lost login option

OK I had a massive crash after using an update driver utility to update all
the drivers on my system. I opted to not back the system up before doing so,
confidently feeling that I knew what I was doing and not to worry. Story of
my life. Needless to say however, not everything was a complete loss. Upon
reboot and after the new driver installation, my only login options were to
log in under Administrator. My original named account "YOU" was gone! There
wasn't an option to select it since it wasn't there .... it was missing from
the login window. So I logged in under Administrator (my only choice) and
went to C drive, and there sitting in my Documents and Settings Folder and
having a good chuckle was my "YOU" account. I audited the settings so that I
could gain access to the folder and all my pictures, videos, documents, etc
were still there. But the biggest concern I have with this whole scenario is
that I've lost all my desktop, OE mail, programs and a host of other
settings that I had with the original account. My question is: Is there any
way to restore my login back to the original "YOU" account? And also....why
did my login account disappear ( I mean, I know why but what physically
happened??) and can I restore it?? I tried copying the administrator account
and renaming it to "YOU" but it said it was disabled and wouldn't allow me
access.
The transfer wizard only works with stored settings that I don't have.
Are there any other options? TIA


__________ Information from ESET Smart Security, version of virus signature database 4929 (20100309) __________

The message was checked by ESET Smart Security.

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On Tue, 9 Mar 2010 11:36:04 -0700, "Luvsmel" wrote:

OK I had a massive crash after using an update driver utility to update all
the drivers on my system. I opted to not back the system up before doing so,
confidently feeling that I knew what I was doing and not to worry. Story of
my life. Needless to say however, not everything was a complete loss. Upon
reboot and after the new driver installation, my only login options were to
log in under Administrator. My original named account "YOU" was gone! There
wasn't an option to select it since it wasn't there .... it was missing from
the login window. So I logged in under Administrator (my only choice) and
went to C drive, and there sitting in my Documents and Settings Folder and
having a good chuckle was my "YOU" account. I audited the settings so that I
could gain access to the folder and all my pictures, videos, documents, etc
were still there. But the biggest concern I have with this whole scenario is
that I've lost all my desktop, OE mail, programs and a host of other
settings that I had with the original account. My question is: Is there any
way to restore my login back to the original "YOU" account? And also....why
did my login account disappear ( I mean, I know why but what physically
happened??) and can I restore it?? I tried copying the administrator account
and renaming it to "YOU" but it said it was disabled and wouldn't allow me
access.
The transfer wizard only works with stored settings that I don't have.
Are there any other options? TIA


__________ Information from ESET Smart Security, version of virus signature database 4929 (20100309) __________

The message was checked by ESET Smart Security.

http://www.eset.com



System restore to before you used the driver update utility .

"Jim" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 9 Mar 2010 11:36:04 -0700, "Luvsmel" wrote:

OK I had a massive crash after using an update driver utility to update
all
the drivers on my system. I opted to not back the system up before doing
so,
confidently feeling that I knew what I was doing and not to worry. Story
of
my life. Needless to say however, not everything was a complete loss. Upon
reboot and after the new driver installation, my only login options were
to
log in under Administrator. My original named account "YOU" was gone!
There
wasn't an option to select it since it wasn't there .... it was missing
from
the login window. So I logged in under Administrator (my only choice) and
went to C drive, and there sitting in my Documents and Settings Folder and
having a good chuckle was my "YOU" account. I audited the settings so that
I
could gain access to the folder and all my pictures, videos, documents,
etc
were still there. But the biggest concern I have with this whole scenario
is
that I've lost all my desktop, OE mail, programs and a host of other
settings that I had with the original account. My question is: Is there
any
way to restore my login back to the original "YOU" account? And
also....why
did my login account disappear ( I mean, I know why but what physically
happened??) and can I restore it?? I tried copying the administrator
account
and renaming it to "YOU" but it said it was disabled and wouldn't allow me
access.
The transfer wizard only works with stored settings that I don't have.
Are there any other options? TIA


System restore to before you used the driver update utility .


OK .. update.
After doing an exhaustive search in user profile restoration, I decided to
look for folders that windows might have backed up involuntarily during or
after the crash.
So I chose to view all system files. Guess what? My lost user profile was
found hidden in the administrative root directory under the name of
"folder.000."
Discovering that the entire original windows directory was in this
"folder.000," I restored my windows folder by cut & paste.
The cut and paste option was tedious however, because once windows finds a
file that it can't copy, then all subsequent files after that get canceled
out from getting copied!
Very frustrating!!
However, when I rebooted my "YOU" account came back!
So for everyone who has lost their user profiles, do not despair! For they
may have been placed in a hidden folder.