>> "Ben Myers" <ben_myers@charter.net> wrote in message
>> news:gfd9ni$sab$1@registered.motzarella.org...
>>> - Bobb - wrote:
>>>> Follow up to prior:
>>>>
>>>> Used HP PC recovery on my laptop to reinstall XP MCE. I choose to
>>>> leave
>>>> old data intact ( no format ) and just reinstall XP (since I have
>>>> lots of stuff on there). My new account name = Owner.
>>>> After recovery I see a few issues I had not anticipated
>>>> and would like feedback from those familiar with HP PC recovery.
>>>> I couldn't find answers to these specifics at Microsoft nor HP.
>>>>
>>>> Prior to PC recovery, I ran Files Transfer wizard to external USB
>>>> drive (just in case). It backed up 35.5 GB - that's right -
>>>> LOTS of video, pictures. Now XP reinstalled and I can
>>>> see old account folders/files but since XP only sees the Bob
>>>> folder as a folder and NOT an account I can't log into
>>>> that account.
>>>>
>>>> So, what's the best/easiest way to straighten out the file situation?
>>>> I'd like all of the files that live in the BOB account to appear in
>>>> Owner's
>>>> " My Documents, " My videos", "My Pictures " etc.
>>>>
>>>> I do not have a spare 35.5 GB to leave as-is and do a restore from
>>>> Wizard to Owner. I could delete the Bob folder
>>>> and restore - is that the right way to do it vs. trying to salvage
>>>> what's already on there ? I just figure that since the files are
>>>> currently on the drive, I'm deleting - then restoring the same files
>>>> (35.5gb). Also if the is a file or two that did NOT get included in
>>>> Transfer Zip files, if I do not delete folder first, I will still
>>>> have a copy. To leave data on the drive as-is, could I " Move them"
>>>> from ' Bob' to ' Owner '?
>>>> Opening the Bob Folder and select all and MOVE ?? I see issues with
>>>> that. Would ownership still be Bob and not Owner ? Relative
>>>> shortcuts to "bob folder' wouldn't work in subfolders etc . BUT it
>>>> would get all of my media,office files there. Also I read that after
>>>> PC Recovery, even though apps are still in folders in Program Files,
>>>> they "are not installed" and need to be reinstalled ( to insert the
>>>> info into registry).
>>>>
>>>> What do you suggest ?
>>>> Delete Bob (35.5gb) ,
>>>> delete old apps folders ( assuming I have no
>>>> customized/saved files in each folder),
>>>> defrag,
>>>> restore (35.5gb) from Wizard ?
>>>> Or better alternative ?
>>>>
>>>> This is not life or death. I just hadn't used HP PC recovery before
>>>> and reviewing best way to go.
>>>> I THOUGHT PC recovery would save accounts /logon info, but since now
>>>> no Admin acct etc, I see issues. Worst case I can reinstall XP from
>>>> DVD and then use Transfer wizard to get my stuff back on there but
>>>> trying to find 'easiest' way to recover a user's info. Family has HP
>>>> laptops too and using this "opportunity" to learn about PC recovery.
>>>> It might be that the best way is to backup, wipe, then reinstall to
>>>> factory ( reformat), then use wizard. That would get me an admin acct
>>>> as well as a Bob account - just checking with folks that may have
>>>> done this before: can I leave all 35.5 gb on drive AND correct
>>>> ownership issues ? If 'Bob account' resolved, then I'd delete all
>>>> other accounts and create a new Admin account.
>>>>
>>>> Thanks for any feedback from experienced folks.
>>>>
>>> N-O-O-O-O !!! You have to think like Microsoft and think only about
>>> yourself. Same with HP. So the recovery fixes the OS up, and makes a
>>> mess of all else.
>>>
>>> If you can't rename the "Owner" account to "Bob", can create several
>>> accounts with administrative privileges, if that helps you.
>>
>> But that wouldn't get all of my old stuff in the right place. I don't
>> really care about the account name, I just want all of the data back
>> where it was - where I know where to find it. So whether I log on as
>> Owner or Bob , I know that - that set of files - is 4 levels down in
>> THAT folder.
>>
>> Meanwhile, I tried creating a Bob account and ended up with a "
>> Bob.local "account.
>> So in 'Docs amd Settings'. I have a 'Bob' and a 'Bob.local'
>
> I have not analyzed in detail the scheme you are suggesting to get the
> data back in the right places, but if you run into any permission
> violations at all, boot up and run with the Ultimate Boot CD, which
> circumvents all file and folder permissions. The other way to do this
> would be to put temporary shares on all the folders you need to shuffle
> around, then remove the shares when done.
>
> FORTUNATELY, you have had the good sense to back up your data! BRAVO!
>
> ... Ben Myers

I went with the procedure and it worked fine for MY account. (BUT,)
I logged on as "Owner"
Renamed 'Bob' Folder in docs and Settings to Old_Bob
Deleted Bob account ( So the " Bob.local "account was removed)
Rebooted.
Logged on as Owner.
Created a Bob account. Thought I 'd drag and drop from "Old_Bob" to "Bob"
folder. Yet when I looked in Docs and Settings = no Bob folder ?? I had
to log out of Owner and log on as Bob before it was created - isn't that
strange ?? Once the folder existed, I MOVED all the files a few folders at
a time, from Old_Bob to Bob. As I had hoped, MOVING 35.5 gb of data only
took a minute or so, so it only changed the properties of the folders and
didn't actually " move" anything with the data files.

Here's the strange part: after Bob account looked fine, I then renamed the
original Administrator folder to Old_Admin and rebooted. Logged on as Bob
and tried to create an admin account. I got a message that "account
already exists". No it doesn't !. I searched the registry and see lots of
path references to
C:\Docs and Settings\Administrator\.... , yet have no errors,info logged
in event logs. SO, the PC Restore process inserts references to an Admin
acct even when there isn't one ??!! User Accounts shows only:
Bob, Guest, Owner - so why is XP telling me that the account exists ?

Yeah. I can NOT have an administrator account, or I could create an
account called " Admin", but what's with the PC restore
defaulting/creating to using references to a non-existent folder/user ?
AND, how to get around that ? ( to create an account called Administrator)

- Bobb - wrote on Thu, 13 Nov 2008 10:00:28 -0500:
> I went with the procedure and it worked fine for MY account. (BUT,)
> I logged on as "Owner"
> Renamed 'Bob' Folder in docs and Settings to Old_Bob
> Deleted Bob account ( So the " Bob.local "account was removed)
> Rebooted.
> Logged on as Owner.
> Created a Bob account. Thought I 'd drag and drop from "Old_Bob" to
> "Bob" folder. Yet when I looked in Docs and Settings = no Bob folder ??
> I had to log out of Owner and log on as Bob before it was created -
> isn't that strange ?? Once the folder existed, I MOVED all the files a
> few folders at a time, from Old_Bob to Bob. As I had hoped, MOVING 35.5
> gb of data only took a minute or so, so it only changed the properties
> of the folders and didn't actually " move" anything with the data files.
>
> Here's the strange part: after Bob account looked fine, I then renamed
> the original Administrator folder to Old_Admin and rebooted. Logged on
> as Bob and tried to create an admin account. I got a message that
> "account already exists". No it doesn't !. I searched the registry and
> see lots of path references to
> C:\Docs and Settings\Administrator\.... , yet have no errors,info logged
> in event logs. SO, the PC Restore process inserts references to an
> Admin acct even when there isn't one ??!! User Accounts shows only:
> Bob, Guest, Owner - so why is XP telling me that the account exists ?
>
> Yeah. I can NOT have an administrator account, or I could create an
> account called " Admin", but what's with the PC restore
> defaulting/creating to using references to a non-existent folder/user ?
> AND, how to get around that ? ( to create an account called Administrator)

Bob, are you doing all of this moving and copying with Explorer? If so,
stop! Use User Accounts under Control Panel. As here it will stop you
from making mistakes that will make things worse.

I don't like how Microsoft creates all of these user accounts and spread
things in different folders either. It is needed if you have multiple
users though I guess. Although MS free TweakUI (PowerToys) fixes this
problem. And I have moved My Documents, My Music, My Pictures, etc. to
the root directory, just like the old Windows days.

And if you make a user account with administrative privileges and only
logon to this account alone. You should be able to delete all other
accounts I believe.

Somewhere in Windows XP, you can clone a user account. But I don't
believe it is under User Accounts in the Control Panel. I don't know
where it is hidden. As I used it once or twice before. And that might
help you out too.

--
Bill
Asus EEE PC 8GB 1GB SoDIMM Adata 16GB
Windows XP SP2 and Xandros Linux

BillW50 wrote:
> - Bobb - wrote on Thu, 13 Nov 2008 10:00:28 -0500:
>> I went with the procedure and it worked fine for MY account. (BUT,)
>> I logged on as "Owner"
>> Renamed 'Bob' Folder in docs and Settings to Old_Bob
>> Deleted Bob account ( So the " Bob.local "account was removed)
>> Rebooted.
>> Logged on as Owner.
>> Created a Bob account. Thought I 'd drag and drop from "Old_Bob" to
>> "Bob" folder. Yet when I looked in Docs and Settings = no Bob folder
>> ?? I had to log out of Owner and log on as Bob before it was created -
>> isn't that strange ?? Once the folder existed, I MOVED all the files a
>> few folders at a time, from Old_Bob to Bob. As I had hoped, MOVING
>> 35.5 gb of data only took a minute or so, so it only changed the
>> properties of the folders and didn't actually " move" anything with
>> the data files.
>>
>> Here's the strange part: after Bob account looked fine, I then renamed
>> the original Administrator folder to Old_Admin and rebooted. Logged on
>> as Bob and tried to create an admin account. I got a message that
>> "account already exists". No it doesn't !. I searched the registry and
>> see lots of path references to
>> C:\Docs and Settings\Administrator\.... , yet have no errors,info
>> logged in event logs. SO, the PC Restore process inserts references
>> to an Admin acct even when there isn't one ??!! User Accounts shows only:
>> Bob, Guest, Owner - so why is XP telling me that the account exists ?
>>
>> Yeah. I can NOT have an administrator account, or I could create an
>> account called " Admin", but what's with the PC restore
>> defaulting/creating to using references to a non-existent folder/user
>> ? AND, how to get around that ? ( to create an account called
>> Administrator)
>
> Bob, are you doing all of this moving and copying with Explorer? If so,
> stop! Use User Accounts under Control Panel. As here it will stop you
> from making mistakes that will make things worse.
>
> I don't like how Microsoft creates all of these user accounts and spread
> things in different folders either. It is needed if you have multiple
> users though I guess. Although MS free TweakUI (PowerToys) fixes this
> problem. And I have moved My Documents, My Music, My Pictures, etc. to
> the root directory, just like the old Windows days.
>
> And if you make a user account with administrative privileges and only
> logon to this account alone. You should be able to delete all other
> accounts I believe.
>
> Somewhere in Windows XP, you can clone a user account. But I don't
> believe it is under User Accounts in the Control Panel. I don't know
> where it is hidden. As I used it once or twice before. And that might
> help you out too.
>
First, personally, I would refrain from trying to fiddle with accounts
other than using the User Accounts. Too many things are involved. I
would try to outsmart it by creating temporary profiles, if necessary,
to get around problems.

Then, in a different area, since I do not care about having several
accounts, what I do is *always* move to "all users" the shortcuts that
get created. So, this settles this issue of start menus with different
accounts.

Lastly, I am not too sure about this, but I suspect that renaming an
account does not actually rename the required directories. Beyond that,
you lost on what you are trying to achieve ...

Regards

--
John Doue

John Doue wrote on Thu, 13 Nov 2008 16:57:04 GMT:
[...]
> Lastly, I am not too sure about this, but I suspect that renaming an
> account does not actually rename the required directories. Beyond that,
> you lost on what you are trying to achieve ...

True! I remember this. And there is a way to overcome this. But I forgot
how? I think it is where you let Windows to clone an account. But I
forgot where that is as well. :(

--
Bill
Asus EEE PC 8GB 1GB SoDIMM Adata 16GB
Windows XP SP2 and Xandros Linux

"BillW50" <BillW50@aol.kom> wrote in message
news:gfhjv0$o9v$1@news.eternal-september.org...
>- Bobb - wrote on Thu, 13 Nov 2008 10:00:28 -0500:
<snipped>
>
> Bob, are you doing all of this moving and copying with Explorer? If so,
> stop! Use User Accounts under Control Panel. As here it will stop you from
> making mistakes that will make things worse.

I used CP - User Accounts to create the new accounts, but - to recap - after
HP Recovery, my original Administrator and Bob folders existed in the
C:\Docs and settings area, BUT the ACCOUNTS did not exist in XP. So 'those
folders' in C:\Docs and settings are "just folders".
I cannot reference them from CP - Users, as the accounts do NOT exist after
Recovery.
So, it's not like I'm moving stuff "without windows knowing it'.
What I did was create a Bob account, then move the OLD Bob stuff into it.
After recovery, Windows had a C:\Docs and settings\Bob folder and I merely
populated it with data. That part worked fine.

The issue is that HP Recovery did NOT create an Administrator account in
CP - Users.
So - how to get one ?
When I try to create one, I'm told "it exists", BECAUSE recovery inserted
info into registry without either enabling the present Admin
folder(account), or creating a new one.

>
> I don't like how Microsoft creates all of these user accounts and spread
> things in different folders either. It is needed if you have multiple
> users though I guess. Although MS free TweakUI (PowerToys) fixes this
> problem. And I have moved My Documents, My Music, My Pictures, etc. to the
> root directory, just like the old Windows days.
>
> And if you make a user account with administrative privileges and only
> logon to this account alone. You should be able to delete all other
> accounts I believe.
>
> Somewhere in Windows XP, you can clone a user account. But I don't believe
> it is under User Accounts in the Control Panel.

That's right , BUT I caanot clone Bob to Administrator - XP says
Administrator exists - when it doesn't.
Again not a big problem - I'm just trying to understand how ( really WHY)
the HP process is as it is.
Perhaps I'll send an email to HP support ( although I suspect that I now
know more than they do about my particular issues and their Recovery
application).

Regards,
Bob

> I don't know where it is hidden. As I used it once or twice before. And
> that might help you out too.
>
> --
> Bill
> Asus EEE PC 8GB 1GB SoDIMM Adata 16GB
> Windows XP SP2 and Xandros Linux

"John Doue" <notwobe******.com> wrote in message
news:A%YSk.141$LE5.95@read4.inet.fi...
> BillW50 wrote:
>> - Bobb - wrote on Thu, 13 Nov 2008 10:00:28 -0500:
>>> I went with the procedure and it worked fine for MY account. (BUT,)
>>> I logged on as "Owner"
>>> Renamed 'Bob' Folder in docs and Settings to Old_Bob
>>> Deleted Bob account ( So the " Bob.local "account was removed)
>>> Rebooted.
>>> Logged on as Owner.
>>> Created a Bob account. Thought I 'd drag and drop from "Old_Bob" to
>>> "Bob" folder. Yet when I looked in Docs and Settings = no Bob folder ??
>>> I had to log out of Owner and log on as Bob before it was created -
>>> isn't that strange ?? Once the folder existed, I MOVED all the files a
>>> few folders at a time, from Old_Bob to Bob. As I had hoped, MOVING 35.5
>>> gb of data only took a minute or so, so it only changed the properties
>>> of the folders and didn't actually " move" anything with the data files.
>>>
>>> Here's the strange part: after Bob account looked fine, I then renamed
>>> the original Administrator folder to Old_Admin and rebooted. Logged on
>>> as Bob and tried to create an admin account. I got a message that
>>> "account already exists". No it doesn't !. I searched the registry and
>>> see lots of path references to
>>> C:\Docs and Settings\Administrator\.... , yet have no errors,info logged
>>> in event logs. SO, the PC Restore process inserts references to an
>>> Admin acct even when there isn't one ??!! User Accounts shows only:
>>> Bob, Guest, Owner - so why is XP telling me that the account exists ?
>>>
>>> Yeah. I can NOT have an administrator account, or I could create an
>>> account called " Admin", but what's with the PC restore
>>> defaulting/creating to using references to a non-existent folder/user ?
>>> AND, how to get around that ? ( to create an account called
>>> Administrator)
>>
>> Bob, are you doing all of this moving and copying with Explorer? If so,
>> stop! Use User Accounts under Control Panel. As here it will stop you
>> from making mistakes that will make things worse.
>>
>> I don't like how Microsoft creates all of these user accounts and spread
>> things in different folders either. It is needed if you have multiple
>> users though I guess. Although MS free TweakUI (PowerToys) fixes this
>> problem. And I have moved My Documents, My Music, My Pictures, etc. to
>> the root directory, just like the old Windows days.
>>
>> And if you make a user account with administrative privileges and only
>> logon to this account alone. You should be able to delete all other
>> accounts I believe.
>>
>> Somewhere in Windows XP, you can clone a user account. But I don't
>> believe it is under User Accounts in the Control Panel. I don't know
>> where it is hidden. As I used it once or twice before. And that might
>> help you out too.
>>
> First, personally, I would refrain from trying to fiddle with accounts
> other than using the User Accounts. Too many things are involved. I would
> try to outsmart it by creating temporary profiles, if necessary, to get
> around problems.
>
> Then, in a different area, since I do not care about having several
> accounts, what I do is *always* move to "all users" the shortcuts that get
> created. So, this settles this issue of start menus with different
> accounts.
>
> Lastly, I am not too sure about this, but I suspect that renaming an
> account does not actually rename the required directories. Beyond that,
> you lost on what you are trying to achieve ...
>
> Regards
>
> --
> John Doue
I know it's tedious -

Prior to HP Recovery, I had
Administrator account , and
Bob account.
During recovery process I created an Owner account - works fine.
Then objective was to be able to logon as
Administrator , and
Bob (as before).
The FOLDERS still exisited in Docs and settings but only because they were
created prior to recovery. The accounts do not exist AFTER recovery ( they
are "just folders" not 'accounts' : per CP - Users)

details:
I logged on as Owner.
I created a bob1 account ( CP-Users) and from explorer- moved all data from
the 'Bob folder' to Bob1 account.
Then deleted Bob folder, rebooted,
then renamed Bob1 to Bob. So - Bob account works fine. I can logon as Bob
and XP created an account folder in Docs and Settings - great ! I can
create other usernames and everything is fine, BUT
CP - Users - shows NO admin account, and I wanted one, so I tried same
process - created
Admin1 account, copied ,,, deleted... when I get to
rename admin1 to administrator pop-up states "Administrator already exists"
when it does not. It is not in CP - users, there is no administrator folder
in Docs and Settings ( I renamed the original folder to 'Old_Admin'), BUT
there are references to Administrator in registry ( from the HP recovery
app). The account did not exist when recovery was run , yet Administrator is
included in the restore registry.
I'm trying to fix that.

"- Bobb -" <bobb@noemail.123> wrote:

>[XP problems]

If you can't fix the problem in these 2 groups why don't you try the
MS public groups. Perhaps microsoft.public.windowsxp.general would
help. It's pretty heavily traveled. If your server doesn't carry it
you can access it direct.

"AJL" <nomail@fakeaddress.com> wrote in message
news:cbuoh4d3p7svcr9sp7qkf7i5i8os8ejnoa@4ax.com...
> "- Bobb -" <bobb@noemail.123> wrote:
>
>>[XP problems]
>
> If you can't fix the problem in these 2 groups why don't you try the
> MS public groups. Perhaps microsoft.public.windowsxp.general would
> help. It's pretty heavily traveled. If your server doesn't carry it
> you can access it direct.

It looks to be an HP issue - not Microsoft.
The app I ran is from HP folder in XP.

Not a big deal - I can work around it - just checking if others had 'already
gone thru this'.