Computer help, please?

[PennLady]

I'd be happy to take this to PMs or email, but thought I'd ask here as people have been helpful in the past.

I have a Compaq PC laptop running Windows 7; it's probably five years old, but it works pretty well. This is not my primary computer, but I do use it for a few things and my kids use it, too.

Last night, I went to use this machine and saw that it was not my profile's screen. I logged off that user, but when I went to log on under my main admin profile, it would not take the logon. This has been the same for a long time, and I have not changed it.

I get the following message:

The User Profile Service service failed the logon.
User Profile cannot be loaded.

I can log on as Guest, an account that has no password. There is also another profile that I created, but I regret to say I can't remember the password so I cannot log on with that account. It's not an important account, just an extra I created, but that's annoying.

I can, however, log on to that computer with that profile name and password from another computer, and I can see all the files and folders -- My Documents, files and folders under that, My Music, etc.

Mr Penn and I plan on investigating this later, but I was wondering if anyone had any ideas. He thinks a file got corrupted, and at one point thought the My Documents folder might have been deleted, but we can't check, at least not yet.

Any ideas would be welcome. Thanks.

 

[RoyceConnors]

I have a feeling the kids might have something to do with this. No idea what they were up to, but you can't change the user controls, without changing the administration controls. I have a Samsung laptop with Win7 and the same controls are in both. It might have happened during a log in and something went haywire.

 

[johneb87]

I have a feeling the kids might have something to do with this. No idea what they were up to, but you can't change the user controls, without changing the administration controls. I have a Samsung laptop with Win7 and the same controls are in both. It might have happened during a log in and something went haywire.

If I had direct access to the pc, maybe. But yes, sounds like the user profile has become corrupted. I don't think you lost your documents * fingers crossed* just windows doesn't think the profile exists. I'll have to research if there is any good scripts to run. Worst case situation, you need to back up the hard drive and reinstall Windows.

To think of it.....maybe a Windows repair install may work. I can pm you user friendly instructions if you would like.

 

[johneb87]

Ok, not exactly user friendly, but this should help.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/947215

Feel free to pm me on this.

 

[PennLady]

I have a feeling the kids might have something to do with this. No idea what they were up to, but you can't change the user controls, without changing the administration controls. I have a Samsung laptop with Win7 and the same controls are in both. It might have happened during a log in and something went haywire.

The kids might have, but generally we leave the computer logged on under that name, and the kids just hit the space bar to clear the screen saver. There's no real reason they'd need to enter a password, although certainly they computer could update and reboot or something like that. I did give the password to my son at one point, but I don't know that he's had to use it.

What puzzles me is that I can log on via another computer, and it takes that username and password with no problem. I can copy files, and I have a big storage drive. So I could log on via one computer, copy the files to the storage drive, and then reformat/reinstall Windows if necessary.

 

[StrangeLife]

If the hard drive is 5 years old, it's possible that it could be beginning to fail. This will often manifest itself as random dataloss and weird files that suddenly disappear for no discernible reason.

One way of checking this is to run SpinRite on the drive. Alas they don't offer a free trial version and if you grab it from PB instead God will kill a puppy. So it all comes down to whether or not you're a dog-person...

 

[PennLady]

If the hard drive is 5 years old, it's possible that it could be beginning to fail. This will often manifest itself as random dataloss and weird files that suddenly disappear for no discernible reason.

I decided I was too tired to deal with this tonight and so was Mr Penn. So tomorrow, perhaps.

I'll keep this in mind, but so far nothing like that has happened. The computer has always functioned well, and my first guess is that one of my kids accidentally did something.

One way of checking this is to run SpinRite on the drive. Alas they don't offer a free trial version and if you grab it from PB instead God will kill a puppy. So it all comes down to whether or not you're a dog-person...

Hmmm. I'm more of a cat person.

 

[johneb87]

It's probably not the hard drive, just windows failing to see the user account. Likely a registry issue.

Resolution

Occasionally, Windows might not read your user profile correctly, such as if your antivirus software is scanning your computer while you try to log on. Before you follow the methods here, try restarting your computer and logging on with your user account again to resolve the issue. If you restart your computer and it does not resolve this issue, use the following methods to resolve this issue.

See my link. It literally describes your issue.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/947215

 

[PennLady]

It's probably not the hard drive, just windows failing to see the user account. Likely a registry issue.

See my link. It literally describes your issue.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/947215

Thank you for the link. Mr Penn found it last night while googling, we just haven't had the chance to try any of the solutions yet. And I tend to agree with you, that it's likely a registry issue with the account.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Sounds like that user id was set to remote access only seeing as you have remote access. Now that you have access you can change setting and such remotely. You don't need physical access to the machine. Once you are logged in, you should be able to do pretty much what you want.

Check around while you are logged in. No harm. Also while you are there, create a new account, give it admin access and now you have an account which you can use to log on to the machine locally.

Just some thoughts.

 

[Handley_Page]

If the hard drive is 5 years old, it's possible that it could be beginning to fail. This will often manifest itself as random dataloss and weird files that suddenly disappear for no discernible reason.

One way of checking this is to run SpinRite on the drive. Alas they don't offer a free trial version and if you grab it from PB instead God will kill a puppy. So it all comes down to whether or not you're a dog-person...

Re PB: "We have been ordered by the High Court to prevent access to this website as it operates unlawfully. This is a legal obligation that we must comply with. The Court has found that the site and its users infringe copyright material in the UK."

PS. I can confirm SpinRight as being a good programme, although I have not recently used it.

 

[Noor]

Re PB: "We have been ordered by the High Court to prevent access to this website as it operates unlawfully. This is a legal obligation that we must comply with. The Court has found that the site and its users infringe copyright material in the UK."

PS. I can confirm SpinRight as being a good programme, although I have not recently used it.

It seems to be the night for it. Hi Grumpy!

 

[StrangeLife]

Re PB: "We have been ordered by the High Court to prevent access to this website as it operates unlawfully. This is a legal obligation that we must comply with. The Court has found that the site and its users infringe copyright material in the UK."

Oh oops.

Well they probably censor your traffic at the DNS level. Edit your DNS network settings and switch from Auto DHCP to manual. Then simply insert the IP address of a non UK based DNS service, like for instance Open DNS...


Primary: 208.67.222.222

Secondary: 208.67.220.220


... and you're good to go. Yarrr!

 

[PennLady]

Sounds like that user id was set to remote access only seeing as you have remote access. Now that you have access you can change setting and such remotely. You don't need physical access to the machine. Once you are logged in, you should be able to do pretty much what you want.

Check around while you are logged in. No harm. Also while you are there, create a new account, give it admin access and now you have an account which you can use to log on to the machine locally.

Just some thoughts.

It may have been set, but I don't think so. Also, to be clear, I'm just going through the equivalent of Windows Explorer, finding the machine under the network and connecting as that main user. I'm not sure I could do anything about setting up accounts. I haven't connected via a remote access program or anything like that.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Re PB: "We have been ordered by the High Court to prevent access to this website as it operates unlawfully. This is a legal obligation that we must comply with. The Court has found that the site and its users infringe copyright material in the UK."

PS. I can confirm SpinRight as being a good programme, although I have not recently used it.

Try Kickass.to instead. In search type SpinRight.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

It may have been set, but I don't think so. Also, to be clear, I'm just going through the equivalent of Windows Explorer, finding the machine under the network and connecting as that main user. I'm not sure I could do anything about setting up accounts. I haven't connected via a remote access program or anything like that.

Ah, I see. Never mind. But you might try accessing it via the remote desktop in the accessories menu item on the start button.

 

[PennLady]

Ah, I see. Never mind. But you might try accessing it via the remote desktop in the accessories menu item on the start button.

I could. I have RDC and use it for work. Would I need to find an IP address for the machine I want to connect to? Or could I browse for it? I ask because I've only ever used RDC to connect to a machine at my old office, and they gave me the IP for it. So I've never done much else with it.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I could. I have RDC and use it for work. Would I need to find an IP address for the machine I want to connect to? Or could I browse for it? I ask because I've only ever used RDC to connect to a machine at my old office, and they gave me the IP for it. So I've never done much else with it.

When you bring it up...RDC is part of Vista and 7 automatically...there will be a dropdown list of machines on the network and/or you will have the ability to browse for a machine. At it's simplest you select a machine, put in the user name and password and press connect. No need to know the ip as you can already navigate to it using explorer. The machine in question should show up in the dropdown list or when you go to browse you should see it in the explorer window that will popup.

 

[PennLady]

When you bring it up...RDC is part of Vista and 7 automatically...there will be a dropdown list of machines on the network and/or you will have the ability to browse for a machine. At it's simplest you select a machine, put in the user name and password and press connect. No need to know the ip as you can already navigate to it using explorer. The machine in question should show up in the dropdown list or when you go to browse you should see it in the explorer window that will popup.

I will have to try that later -- what you describe with the lists is not what happens in RDC for Mac. And I think I did say that, but my primary computer, and the one from which I connected to the problem computer, is a MacAir (running OS X 10.8.5, if it matters).

When I start RDC, the only computer I see is the one I had previously input for work. There is no drop down menu, or button to browse. However, I should be able to look in Finder (i.e., Mac's explorer) and see the name of the machine. Worst that happens is it doesn't work, right?

 

[PennLady]

I know I need to try the steps in johnb's article, but I was looking at other stuff first. I attempted to log on to the Compaq via RDC, but it wouldn't work. I think it said it couldn't find it. I looked for the IP address of the machine, but when I got to a cmd window and typed in ipconfig /all, it said that IP routing wasn't enabled for the Compaq. Not sure if that's the way it should be or not.

I also saw an option to restore computer to an earlier state, which I might do, although I'm not sure I can since I was on as a guest. I imagine it would then ask me for the admin password, which of course brings me back to the problem.

You know, if I didn't need this for one thing -- PDF files that I have trouble doing on my Mac, due to what seem to be font issues -- I wouldn't care about reformatting or reinstalling or anything. Everything I need is on the Mac, at least I'm pretty sure. Sigh.

 

[StrangeLife]

I looked for the IP address of the machine, but when I got to a cmd window and typed in ipconfig /all, it said that IP routing wasn't enabled for the Compaq.

If you login to your router you might be able to see a list of all connected IP's. Then you can isolate the IP of the Compaq through the process of elimination.

 

[PennLady]

It appears to be fixed! I followed the instructions in the link that johnb and Mr Penn found, and it seems I have my profile back. It wasn't even that complicated, although futzing in the registry always carries a bit of a risk.

So thanks everybody! (And if you have any thoughts on font issues, buzz me. ).

 

[johneb87]

It appears to be fixed! I followed the instructions in the link that johnb and Mr Penn found, and it seems I have my profile back. It wasn't even that complicated, although futzing in the registry always carries a bit of a risk.

So thanks everybody! (And if you have any thoughts on font issues, buzz me. ).

Yay!

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Glad it's fixed. I didn't comprehend that you were using a Mac to connect to the Compaq. Sorry.

 

[PennLady]

Glad it's fixed. I didn't comprehend that you were using a Mac to connect to the Compaq. Sorry.

Sorry, I tried to lay out the facts and details without swamping people, but I should have done it better. I'm not sure how much difference it really makes on that particular count, aside from some superficial stuff. It was handy, though, to take the Mac over to the other computer because it's so light.