How to Identify a Damaged User Profile and Create a New Profile (305506)

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To determine whether a user account has a damaged user profile, follow these steps:

1. Create a new user account that has the same rights and group memberships or associations as the account that has the questionable profile.
2. Copy the user settings in the questionable profile to the profile of the newly created user account:
   1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
   2. Double-click System.
   3. On the User Profiles tab, click the questionable profile, and then click Copy To.
   4. In the Copy To dialog box, click Browse under Copy profile to.
   5. Locate the Documents and Settings\user profile folder, where user profile is the name of the newly created user profile, and then click OK.
   6. If necessary, click Change under Permitted to use, set the appropriate permission, and then click OK.
3. Log on by using the newly created user account. If you encounter the same errors that led you to question the user profile, the user profile is damaged; otherwise, it is the user account that is damaged.

To resolve the issue if the profile is damaged, delete the profile, and then create a new profile for that user, follow these steps:

1. Using an administrator account, log on to the computer where the damaged profile resides.
2. In My Computer, locate the Documents and Settings\user profile folder, where user profile is the name of the damaged user profile.
3. Delete the folder.
4. Log off the computer.
5. Log back on to the computer by using the account that had the damaged profile. Windows 2000 creates a new user profile for the user.