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montana4me

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Re-Join Domain and Use old profile

We had a computer go down because of a bad motherboard.  We used a universal restore and put the information on new computer.  Everything looks good the first time it is booted up because the ethernet driver isn't installed.  Once the ethernet driver is installed I can not log on to the domain.  If I rejoin the domain it creates a new folder and ignores the current one on there.  If I don't rejoin the domain and just unplug the computer from the network, then I can log into the user and everything shows up as it should.  I can plug it in to the network and go on with the day.

How can I rejoin the network and use the profile that is already on the computer?
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Darius Ghassem
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Why not just copy the profile....
so after you log into the domain and it creates the profile fine.
The go into the old profile and manually copy the files to the respective folders in the new profile.
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montana4me

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dariusg: I'm still looking at those, but I'm not sure that is what I am looking for.

ryansoto: the user permissions are not the same, things like outlook don't work...bottom line is that doesn't work.  I've already tried.
Delete the computer account in ADUC.
The outlook folder where the settings are kept are separate from the profile.

As stated above, go ahead and copy the profile file/folders over. Then, locate the Mail settings and give the user permissions on that folder. The SID will be different if you joined the domain after a NIC change.

I assume you have a MOBO-integrated NIC.

I am very in-experienced in this.  Could you expound on deleting the account in ADUC?  What do I do after that?
Go into Active Directory User and Computer then find the computer then right-click delete. Once this is done rejoin the domain. Also, What all do you want to work like it was before? Do you want the user to have everything the same including email, programs, documents, and etc.? Or just the profile?
I want everything to be the same.  I don't care if the name of the computer is different or the password is different.  I want it to perform exactly how it does when I boot it up without it connected to the network.
@Montana:

Some documents and Settings don't reside in the documents and settings folder (also known as the profile). Outlook is one of them. Personalized settings for email and personal address books reside within a folder outside of the profile. Office documents reside in the profile.

This is what Dariusq needs from you. He want's to know what you are documents and settings you need to resolve in order to get you back to where you want to be.

So, be as specific as you can with Dariusq so he can help you get the right permissions to things like outlook. Tell him what you are running on the PC.
This computer currently has administrative privileges (I believe).  We run our shipping software on it.  We need to keep all the information on packages sent, but I don't think that is a problem because I know where that is stored, so I can just replace a file if necessary. It has Office XP.  The OS is XP Pro.  I'm not really sure what else you want to know? I hope that helps.
@Montana:

What did you mean by different User permissions in the statement you made below? Is this the same user that was on this PC before the crash? What backup program are you using?

ryansoto: the user permissions are not the same, things like outlook don't work...bottom line is that doesn't work.  I've already tried.
It no longer allows the user to view all the contents of certain folders, doesn't allow the user to do Microsoft updates, it says that I need administrative privileges to do so.

If I rejoin the domain, it creates a new user with different privileges  then the one that is already on there instead of just using the one that is already on there.

We used Acronis Universal Restore to make an image of the hard drive, then did a Universal Restore (which strips out hardware info) onto the new computer.

I suppose I should add our server is running Server 2003 Small Business.
I haven't used Acronis Universal Restore before. So, this might not work but if you hook up the network then do the universal install over the current install why the network. Also, When you join the computer to the domain it shouldn't create another user account. Do you logon with the same user credentials as before the crash?
I am not real familiar with it, but I think the User State Migration Tool (USMT) from Microsoft may help you with what you are trying to accomplish....here is a link for it:

http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsVista/en/library/91f62fc4-621f-4537-b311-1307df0105611033.mspx?mfr=true

I am in the process of testing with this myself so I don't know how well it will work....
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Darius Ghassem
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Alright, I got it to work...in a very strange way.  I ran the program I mentioned, and it didn't work...exactly.  I logged into the administrator afterward and joined the domain. That created the new folder.  I copy and pasted (just as I had tried before) and this time it worked.  Thanks for you help!
Thanks for all your help.