User profile gone in XP

Here are the results of appleoddity's fix.

Okay, desktop icons are back and appear to function. I have my pictures, documents, etc. all back I think. Quick launch buttons are still missing.

Still getting some error messages……..

Outlook Express is still unusable, same error messages appearing and it won't open.

Internet explorer is working, favorites did come back too.

Firefox didn't change, same error messages and bookmarks are still gone.

Hi, Eeyore, please try this command used from a previous post:

First, click Start, click Run, type cmd and press ENTER.

In the command prompt window type: attrib -h -r "C:\documents and settings\Richard" /s and press ENTER.

If asked to confirm you want to do this, please answer yes.

Close the command prompt window, reboot your computer, and see how things work now.

Note: The command will take a while to perform. Please be patient. Report any errors back here.

I'm not having any luck with that command apple. Are there any spaces in it?
Also, in the command window, it's already showing C:\Documents and Settings\Richard> , and the cursor is at the end of that string.

Sorry if I sound computer illiterate!

You are doing fine Eeyore. There are definitely spaces in it. You can copy and paste the command into the command prompt window. Select the command, right-click, select copy. Open the command prompt window, right-click in the window, click Paste. Let me know what the "error" is please. Don't apologize for learning. We will both learning something here I'm sure.

After doing that, the computer pauses, then displays this message: "File not found - C:\cocuments and Settings\Richard"

Please change the command to this:

EDITED OUT - Attrib doesn't like it.

Can I have you verify again, what folder you marked as hidden? In your previous post you said it was C:\documents and settings\Richard. Is this incorrect?

When you go to the command prompt, type echo %userprofile% and press ENTER. Let me know what it responds with.

I don't believe this is the problem with the file not found error, but the original attrib command I gave you was incomplete.

My apologies.

The correct command is this:

attrib -h -r "C:\documents and settings\Richard" /s /d

Please respond with the echo %userprofile% results.

The echo command responded with this: C:\Documents and Settings\Richard

I don't believe this is the problem with the file not found error, but the original attrib command I gave you was incomplete.

My apologies.

The correct command is this:

attrib -h -r "C:\documents and settings\Richard" /s /d

Please respond with the echo %userprofile% results.

The attrib command responded with nothing. Just went back to the prompt.

Good.. Try rebooting and see what happens now.

Okay Apple. Really appreciate your efforts, thank you. I got the bookmarks back in Firefox using Mohit's Mozilla trouble shooting guide. I still however get the security warning when Firefox first opens. "Alert: Could not initialize the application's security component. The most likely cause is problems with files in your application's profile directory. Please check that this directory has no read/write restrictions and your hard disk is not full or close to full. It is recommended that you exit the application and fix the problem. If you continue to use this session, you might see incorrect application behaviour when accessing security features." I'm going to reboot the puter now as you wish.

I suppose I could update Firefox again. It's the newest version, but if I simply download the setup files and reinstall, would that fix the security issues?

Okay, restarted. Still get the Firefox security warning and Outlook Express is still giving the same error messages.

Quite possibly. I was just researching where mozilla stores that "application" folder at, and I could probably help you fix the problem with those folders. Its possible that when you uninstall Firefox (probably actually) it won't remove those folders. Therefore, when you reinstall they will keep the same properties they had, causing you the same problems that you had.

Certain folders are not being fixed with our attempts. One other command at the command prompt might help me.

Try this:

dir /ah /s "C:\documents and settings\Richard" > "C:\documents and settings\Richard\Desktop\postme.txt"

Let the command finish. It will be silent (not display anything). Then, attach the postme.txt file you have on your desktop now to the forum so I can take a look and maybe get an idea where to go from here.

I've attached it below. Well, that didn't work. Hang on please.

See if this works. 📎postme.txt