[Solved] [WinXP] Recovering user account + folder

[Aquiller]

Hey gents, I got a semi-major problem here.

I've fucked up a PC at work by trying to move the user account from C:\ to D:\ and messing with the regedit (ProfilesDirectory changed to D:\). When I moved entire user account catalouge to D:\, I deleted all the remains at C:\ in Documents and Settings.

When I tried to log in on that user account it said there is no such profile. Please help, my boss was getting angry at me (not blaming him, stupid me :/ ).

Cheers!

P.S.
There are no pre-made recovery points I could rollback into :/

[LITOralis.nMd]

I usually charge US$100/hr to fix this type of problem.

What Service Pack are you using?

DO you have ADmin rights? You WILL need them.

What are your options here?


The easiest way to do this:
How to copy data from a corrupted user profile to a new profile in Windows XP


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After you fix this by getting everything back to the C: drive, you can do this to move the user account files (but not the user profile windows files)
Download link shell extension:
Link Shell Extension

then use link shell extension to create junction points from your D drive to your C drive location.
Here is a guide that uses the link shell extension GUI, but provides a general reference to the My Documents folder:
Shift-Command-3: Symbolic Links & Junctions in NTFS [or] 'How do I move my Sims 3 Save?'

[Aquiller]

Many thanks so far, gonna go tomorrow morning to work (even tho its sunday). I understand this kind of help normally gets you paid, and for that I'm really grateful - shows how great PR community can be in times of need.

[Aquiller]

Okay, I've managed to restore partially the previous user profile (desktop, settings, files etc.) but here's a problem:

1. Outlook Express won't start and says something about 'not enough space' and that msoe.dll library can't be found. I've tried to install msoe.dll manually but it says that it cannot by initiated (when using regsvr32 /u msoe.dll). Surprisingly, OE starts normally when logged as an Administrator.

2. Some of the programs (like Mozilla, Word) have problems either starting or opening files, it says that they're waiting for the other user to grant priviledges.

Help?

[Aquiller]

Problem solved. All I had to do was to give Admin rights to the old account.

Cheers

[BloodyDeed]

Good to hear that and thanks alot for posting your solution.
Going to lock this, feel free to notice me if you want to add something.

Cheers