How to Restore a Windows 2000 Profile
- 1). Log into your Windows 2000 machine on any user name except the one that you want to recover. Click "Start", then "Settings" and "Control Panel." Double-click "Users and Passwords" to open a list of users on the machine.
- 2). Click the "Add" button to create a new user. Enter a new user name and click "Next." Enter a password for the account. Click the "Next" button. Select "Standard User" from the list of user account types. Click "Finish" to complete the new user process.
- 3). Click the Windows "Start" button again and select "Run." Enter "%SystemDrive%\Documents and Settings\username" into the text box and click "OK." Replace "username" with the old, corrupted user profile you want to replace. This opens an Explorer window that brings you directly to the profile folder.
- 4). Hold the "Ctrl" key down and use the mouse to select each file and folder in the directory. Right-click one of the files and select "Copy." In the same window, navigate to the folder for the new user account you created (also located in the "Documents and Settings" directory). Right-click the white space and select "Paste." This copies the user's preferences over to the new profile.
- 5). Click the Windows "Start" button and select "Run." Enter "regedit" to open your Windows registry editor. Navigate to the registry key labeled "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList." This lists the user account profiles configured on the machine. Click the new user's profile icon name and then right-click the key labeled "ProfileImagePath" and select "Modify." Enter the directory path for the new user account in the key value text box and press "OK."
- 6). Reboot your machine for the registry changes to take effect. Log into the new user account to verify the recovery and view the user settings.
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