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fredo783

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Cloning user account - need help copying user profile to fix Premiere Pro abort

Hi, folks:

I need some help, please.  This is a fairly urgent problem from my perspective.

I am running lots of apps under Windows XP Pro/SP2.  I have a main user system account (my name - a non-domain account) that I run all my apps under (lots of them).  Adobe Premiere Pro suddenly stopped working - it simply quits with no error messages.

After lots of time diagnosing the problem, I determined that the application is ok and that it will run under a new user account.  So I suspect the main user account is corrupted somehow.

Are there any diagnostics to check the integrity of a user profile?  

If not, then I need to create a new account and copy the profile over from the old account - including the desktop configuration, startup configuration, start menu configuration, my documents (if possible; not critical).  I absolutely do not want to reinstall all my apps.

I have read the threads "Copy profile to other users"
https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/21561605/Copy-profile-to-other-users.html?sfQueryTermInfo=1+copi+other+profil+user

and "Cannot copy user profile"
https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/21121766/Cannot-copy-user-profile.html?sfQueryTermInfo=1+cannot+copi+profil+user

I am still stuck.  Perhaps I am not following the correct procedures.  Here is what I have tried:

1.  Created a new user account.  Then followed the instructions in the first thread listed above: control panel ->system->advanced->user profiles ->settings, then "copy to".

However, the new user account is not visible!

And... when I select the old user account, the "copy to" option is grayed out.  This is still the case when I try the operation under a completely different system account.

2.  The old account is listed as under c:/documents and settings/<user name>/.  I copied the desktop and my documents directories to another location with the intent of copying them over to the new user account.

But... there is no directory for that user at c:/documents and settings/<new user name>/.

I am really stuck and would appreciate your help.

TIA,

Fred
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Fiuca
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fredo783

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Hi, Fuica:

I tried that, but can not proceed.  The reason is that the instructions say to copy files from the old user to
c:/documents and settings/<new user name>/.  But the new user name directory does not exist.  

Not sure why.  Creating a new user should create that directory, correct?

Somewhere I read that I can copy those files from the old user directory to the All Users directory.  Then, new accounts created after that point will contain that configuration.  Is this correct?

Thanks,

Fred
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Hi, igor-1965:

The procedure did not work at first because I first had to log on to the new user account in order for its profile to be created.  I finally found this documented in a very good article:

Recovering A Corrupted XP User Profile
http://lpfsystems.wordpress.com/2008/09/01/recovering-a-corrupted-xp-user-profile/

I was able to create a new account and copy over the old profile.  

Ok - phase one is complete for me.

-------------------

Phase two is this:  Premiere Pro aborts in the old system account, the new system account, but runs in a third system account in which I did NOT copy over the old profile.

This means that the old profile, copied into the new account, is still causing the crash (with no diagnostics).  

I desperately need help diagnosing this problem and getting the app to run.

[Regarding points, I want to do what is right.  You and Fiuca both recommended the same solution, but did not note that I had to log into the new account once to create its profile.  I need to continue this discussion to fix this problem, which is reaching crisis proportions here.  I'm not sure whether I should open a new thread -- moderator comments?]

If you DID NOT copy these three files (Ntuser.dat, Ntuser.dat.log, Ntuser.ini) to the new_user profile then the problem must reside somewhere else rather then in the user profile part of system registry.

Try to checkout the files under "c:\documents and settings\new_user\Application Data" (or under "c:\documents and settings\new_user\local settings\Application Data") that might be related to the Premiere Pro and remove them.
OK, if you followed to the steps in the instructions you have referred than forget what I said above - you have copied user profile part of system registry.
igor-1965:

There are some Premiere Pro directory files in:
c:/documents and Settings/<user name>/Application Data/Adobe
c:/documents and Settings/<user name>/My Documents/Adobe/Premiere Pro

I renamed all of them that I could, but the problem still remains.  The problem is likely in account registry settings, but I don't know where to look.  Another possibility is in drivers and codecs - are these maintained locally for each account?

Thanks,

Fred
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