How to create a new user profile in vista

Action
user profile became corrupt for unknown reasons

Result
Media player would not open and several other programs were not working either

Cause
Seems to have been caused by a corrupt user profile

Resolution
Before starting the following steps please ensure to:

Test with an alternate user: If you are able to logon with an alternate user account, this can indicate a problem with the user profile of the original user.

Note: Creating a new user account is a troubleshooting step. This is not a final solution to an issue unless the original data is restored to the new user profile.

Creating a New User Profile:
If there is an issue loading the user profile for a user account on the computer, you may need to create a new user profile that will map to that user account. When that is done, you can then copy data from the damaged profile to the newly created profile.

To do this, use the following steps:

1. Make sure that the problem user is logged off.

2. Log on as an administrator.

3. Go into the \Users folder and rename the directory containing the problem user profile. Rename it to ".old"

Note: You may get "Access is denied" when trying to rename this folder, If you do log into safe mode and rename it there or enable the default admin user. To do so follow the steps below:

Use the Local Users and Groups MMC console

Change the properties of the Administrator account by using the Local Users and Groups MMC console.

• Open the MMC console and select Local Users and Groups.
• Right-click the Administrator account and select Properties. The Administrator Properties window appears.
• On the General tab, clear the Account is Disabled box.
• Close the MMC console.
  

Administrator access is now enabled.

4. Create a new folder in \Users that matches the previous name of the user profile folder, for example:

5. Open System Properties, Advanced System Settings and access the User Profile Settings.

6. Locate the damaged profile name and verify that the profile shows as 0 KB in size in this interface. This zero size is due to the fact that the directory has been renamed.

Note: Do not continue if the directory shows up with a size greater than zero. That could indicate that you may be deleting a profile folder that contains data.

7. When done, log on as the problem user and verify that a new user profile has been created in a folder matching the username, stored in \Users.

8. When done, you can then copy data files from the \Users\.old folder to the folders in .

Note: Do not copy the following files:

- Ntuser.dat

- Ntuser.dat.log

- Ntuser.ini