New server - lost profile settings

20 Nov 2006 9:28 PM

mindful_learner

Hi everyone,

This weekend, at work, we switched servers. So that I wouldn't lose my
personal set-up (e.g Desktop icons, favourites, etc) I did the
following:

1) I copied all folders/files from C:\Documents and
settings\my_user_name onto my puters C: drive
(this contains folders that control my Desktop icons, favourites, Start
Menu icons, etc)

2) I logged on to the new server with my new profile

3) I replaced the folders/files in C:\Documents and
settings\my_user_name for my new profile, with those I saved
previously.

This half-worked. I restored my old Desktop icons, Start Menu icons
and so on...**BUT** some things that didn't work out:
1) I lost additional Desktop toolbars I set-up
2) all my applications (e.g. Outlook, Word) lost all my settings - they
were set up as if I'd never used these applications before

Is there anything I can do to restore everything back to how it was?

Where are the settings for things like Outlook kept?

Any help very much appreciated,
Stuart

20 Nov 2006 10:23 PM

Ian

What you did should work, BUT beware certain pitfalls:

1. You must copy and replace the profile while logged-on as a DIFFERENT user
(one with Admin credentials) - if you try to copy it as the owner, NTUSER.DAT
will be omitted, and all settings will be lost.

2. When creating the new user, the name must be identical, and you must
logon as this user once to create the profile folder, then log off again. If
you omit this easily-overlooked step, things will go badly wrong.

3. If using Explorer to do the copy, you must be careful not to fall foul of
its many and varied foibles. Set it to see and copy hidden files and proteced
system files. Beware that in some circumstances shortcuts are created instead
of files being copied. (using rightclick generally avoids this) Better still,
use an alternative such as XCOPY, XXCOPY, or Servant Salamander.

4.The loss of settings may be because the NTUSER.DAT file didn't get copied.
HST, some Office settings aren't in the registry, although they are within
the profile so copying the entire profile should include them. Another reason
might be if you changed the username; some apps make absolute links to files
in the profile, so changing the relationship between username and
profile-folder can have unexpected consequences.

Hope this helps. It's an area that really should be improved-on, IMHO. It's
ridiculous that such a fundamental maintenance-task should be so complex to
perform.