Copying data from a corrupted user profile to a new profile

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Sometimes, the user profile in Windows XP gets corrupted and when you try to login to that account, you get error like -

Windows cannot load your profile because it may be corrupted. You may be logged in using a temporary User Profile.

This is a common issue and may occur if the current user profile is damaged.... maybe due to virus/malware or some other causes that may be unknown. To get rid of this issue, all you can do is create a new profile for yourself and then copy the data from your corrupted profile to this new profile. When you copy user data into a new profile, the new profile becomes a near duplicate of the old profile, and contains the same preferences, appearance, and documents as the old profile. If your old profile is corrupted in some way, you can move the files and settings from the corrupt profile to a new profile. For this, all you need to do is follow the steps below. Broadly, speaking there are only 2 steps to follow to solve this issue.

1. Create a new user profile
   
   
2. Copy the corrupted user’s profile information to the new user

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1. Create a new user profile

• Create a new user profile on the domain computer
  
  
  
  1. Log on as the Administrator or as a user with administrator credentials
  2. Click Start, and then click Control Panel
  3. Click User Accounts
  4. Click the Advanced tab, and then click Advanced
  5. In the left pane, click the Users folder
  6. On the Action menu, click New User
  7. Enter the appropriate user information, and then click Create.
  
  
  
  
• Create a new user profile on the workgroup computer
  
  
  
  1. Log on as the Administrator or as a user with administrator credentials
  2. Click Start, and then click Control Panel
  3. Click User Accounts
  4. Under Pick a task, click Create a new account
  5. Type a name for the user information, and then click Next
  6. Click an account type, and then click Create Account.

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2. Copy the corrupted user’s profile information to the new user

1. Log on as a user other than the user whose profile you are copying files to or from.
   
   
2. In Windows Explorer, click Tools, click Folder Options, click the View tab, click Show hidden files and folders, click to clear the Hide protected operating system files check box, and then click OK.
   
   
3. Locate the C:\Documents and Settings\Old_Username folder, where C is the drive on which Windows XP is installed, and Old_Username is the name of the profile you want to copy user data from.
   
   
4. Press and hold down the CTRL key while you click each file and subfolder in this folder, except the following files:
   
   • Ntuser.dat
   • Ntuser.dat.log
   • Ntuser.ini
   
   
   
5. On the Edit menu, click Copy.
   
   
6. Locate the C:\Documents and Settings\New_Username folder, where C is the drive on which Windows XP is installed, and New_Username is the name of the user profile that you created in the "Create a New User Profile" section.
   
   
7. On the Edit menu, click Paste.
   
   
8. Log off the computer, and then log on as the new user.

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Note
The method that is described in this article may not transfer the Outlook Express e-mail messages and address user data that are associated with the user profile where you are transferring data from. When you delete the old profile, you may delete that data in it if you do not first transfer it by using other methods. You must import your e-mail messages and addresses to the new user profile before you delete the old profile.