can a corrupt user profile be repaired or recreated?

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SOLUTION

Dr. Klahn

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ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

footech

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Yes, but as I noted earlier, you should back up data, documents, email and so on to a neutral folder available to "everyone"

Tom Cieslik

If we talking about iTunes only, just remove iTunes from computer if you can using this steps:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204275

Then go through C drive and search for iTunes word and remove all directories, then go to Registry using regedit.exe and search for itunes word and remove all you'll find.
Restart computer then go to Apple website and install iTunes again.

SOLUTION

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ASKER

Thank you everyone. I am not onsite but I will be there later today and I will give a full report.

ASKER

Uninstalling and reinstalling iTunes did not fix the problem (even though Apple agreed that it should have worked). Removing my user profile worked. On my next login, all of my files and customizations came back without my having to copy anything from a backup of my profile. (Windows did not let me delete the folder containing my old profile - said it was in use, even though I was logged in as a different user. Maybe I was battling a group policy configured by the server.) Anyway, thank you again, all of you who made the effort to help me.

You are very welcome and I was happy to help.

ASKER

Update: iTunes stopped opening again in my user profile. I discovered that if I run it as administrator, it opens just fine after I enter the full admin credentials. I never saw UAC require an administrator name and password before. I always used to click through the popup window that asked only if I wanted to run the program. But if that's what it takes to make iTunes happy, so be it.

footech

If you're not logged on under an account that is a member of local admins, the UAC prompt will prompt you for administrator credentials, instead of just clicking a button.

ASKER

My problem opening iTunes came back when I made my user account on the workstation an Administrator of the workstation. (My account is a standard user on the server.) I no longer had to enter domain administrator credentials in a UAC box but I could no longer open iTunes. I downgraded my user account on the workstation back to a standard user, and I can again open iTunes (after entering domain administrator credentials in the UAC box). Is Windows acting wacky or is iTunes? Or is all of this by design? None of my other accounts have this problem.

iTunes is tied to data in your user folder so that is why it did not work in the other user.

Tell me, why on earth would you even enter domain admin credentials to use iTunes? Behavior like that is seriously wrong. If an application demands admin credentials, don't use the domain admin... really, that is a horrible idea. Use some local admin, even if the application is trusted.

ITunes does not require administrative credentials to run, I wonder what is going at that machine. When you try to update it, of course, administrative credentials will be required, but not for using it. Surely, I have not tested that on a server OS (I would never use iTunes or other non-business related software on a server), but I see no reason for this behavior even on a server.
Maybe you should move iTunes to another machine.

ASKER

Very good question. I think you're onto something.

Just to clarify, iTunes is on a workstation, not the server. I tried creating a new user on the server, made it a regular user on the server and the workstation, and iTunes opened without asking for credentials (though a click-through UAC windows opened). I tried changing my own account to an administrator of the server and the workstation (the same role as for the server's administrator account), and iTunes would not open. To recap: iTunes will open when:

1. the domain administrator (EXCEPT ME) logs onto the workstation, or
2. any regular user of the domain EXCEPT ME logs onto the workstation as a regular user, or
3. I log on with my regular domain user account as a regular user of the workstation, provided that I run iTunes as administrator.

Thank you for the thoughtful response.

Before we try to disentangle this: please try to give us a clearer picture. Use a virgin workstation, install iTunes - it should not ever ask for administrative credentials when using it unless you choose to update it - can you confirm, please?

ASKER

Correct. I installed iTunes on another workstation in the domain and I was able to open iTunes using the same
user account that didn't work on the first workstation. Also, iTunes on the second workstation did not ask for administrator credentials. This suggests that the problem results from a glitch in my account on my workstation and not in my account on the server. I tried to remove my profile from my first workstation, in the hope that my next login would recreate it, but after I deleted the user in Control Panel, my profile was still there at C:\Users and I could not delete it manually.