Locked out of User Accounts after Vista to XP restore

[lguthrie98]

I've scoured the 'Net to find an answer to my question, but my situation may be a bit unique. Hopefully you can help me out.

Here's what happened... My computer would not boot to Windows Vista. (I have an HP Pavilion a1630n that originally came installed with XP and came with a Vista upgrade disk. I did upgrade to Vista).

I made the bone-headed mistake of accidentally putting the XP restore disk into the drive instead of the Vista Disk. Once the restore was complete the system booted to XP, but I got an error message stating that "Windows cannot load the user's profile but has logged you on with the default profile for the system." Once the computer completely booted upI could see all my files. However, I cannot access anything directly. The "Documents and Settings" folder is locked out. I get "access denied".

When I try adding a new Administrator under User Accounts, it gets loaded, but then when I restart and select the new user I get the same "Windows cannot load the user's profile" error.

When I look through the file structure I see that it has maintained some of the Vista structuring. For example, my original Administor User Account and the other account I used for my personal files (Let's call it "Home") which also has administrator rights are both loaded under the "Users" folder like Vista uses.

Additionally, if I try to open any program I had loaded (like MS Excel) I get a message stating "one of your object libraries (vbaen32.olb) is missing or damaged. Please run Setup to install it". Once I click "OK" I get another error message stating "Microsoft Excel has not been installed for the current user. Please run setup to install the application."

Also, I can click the "Start" button, but not "All Programs".

I tried running the Vista recovery disk, but nothing works. The Repair feature gives me an error. If I try to restore to a backup it tells me that there were no restore points.

When I boot up I do get two options, Vista and a Previous version of Windows (which gets me into XP). I have the option to hit F8 to go to Safe mode only on the Vista instance. If I select Vista and hit F8 I get an error message. I cannot select F8 for the previous version of Windows (XP). I can get into Safe mode from msconfig after logging in to XP.

I've tried to grant myself permissions to the Documents and Settings folder or creating a new User Account while in Safe mode, but neither works. Documents and Settings still shows "Access Denied." Adding another User Account just gives the same "Windows cannot load the user's profile" error.

Is there a solution to my problem? Is is possible to have the computer boot up to the old Vista User Accounts (located in the "Users" folder), or move them to the "Documents and Settings" folder? Any way to gain access to the Documents and Settings folder?

I'm afraid to try to do the upgrade to Vista again until this is resolved. I'm also afraid to do any kind of cleanups like RegCure because some of the links in the registry may be broken simply because I can't access the paths anymore.

Any help is much appreciated.

Thanks all!

[MrChris-]

For your

Windows cannot load the user's profile" error.

To resolve this problem, modify the registry to increase the PoolUsageMaximum value and the PagedPoolSize value. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
2. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management
3. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
4. In the New Value #1 box, type PoolUsageMaximum, and then press ENTER.
5. Right-click PoolUsageMaximum, and then click Modify.
6. In the Value data box, type 60, and then click OK.
7. If the PagedPoolSize registry entry exists, go to step 8. If the PagedPoolSize registry entry does not exist, create it. To do this, follow these steps:
1. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
2. In the New Value #1 box, type PagedPoolSize, and then press ENTER.
8. Right-click PagedPoolSize, and then click Modify.
9. In the Value data box, type ffffffff, and then click OK.
10. Exit Registry Editor, and then restart the computer.

For more information see here : http://support.microsoft.com/kb/246936

For your

Microsoft Excel has not been installed for the current user. Please run setup to install the application.

To resolve this problem, follow these steps:

1. Log on to the computer by using an Administrator user account.
2. Start Microsoft Windows Explorer.
3. On the Tools menu, click Folder Options.
4. Click the View tab.
5. Under Hidden files and folders, click Show hidden files and folders.
6. Click to clear the Hide extensions for known file types check box, and then click OK.
7. Open the following folder:
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Office\Data\
8. If you are running Office 2003, right-click Opa11.dat, and then click Properties. If you are running Office XP, right-click Data.dat, and then click Properties.
9. Click the Security tab.
10. Click Advanced.
11. Click the Permissions tab.
12. Click to select Everyone in the Permission entries list, and then click Edit.
13. Click to select the Full Control check box.
14. Click OK three times.

If these steps do not resolve this issue, delete the Opa11.dat file or the Data.dat file from the following folder, and then restart an Office 2003 program or an Office XP program
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Office\Data

For

Windows cannot load the user's 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.


Copy files to the new user profile

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.

Note You must import your e-mail messages and addresses to the new user profile before you delete the old profile. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base

Hope this helps you a bit .

[lguthrie98]

Thanks for your reply. I did the first part and that worked. I am now able to login as an administrator. However, I'm still getting error messages trying to access the "Documents and Settings" folder. I'm getting "c:\documents and settings is not accessible access is denied".

Most of the other fixes require me to do something from this folder.

Any suggestions?

[SalVatore]

For the c:\documents and settings is not accessible access is denied message see the below links

C:\Documents and Settings is not accessible
http://forums.techarena.in/vista-fil...nt/1055217.htm
Access is Denied. C\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents
Access Denied. C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents
http://forums.techarena.in/windows-security/714334.htm

[lguthrie98]

I was able to get ownership of the Documents and Settings folder. However, I cannot access the "All Users" folder. I believe this is what is keeping me from using the "All Programs" link from the start menu.

I was able to "find" the "All Users" folder. However, I get an access denied message when I click on it. I can right click and select Properties, but there is no Security tab, so I can't figure out how to change ownership.

Any thoughts? Thanks for your help!