Windows Backup does not save my NTUSER.DAT

Jacob7 · 19 Apr 2013

I am really surprised by the fact that it appears that the Windows Backup does not save NTUSER.DAT. On one PC, my personal user account is under C:\Users. However the actual user's directory is a link to another directory on the D: drive. Recently I decided to put my account data back on the C: drive. This should be easy with Windows backup, shouldn't it? I logged out of this account and logged in under the dedicated administration account. I deleted the link under C:\Users, backed up everything on D and then restored under C:\D. Once the user profile directory was moved to C:\Users, I tried to login as that user. It didn't work. The login screen complained something about profile services. After digging for information from the net, it turns out that this can be caused by a missing NTUSER.DAT. I tried the backup and restore again, and I was able to confirm that my NTUSER.DAT was not saved in the Windows backup directory on my external hard drive. This is really strange. Of course, I fixed it with manually copying the NTUSER.DAT

cyrilhubert · 19 Apr 2013

Hi Jacob,
In some systems, NTUSER.DAT is hidden by default and in some you will find it in C:\Users.
I am not sure if it should be hidden or revealed.
Sometimes, Windows backup do failed to do its job.
That is Windows Backup does not save NTUSER.DAT when it's hidden.
I did read NTUSER.DAT that is totally empty 0kb in some system. Really odd!
Windows 7 is not perfect. I still prefer Win 98 SE for its simplicity!

badbreezer · 20 Apr 2013

Hi Cyril, For future reference if u go into the Control Panel and Open up Folder Options under the view tab there's an Option to Show or dont Show "Hidden Files,Folders or Drives" I always select SHOW it saves a lot of time if ever u have to search for something. I myself have had both good and bad outcomes with Windows Backup, it can be Quirky i guess like anything else. Also it is a good idea to do the Image on an external as said in an earlier post. The complete backup which includes both the Image & Data can take up a lot of room so i make myself one Grand copy and turn her off, of course if u have the room to spare the option is there to Scheduale regular backup's. The choice is yur's.

I have read a few posts on Macrium reflect which i plan on messing with.