Missing Data or Program Settings After Upgrade to Windows XP (312942)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Windows XP Professional
  • Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
This article was previously published under Q312942

SYMPTOMS

You may experience any of the following symptoms when you upgrade Microsoft Windows 98 or Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition (Me) to Windows XP:
  • You may receive the following error message at the end of Setup
    Setup has encountered an error while creating an account for user name.

    This user's settings will be lost.
    where user name is your Windows user name that ends with a period.
  • You may be missing data that is stored in your user profile folder after the upgrade. This may include Start menu shortcuts, items in the Startup folder, items in your Desktop folder, e-mail messages, or documents, pictures, or music files that are stored in the My Documents folder.
  • If you click No, skip this step and continue installing Windows in the Get Updated Setup Files dialog box during Setup, you may receive the following error message at the end of Setup:
    Setup has encountered an error while creating an account for user name.

    This user's settings will be lost.
    where user name is your Windows user name that ends with a period.
  • If you click Yes, download the updated Setup files (Recommended) in the Get Updated Setup Files dialog box during Setup, you may receive the following message during Setup:
    Provide compatible names
    Setup has suggested new names for you.
    Names that have special characters, are too long, or have a special meaning in Windows are considered incompatible and must be changed.
    Setup has suggested new names for you. To accept the suggested names and continue setup, click Next. To change a name, select it, and then click Change.
  • You may be missing data that is stored in your user profile folder after the upgrade. This may include Start menu shortcuts, items in the Startup folder, items in your Desktop folder, e-mail messages, or documents, pictures, or music files that are stored in the My Documents folder.

CAUSE

This problem can occur if your user name in Windows 98 or Windows Me ends with a period (.).

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, click Yes, download the updated Setup files (Recommended) in the Get Updated Setup Files dialog box during Setup, and then click Next. Setup will prompt you to provide compatible names. To accept the suggested names and continue Setup, click Next. To change a name, select it, and then click Change.

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem if you clicked No, skip this step and continue installing Windows in the Get Updated Setup Files dialog box during Setup, check for a User~tmp.@01 folder in the root of the drive in which Windows is installed. If a missing user account folder exists in the User~tmp.@01 folder but cannot be accessed in Windows XP (because the folder name ends with a period (.) character), rename the folder from a command prompt by using the 8.3 filename so that it can be accessed in My Computer or Windows Explorer:
  1. Click Start, and then click Run.
  2. Type cmd, and then click OK.
  3. Type cd\, and then press ENTER.
  4. Type cd\user~temp.@01, and then press ENTER.
  5. Type dir /x, and then press ENTER. Note the short file name for the user account folder. For example, the short file name for "User Name, II." might be "USERNA~1".
  6. Type ren userna~1 username, and then press ENTER
  7. Type exit, and then press ENTER.
  8. Click Start, and then click Run.
  9. Type %homedrive%\user~tmp.@01\username, and then click OK. This folder and subfolders should contain the files from the missing user account.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

MORE INFORMATION

If you cannot access the user profile folder in Windows XP because the folder name ends with a period (.), when you try to access the user profile folder in Windows Explorer, you receive the following error message:
user~tmp.01
c:\user~temp.@01\User Name refers to a location that is unavailable. It could be on a hard drive on this computer, or on a network.
Check to make sure that the disk is properly inserted, or that you are connected to the Internet or your network, and then try again.
If it still cannot be located, the information might have been moved to a different location.
If you try to rename the user profile folder in Windows Explorer, you receive the following error message:
Error Renaming File or Folder
Cannot rename file: Cannot read from the source file or disk.
Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:9/26/2005
Keywords:kbHotfixServer kbQFE kbenv kbprb kbui KB312942
©2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.