Question

Error Copying user profile

Asked by: Chiarne

Ive got a problem with a notebook running Windows XP Pro, SP2. When logging into the user profile and clicking on any desktop icon, the associated program or folder takes about 15 seconds to load, then the whole notebook freezes, the task manager is not accessible and the power button needs to be pressed for a restart.

This problem does not appear after I created a new user profile (A), which made me suspect the original profile was corrupt. Next a second profile (B) was created to copy the corrupt profile to. I logged into both new profiles and restarted the notebook, logged into User Profile A, right clicked on My Computer > Properties > Advanced > User Profiles > Settings and proceeded to copy the corrupt profile to User Profile B.

Both the new profiles have administrator rights.

The following message appears after about 10 seconds:

Windows cannot copy file. Possible causes of this error include network problems or insufficient security rights. If this problem persists, contact your network administrator. Detail: Access Denied.

Ideas?

This Question has been solved and asker verified All Experts Exchange premium technology solutions are available to subscription members.

Subscribe now for full access to Experts Exchange and get

Instant Access to this Solution

  • Plus...
  • 30 Day FREE access, no risk, no obligation
  • Collaborate with the world's top tech experts
  • Unlimited access to our exclusive solution database
  • Never be left without tech help again

Subscribe Now

Asked On
2009-09-07 at 19:02:24ID24713647
Tags

Windows XP Pro

Topics

Microsoft Operating Systems

,

Windows XP Operating System

Participating Experts
3
Points
0
Comments
7

Trusted by hundreds of thousands everyday for fast, accurate and reliable tech support.

  • "The time we save is the biggest benefit of Experts Exchange to Warner Bros. What could take multiple guys 2 hours or more each to find is accessed in around 15 minutes on Experts Exchange." Mike Kapnisakis, Warner Bros.
  • "Our team likes having a resource that is more secure than just using Google and most experts using this service really know their stuff. It's nice to look here first versus using Google." Dayna Sellner, Lockheed Martin
  • "Anytime that I've been stumped with a problem, 9 out of 10 times Experts Exchange has either the accepted solution or an open discussion of the potential solution to the problem." Kenny Red, eBay Inc.

See what Experts Exchange can do for you.

Got a question?

We've got the answer.

Experts Exchange has been collecting answers to technology questions since 1996…3 million and counting! If you have a question, chances are we already have your answer.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Need individual assistance?

Our experts are ready to help.

If you can't find the exact answer you're looking for, ask our exclusive community of 50,000 experts. You’ll get a personalized answer from a trusted professional.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Want to learn from the best?

Read articles from industry experts.

Thousands of free tech tips, tricks, how-to’s and tutorials are available in our peer reviewed articles section. See for yourself how smart our experts are, no login required.

Screenshot of an Article

Working on a long term project?

Store your work and research.

Save solutions to your questions, answers you’ve discovered through searching plus helpful articles in your personal knowledgebase for easy future access.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Access the answers to your technology questions today.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

What Makes Experts Exchange Unique?

Members of the expert community talk about why the experience at Experts Exchange is different than what you will find anywhere else.

Trusted by the world's most respected brands.

image of each brand's logo

Faithfully serving IT professionals since 1996.

Experts Exchange Logo

Try it out and discover for yourself.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

Related Solutions

  1. Roaming Profile won't load, insufficient disc space
    I have a user that is trying to log into a computer but he receives an error message every time that he logs into the machine that says the "Roaming Profile failed to load because of insufficient disc space" or something like that. As best I can tell, his profile i...
  2. Insufficient memory
    I am trying to import a large amount of data into SQL server. Currently the data is in a proprietary format and basically all I have is an executable that automatically exports the data the SQL server. But it doesn't even get about halfway through when it returns an ODBC err...
  3. ATI VE resets bit rate
    After installing TV Wonder Ve in a PCI slot in my new 4600 Dell, each time I start the TV or any other ATI player, it resets the bit rate to 8 bits. I can go to video properities and reset them back to 32 bits. It is making the sys unstable and the TV has locked up many times...
  4. Copying user credentials to notebook users
    Whenever a new user needs access to a loan notebook, the user is first asked to login on the notebook while its connected to the network in order to cache the user credentials. Is there a way to copy these credentials onto the notebook so that the user can login to the notebo...
  5. Insufficient system resources exist to complete the request…
    Greetings, I recently installed a new ADSL wireless connection on my laptop, which has always been working well. Unfortunately, everytime I use the laptop now, within an hour, I receive a message 'Insufficient system resources exist to complete the requested service', the w...

Free Tech Articles

  1. WARNING: 5 Reasons why you should NEVER fix a computer for free.
    It is in our nature to love the puzzle. We are obsessed. The lot of us. We love puzzles. We love the challenge. We thrive on finding the answer. We hate disarray. It bothers us deep in our soul. W...
  2. SCCM OSD Basic troubleshooting
    SCCM 2007 OSD is a fantastic way to deploy operating systems, however, like most things SCCM issues can sometimes be difficult to resolve due to the sheer volume of logs to sift through and the dispe...
  3. Migrate Small Business Server 2003 to Exchange 2010 and Windows 2008 R2
    This guide is intended to provide step by step instructions on how to migrate from Small Business Server 2003 to Windows 2008 R2 with Exchange 2010. For this migration to work you will need the fo...
  4. Create a Win7 Gadget
    This article shows you how to create a simple "Gadget" -- a sort of mini-application supported by Windows 7 and Vista. Gadgets can be dropped anywhere on the desktop to provide instant information, ...
  5. Outlook continually prompting for username and password
    There have been a lot of questions recently regarding Outlook prompting for a username and password whilst using Exchange 2007. There are a few reasons why this would happen and I will try to cover t...
  6. Backup Exchange 2010 Information Store using Windows Backup
    There seems to be quite a lot of confusion around the ability to backup Exchange 2010 using the built in Windows Backup feature. This stems from the omission of this feature prior to Exchange 2007 s...

Cloud Class Webinars

  1. Avoiding Bugs in Microsoft Access
    Alison Balter takes and in-depth look at avoiding bugs in Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the immediate window to debug your applications, invoking the debugger, using breakpoints to troubleshoot, stepping through code, setting the next statement to execute, ...
  2. Top 10 Best New Features in Visio 2010
    Scott Helmers gives live demonstrations of the top 10 new features in Visio 2010. This webinar will teach you how to create compelling diagrams by adding shapes to the page with a single click, linking the shapes in a diagram to data in Excel (or SQL Server, or SharePoint), ...
  3. IT Consultant Business Secrets Revealed
    Michael Munger, Experts Exchange tech pro and IT consultant, pulls back the curtain on his very successful businesses and answers question on every IT consultant and business owner should know about. He shares secrets on what he did to solve the 5 most common problems in IT, ...
  4. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
    Quest CTO, Mike Billon, gives an overview of the steps involved in building a dunamic disaster recovery plan. Through case studies and an examination of software/hardware tooles for monitoring and testing, you'll gain a better understandin of where you are, where you want ...
  5. Organize Your Visio Diagrams with Containers and Lists
    Scott Helmers uses cross functional flowcharts, wireframe diagrams, data graphic legends and seating charts to teach you: how to ustilize all three new structured diagram components in Visio 2010, the best practices for organizeing shapes in previous version of Visio, how to organize ...
  6. How to Us Objects, Properties, Events and Methods in Microsoft Access
    Alison Dalter gives an in-depbth look at objects, properties, events and methods in Microsoft Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the object browser, referring to objects, working with properties and methods, working with object variables, understanding the ...

Join the Community

Give a Little. Get a Lot.

Join the community of experts here and help other tech pros by answering question in your area of expertise. You can earn FREE access to all Experts Exchange's premium features and resources.

Join the Community

Answers

 

by: blue-screenPosted on 2009-09-07 at 19:36:22ID: 25278345

Sounds like the user profile in active directory somehow points to a no-longer-existent server.  Can you check the user account?  (I assume these are members of a domain and you have a domain controller?)

 

by: ChiarnePosted on 2009-09-07 at 19:41:02ID: 25278358

Hi blue-screen,

The notebook connects to a home network, there's no domain or domain controller from what I understand.

 

by: blue-screenPosted on 2009-09-07 at 19:44:07ID: 25278365

Look at
http://www.experts-exchange.com/Networking/Windows_Networking/Q_20619439.html

Does that help?

Also, what errors, if any, are in the system and application event logs?

 

by: ChiarnePosted on 2009-09-07 at 20:05:23ID: 25278396

The only errors in the Application Event Viewer are the same as the error shown above, only the file names to be copied are different.  No relevant error logs in the System even log.

 

by: igor-1965Posted on 2009-09-08 at 01:52:05ID: 25279822

What is a purpose of copying (potentially corrupted) profile of user A to User B?

Backup the documents that might be stored in My Documents of UserA, login as administrator and then delete profile of UserA ( My Computer > Properties > Advanced > User Profiles). Then logoff, and relogin as UserA - at that point the profile will be recreated from Default User profile. If no issues appears then restore the documents you saved.

 

by: questionPosted on 2009-09-08 at 19:09:05ID: 25287784

 Here is the reason for the error. You are trying to replace a currently logged on users profile from the user id itself. you cannot copy profile files from A to B or B to A by logging to profile A or B. So.. login as a third account with admin rights. preferrably even as administrator account. from safe mode and replace the required files.
     As igor-1965 said there is no point in replacing the corrupted files and hence dont replace system files like NTUSER.DAT.
  Best luck!!!

-?

 

by: ChiarnePosted on 2009-09-08 at 19:24:45ID: 25287845

Hi ?

I was logged in under Profile A and copied the corrupt profile (C) to Profile B.  NTUSER.* files were not copied.

The problem is solved. It was a permissions issue. In the security section for the corrupt profile I created the username 'everyone' and assigned full permissions.  The corrupt profile was copied to a new profile with no problems, and the notebook is up and running again.

Thanks to all who responded. I appreciate your comments.

Regards

Chiarne

20120131-EE-VQP-002

3 Ways to Join

30-Day Free Trial

The Experts

98% positive feedback on 31,087 answers since March 2000. angeliii is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for his work with MS SQL Server & Develoment.

He has also proven his knowledge of Visual Basic Programming, PHP Scripting and Oracle Databases.

The Experts

97% positive feedback on 10,752 answers since July 2000. lrmoore has more than 18 years experience in the networking industry.

The six-time Mircosoft MVPs specialties include firewalls, virtual private networking, and network management.

Testimonials

"...and excellent source for support... Kind of like having your very own IT dept." Electriciansnet

Testimonials

"I was apprehensive at signing up at first. However... it has already made my life as an IT administrator much easier." JaCrews

Testimonials

"WOW! You guys have great, active, and knowledgeable people on here." moore50

Business Clients

Business Clients

In the Press

"If you’ve got a question... Experts Exchange can supply an answer.”

In the Press

"...an invaluable aid for both IT professionals and those who require tech support."

In the Press

"where IT professionals provide quick answers on just about any topic"

Business Account Plans

Loading Advertisement...