[MStarr003]

I'm having a bit of difficulty with Vista Home Premium after modifying the default user profile. I don't know if I did something wrong, or if I need to modify some settings, but the new standard user account I created does not show a full start menu, help menu, any taskbar settings, nor will it allow me to open any program or folder.

This is what I did.

I created a second admin account and put a password on it.
I logged in under new admin account and noticed none of my settings came over. I had no internet connection ability, no documents and the media player, which I had configured on the original admin account was now not even set up, nothing was.

I went back and read about copying the settings to the default user profile.

Here is what I did to copy to default profile:

I logged on as original admin and removed the password from the new admin account. I then logged off and logged back in to new admin account.

1) I clicked start/computer/organize/folder and search options/select view tab and show hidden files and folders/clicked ok and then closed the box.

2) Start/control panel/system and maintenance/system and in the left tasks list, selected advanced system settings.

3) In the middle user profile section/click settings

4) I selected the entry for the first admin account (the one whose settings I wanted to carry over) clicked copy to/browse

5) In the browse for box/opened C/users and selected default/clicked ok to close browse box and ok to close copy to box.

6) At prompt clicked yes to overwrite the default profile. When done closed boxes and logged out.

7) Logged back into first admin account and selected new admin account and deleted all files and deleted the account.

After this when a new account is made, all settings should be brought over from the first admin account, but this did not happen. The start menu if I click on it, it starts out blank and will only show programs when I click on the all programs link. There is no help function available it says the page is under construction. Also, no programs will open, I cannot even open a folder.

Does anybody know what the problem could be?

Thanks.

[Mak213]

Hello,

It sounds as if you missed some main parts of the profile. There are still some files hidden in the profile folders. They can only be seen when you show the Hidden System Protected files which goes against the Recommended Microsoft setting.

Check this topic:

How to copy data from a corrupted user profile to a new profile in Windows XP

It will be the same for Vist as it is for XP. That should help you figure out where you went wrong.

Cheers,
Mak

[MStarr003]

Originally Posted by Mak213

Hello,

It sounds as if you missed some main parts of the profile. There are still some files hidden in the profile folders. They can only be seen when you show the Hidden System Protected files which goes against the Recommended Microsoft setting.

Check this topic:
How to copy data from a corrupted user profile to a new profile in Windows XP

It will be the same for Vist as it is for XP. That should help you figure out where you went wrong.

Cheers,
Mak

Hi,

I'm a bit puzzled as to why Vista would not copy everything in the profile initially because I selected the profile in its entirety. (There was no other way to select it.) If I had revealed the hidden system protected files first, and then copied to the default folder would it have worked?

When I attempted to reveal the hidden system protected files, it warned me I could mess up my system if I edit or delete an incorrect file. Do I bypass this, and is there a way I can restore the original default user profile before I copied to it?

Thanks again.

[Mak213]

Hello,

Vista will only select the viewable files. It does not select the hidden files. If and only if you got a prompt saying that there was X number of hidden files also selected would it copy them.

If you would have shown the system protected files it would have worked because those files would have been part of the ones copied over. Being that they were hidden they were not selected and not moved.

If you have deleted the original folder which i think you said you did there is no way to restore it now. Jsut have to reset your profile up the way you want now.

Cheers,
Mak