I did the ever-so-fun (TM) formatting of the Hard Drive. ;)
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Comments

  • Entil'ZhaEntil'Zha I see famous people
    Re: Help with XP: Interesting Problem

    [QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Tyco [/i]
    [B]An interesting problem has occured recently on my machine, which runs WinXP Pro, which began after UO crashes a few days ago.

    Every time I log in, the computer starts up as if I am a "Temporary" user. Instead of loading up my normal settings, it thinks that I am a guest user, and everything appears as if I have never used the machine before. It has created two new Documents and Settings folders, "TEMP" and "TEMP.KAOS" (Kaos being my computer)

    My normal folder is still there, along with all of the contents, yet it wont load them when i log in.

    Anyone have any ideas as how to fix this problem? I figured I'd ask y'all before I did the ever-so-fun (TM) formatting of the Hard Drive. ;) [/B][/QUOTE]


    This happens to me all the time, in fact, on my machine i believe i've got profiles from mhochman.phoenix001- mhochman.phoenix005

    Your best bet would be to copy all the data over from the old dir (everything except ntuser.dat, since that will give you a sharing violation)
  • TycoTyco Ranger Texas
    Sounds like a plan to me. -todders off to go try it-
  • TycoTyco Ranger Texas
    Ooooor, is there a way i can just delete the account (I dont even know wht it's there since I'm the only one that uses this machine) and cause it to not even need to load those profiles? Or am i basically screwed until someone else comes up with some more ideas. I'm on limited HDD space until I can get a new HDD, so moving things isnt really an option at the moment
  • BigglesBiggles <font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
    Log in as admin user. Create new account. Copy stuff from old account into new account. Delete all old, fucked up accounts. That should hopefully fix the problem. If it doesn't, it'll probably be easier (and better) to format and get a nice clean system.
  • SanfamSanfam I like clocks.
    You can just reinstall as I did.

    When that happened, the problem was simply that my user file had corrupted. It kept trying to read it, and would fail, resulting in the creation of a temporary account.
  • A2597A2597 Fanboy
    I had that happen once...

    only it was 'cause I had over clocked my graphics card and CPU to much. :D

    had to do a bios reset on that one. ;)
  • TycoTyco Ranger Texas
    I re-installed XP already once last night, and that didn't help. I think i'll try the make-new-account, copy-to-new-account technique first. and if not, I think my HDD's gona get a clean start.. and a clean format.
  • A2597A2597 Fanboy
    one of these days I'm going to run a low level format on my HD...
  • TycoTyco Ranger Texas
    [QUOTE][i]Originally posted by A2597 [/i]
    [B]one of these days I'm going to run a low level format on my HD... [/B][/QUOTE]

    Just dont low level a SCSI drive.. my friend and I did that in our A+ certification class.. and we didn't know it was a bad thing until we got the the next xhapter in the book, one day later. :D
  • RickRick Sector 14 Studios
    Do you have it set up to "boot to desktop", or are you selecting your account during each boot?


    -R.
  • TycoTyco Ranger Texas
    i have it to select an account each boot. I've made the new account to copy stuff to, but I cant figure out how to disable all of my old accounts sharing restrictions so that when I delete the old account, I can still access all of the programs that are under this restriction. Will they automatically be disabled after the deletion or will I have to re-install the programs?
  • JackNJackN <font color=#99FF99>Lightwave Alien</font>
    W2k Pro has done that shit to me before... Grrrr... :mad:
  • TycoTyco Ranger Texas
    I just did the whole "make new account, delete old account" thing. It worked. So now I'm attemting to re-install UO. But! Since it was installed by the old account, it wont run :( which means I need to uninstall it then re-install, correct? Correct. Well. That didn't work. -.- So now I'm deleting the folder and going to re-install it in a different one. Here we go!
  • BigglesBiggles <font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
    When we say reinstall, we don't mean over the old one. That won't change a thing. We mean wipe out windows and the Documents and Settings folder (or just plain format), then install windows.

    If you're having trouble with UO, make sure to clean the registry of any of its keys.
  • TycoTyco Ranger Texas
    [QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Biggles [/i]
    [B]When we say reinstall, we don't mean over the old one. That won't change a thing. We mean wipe out windows and the Documents and Settings folder (or just plain format), then install windows.

    If you're having trouble with UO, make sure to clean the registry of any of its keys. [/B][/QUOTE]

    So you're telling me now that I'm going to have to format? -.-

    I've rid this compuiter of the old account along with it's Documents and Settings folder, so what else am I supose to do?

    And to do with the UO Reg keys, where in the registry would they be by chance? I've been looking for a bit and I havn't found a thing to do with UO.
  • shadow boxershadow boxer The Finger Painter & Master Ranter
    snigger :D

    *adopts the smug MAC user grin*
  • TycoTyco Ranger Texas
    If i had the money, I'd have a Mac, trust me :p
  • BigglesBiggles <font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
    If the new account is working then you don't need to format (although personally I probably would anyway).
    As for the UO registry keys, they'll be under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software or HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software. Try doing a search for things like the name of the game, the name of the company, etc.
  • RickRick Sector 14 Studios
    For anyone running XP, I reccommend running it like Linux: namely, create an "administrator" (aka root to UNIX ppl) account that you never use except in emergencies. the Admin account has full access to everything.

    Then you can create sub accounts (by user name): you can even give them admin access.

    That doesn't really help Tyco right now, but this [i]may[/i]:

    log into your old account, and share the entire drive with "ALL (LOCAL) USERS" it will give you a heapload of warnings, but it's OK.

    If this doesn't work, go into "add/remove programs," and make sure that you have shared the applications with all users at the install. Some games do that automatically, but older Win9x games may not. UO is pretty old, and I don't play it, so I don't know what it does in particular.

    Also, get into the practice of making an "emergency repair disk" before each new software install. Saves allot of hastles like this one if you have to rebuild Windows. I tend to leave a floppy in the drive, and run it as a scheduled task.

    Also keep in mind that Windows and Linux, unlike the Mac, let you mess with settings that can totally bork your machine. keep this in mind when "tweaking" or running "tweaker programs." It's best to buy speed the normal way, then mess with Overclocking.

    That's what I say, anyway.

    -R.
  • MelkorMelkor Elite Ranger
    that's ok.. XP decided to eat its own TCP/IP for no apparent reason.. while I was using it. let me tell you.. THAT was fun trying to figure out
  • TycoTyco Ranger Texas
    The accounts gone, and I'm going format then re-install windows soon. Then! I'll try all of y'alls suggestions. Thanks for the help!
  • JackNJackN <font color=#99FF99>Lightwave Alien</font>
    [QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Tyco [/i]
    [B]If i had the money, I'd have a Mac, trust me :p [/B][/QUOTE]

    If I had the money, I'd fly down to AU and FWAPP Shadow Boxer for ya... ;)
  • BigglesBiggles <font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
    Hell, I can do it for way cheaper. :D

    Rick: That system of accounts is exactly how I run my computer. I've had to use the admin account once, when I accidentally set the colour of everything to black, with no desktop wallpaper. That was an interesting day. :)
    The scheduled task for the repair disk is a good idea. I think I shall try it.
  • Rogue TraderRogue Trader Somebody stop him...
    is anyone else getting werid messages in a box? ive been getting them all the time lately on W2K Pro. why?
  • JackNJackN <font color=#99FF99>Lightwave Alien</font>
    Ah... The old Message services spam!

    :D

    I get those regularly...

    Those appear on Windows machines running some kind of server services via TCP/IP.

    Biatches!
    :mad:
  • TycoTyco Ranger Texas
    Yeah, they freaking annoy me -.- I had them disabled until this whole problem started, and they're coming back. Too lazy to go disble them again at the moment. And I still need to format this computer.. :robot:
  • BigglesBiggles <font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
    To prevent those messages all you need do is set up a firewall that blocks traffic on ports 139 and related. Those are windows services ports, and you really don't need (or want) them available to the whole world.
  • TycoTyco Ranger Texas
    Or if you want to follow in my lazy bastard footsteps, you can just disable messaging all together. :D
  • SanfamSanfam I like clocks.
    IMHO, disabling messaging is the better way. Not many people use messaging anymore. Now, if you were running a client-server network setup, then it'd be useful (i.e server alerts), but I doubt you're doing that. :D
  • BigglesBiggles <font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
    Actually, I am. :) People in my house like to know when the firewalls going to blink in and out of existance. Otherwise they start yelling at me.
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