Re: Lost My Documents, Favorites etc.-corrupt profile

Fixing your file system may be impossible. But, some options to move
forward include:

(1) If XP home, boot into safe and use the built-in, but usually hidden,
administrator to create a new user with admin rights. Then boot back into
normal windows mode as that new user. Uninstall/reinstall all programs you
want this new user to have. If a program is not really "installed", meaning
has a bunch of registry entries, you can grant access to it by simply making
a link to its executable file.

(2) Try recovering files from CHK.xxx files: But, be aware that most
CHK.xxx files contain incomplete and/or corrupted information. Thus, the
odds are small of actually getting back all, or even most, of you files that
have been converted to CHK.xxx.

http://www.diydatarecovery.nl/chkmate.htm
http://www.ericphelps.com/uncheck/
http://www.raymond.cc/blog/archives/2008/01/07/how-to-recover-chk-files-created-by-chkdsk-and-scandisk/

(3) Try to recover some files using a program that can find files from
their bit patterns. These are commonly called file recovery programs. If
the bits are still on disk, and not yet overwritten (or corrupted), some
files may be recovered. Try to use a program that runs form a CD or USB
stick. If you install anything on the PC, you run the risk of overwriting a
file, whose space is no longer shown in the master file table. Here are
some possible programs:

http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloads38.html

(4) Save all personal files and info you can find to an external hard drive
or CDs/DVDs. Then, do a clean install of XP (if you installed XP from a CD)
or do a system restoration per the manufacturer's instructions (if XP came
pre-installed). If you do the former, first partition the hard drive into
at least two chunk, one for XP and programs, and one for personal data.
This will help you handle future problems easier.

(5) Learn from this experience. (a) have a backup of all personal data off
of the PC. (b) have a partition image of the operating system and installed
programs and a program that can restore it without having to boot into XP.
The classic program of this kind is Norton GHOST, but I prefer Acronis
TrueImage. See below for links to some backup/recovery software. (c) have
a backup of the Documents and Settings area, such as can be made by
ntbackup.exe, a Microsoft program that comes with XP. In a few cases this
can avoid the need for a full backup of the partition with the operating
system. But, it only runs from within XP, so is not all that useful if XP
will not boot.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloads3.html



"br945" <br945.3hiz7d@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:br945.3hiz7d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I have two user profiles on the same PC with one (main user)having the
administrator rights.

Today, when I attempted to log in as the main user, I got the following
message: "Windows cannot load the locally stored profile. Possible
causes of this error include insufficient security rights or a corrupt
local profile. If this problem persists, contact your network
administrator."

I found one microsoft support note which suggests that a new profile
needs to be created and the contents of the old profile except .dat
files have to be copied in the new profile folders.

However, all my folders in the original profile including are EMPTY
*The My Documents folder has disappeared altogether*.

I am unable to retrieve valuable files.

Can anyone *who has actually faced the same problem and has
successfully resolved it *suggest a step wise procedure to locate where
my files have disappeared.

By the way, I tried system restore operation to restore the system
three days backward. yet, everything is the same and the folders are
empty. so, i have undone the system restore. thanks

Secondly, I see in my C: disk under hidden files and folders, several
folders named "FOUND.xxx" folders numbered 1 to 16. the last one
"FOUND.016" was created around the same time that i lost my profile. It
is large sized at 897 mb. I understand that it is same as CHK.xxx files
and can be removed. But in view of the problem of missing folders and
files, I am hesitant to remove it.


please advise on my main problem i.e. missing MY documents folder and
other files.

FYI I HAVE WIN XP SP2
thanks


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