lost(deleted) profile, recovery possible?


  1. Posts : 46
    W7/VM
       #1

    lost(deleted) profile, recovery possible?


    Hi all
    My partner is a teacher and working on a school laptop with W7 enterprise.
    Early this week she went to school and could not find one of the desktop links to some programm the school uses.
    She then asked the school IT person to have a look. He comented various things to her and one of those was that she would have a few temp profiles.
    He obviously fiddelt around and handed back her machine and the desktop had changed totaly. Also gone were her bookmarks in FF and Windows Mail(client) which I had installed for her so she has a client for Gmail.
    My partner challenged the IT man though he refused to acknoledge the f.. up.
    Now, is ther any chance of recovering a profile? Or, do I have to install the Windows Mail all over again?


    Thanks
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 5,056
    Windows 7 x64 pro/ Windows 7 x86 Pro/ XP SP3 x86
       #2

    There are some things you can try.

    1) Run a system restore to a time before the machine was handed over to the IT person.

    2) Look under C:\Users for the lost profile, if its there you can login with an admin account and copy off those files. Those files can be then copied back into the existing account.

    3) Use something like Recuva to try recover lost files.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 46
    W7/VM
    Thread Starter
       #3

    Bill2 said:
    There are some things you can try.
    Hi Bill2
    Thanks:)
    I will have a look and see what I can do.
    Does it mean if the profile gets deleted under; start-rh click computer- properties-profiles it may not be deleted in C: users?
    I will also look for system resore.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 5,092
    Windows 7 32 bit
       #4

    For future reference it's good to use an imaging program to take regular system snapshots. If someone hoses the system and you lay the image back on, you've only lost changes since the image was made. For non system files like graphic images, text files, word processing etc.., if you just copy those as files to an external drive, you can copy back after doing the image restore. Then the only loss will be things like system updates, newly installed programs etc..

    If you use a lot of portable apps just keep them under a directory other than programs. I have a bunch of small utilities under C:\Utils. To save them I only have to drag that folder and any settings in AppData to an external drive.

    You can check out thefreecountry.com: Free Programmers' Resources, Free Webmasters' Resources, Free Security Resources for lists of free utilities including imaging apps(Macrium, ToDo backup etc..)
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 707
    Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit
       #5

    It would be easy to get your bookmarks back if you had used Firefox Sync
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 5,092
    Windows 7 32 bit
       #6

    stve said:
    It would be easy to get your bookmarks back if you had used Firefox Sync
    I like SyncPlaces since it lets you use your own ftp account. With Chromium I'm pretty much stuck using Chrome sync. Another nice thing about SyncPlaces, you can download your saved bookmarks and passwords say onto a new install of FF and the bookmarks toolbar will be restored correctly. No diddling around dragging and dropping stuff to get it in the right order.

    I tried to lobby the SyncPlaces developer to do one for Chrome. My pleas were ignored as expected. :)
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 707
    Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit
       #7

    Never use the Bookmarks bar with Opera, using the Bookmark Panel is far better with its search field & in the context menu there are 11 different options for sorting & viewing the bookmarks.
    Most weeks I install a new snapshot of Opera as a portable & a quick Synch & all my bookmarks, Notes & Speedials are back .
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 2,066
    Windows 8 Pro w/MC 32-bit
       #8

    win7go said:
    ...Does it mean if the profile gets deleted under; start-rh click computer- properties-profiles it may not be deleted in C: users?
    "Profiles" doesn't appear on the "computer properties" page. However all the current users should be under c:Users as various subfolders. If not there, then as Bill2 suggested, Recuva may help expose deleted files if they haven't been overwritten.
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 46
    W7/VM
    Thread Starter
       #9

    Hi all
    My partner went back and asked the IT guy to go over once more and sure enough he did get it back, don't know how/what he did.
    I just don't want to stir it up nor do much on her machine as he blamed me once before. The bookmarks are backed up on Mozy though I did not want to elaborate this to the IT guy.
    I will check out all the suggestions, many thanks!
    Very much appreciated:)
      My Computer


 

  Related Discussions
Our Sites
Site Links
About Us
Windows 7 Forums is an independent web site and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Microsoft Corporation. "Windows 7" and related materials are trademarks of Microsoft Corp.

© Designer Media Ltd
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 07:10.
Find Us