Complete Meltdown After Hiding User Folder

[Thumper427]

Hi all,

I am absolutely desperate for help as I fear I have completely wrecked (by accident) my brand new laptop.

It's a Sony Vaio E Series (Buy Sony E Series 4GB 500GB 15.5 Inch Laptop - White at Argos.co.uk - Your Online Shop for Laptops and netbooks.)

This morning my bookmarks tab/button had completely vanished from Firefox (running 19.0.2). I was browsing through Mozilla's own help section and found instructions about deleting or altering a specific file in the AppData folder. It said you had to check a box to unhide the file, to do this you did something with the username for your computer i.e. c:\windows\user\abc

I made a mistake and checked the hidden box which then hid everything for my user; downloads, music, pictures, videos etc

I found out how to show hidden folders and after unchecking the hidden box I still found all the individual files inside hidden, so I made a copy of my user folder and copied it into my C drive and then rebooted in safe mode to see if the copy folder was unhidden, it wasn't. So I deleted the copied folder of my user and rebooted.

I did a system restore and eventually found how to unhide everything individually from a website through the folder options menu's.

However this is where the big issues started. Firstly, I could not download anything at all using I.E and my downloads folder had vanished, so I could not re-download Firefox. I tried everything and it still doesn't download anything.

I eventually got Firefox onto CD and re-installed it and it downloads and my download folder just randomly came back. Then the google search box went missing. Then it randomly came back.

I went to save a photo from the internet and it says I cannot save anything in "my pictures" and to chose another location. I tried "videos", "music" and I can't save anything there, it won't let me but I could save it OK to the desktop.

Then sticky notes won't load on reboot and says "can't find file (Quit)"

Then Skype corrupted and no longer works.

Then I got a C++ runtime error and Vaio Gate.exe stopped working.

I then did another system restore to last month and the above problems still exist and the laptop is running so slow and glitchy.

I have had throughout the entire ordeal Avira and it has picked up no viruses. I have not downloaded anything to get a virus either.

I have downloaded CCleaner and it picked up a tonn of registry errors, it fixed them and it's still completely FUBAR.

I am so desperate, I have just spent every single penny I have on this laptop and it looks trashed but I am in a state of panic right now and I am not very technically minded when it comes to laptops.

Please, please help me.

Thank you in advance.

 

[indianacarnie]

Try a sfc/scannow. Its a system file check, it will find and attempt to repair any system files. Just click on the blue link. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1538-sfc-scannow-command-system-file-checker.html

If this doesn't work a repair installation may be needed, but we'll cross that bridge when/if we need to.

Ccleaner is an outstanding program, I use it myself several times a day, and highly recommended but you have to be extremely careful with ANY registry "fixes". Especially if you're not sure of what you're doing.

Welcome to the forums by the way!

 

[Thumper427]

Hi Indianacarnie,

Thank you for the advice and links. I have performed the sfc scan and also the sfc verify and both came up with no problems. I tried them again and it still said no issues.

Another issue has surfaced today, almost all my programs don't work. Vuze won't load and comes up with a ton of errors and for some reason all the internet sites I am registered to are not remembering my username and password despite ticking all the right boxes for it to do so.

I don't understand how simply hiding a user folder and then unhiding it (so long as I have done it right) has caused so much damage?

Any further advice and help would be great as my local computer store is wanting £75 just for a diagnosis.

 

[indianacarnie]

Probably the fastest, simplest thing to do is this, imho, of course. : http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/3413-repair-install.html

 

[Thumper427]

Hi, thanks again.

What a shame that ticking one tiny box and then undoing it has corrupted an entire computer and all it's programmes!! I actually cannot see how it's even possible to be honest but I give up.

Laptops don't come with the windows disk, I have the activation code sticker but that's it. It's a brand spanking new laptop, I don't want to mess around with warranties downloading some hooky version of Windows. What is my best (probably only) option?

 

[FuturDreamz]

Hi, thanks again.

What a shame that ticking one tiny box and then undoing it has corrupted an entire computer and all it's programmes!! I actually cannot see how it's even possible to be honest but I give up.

I think the problem is that OP wen into safe mode and deleted his user folder after making a copy. Obviously Windows doesn't consider the copy to be the same thing.

I don't think a full reinstall is required, but I think you will have to make a new user account.

 

[Thumper427]

It was the copy folder that was deleted and not the original one. The copy was also in a different location, just stuck in the main C:\ drive. It's clearly messed up big time but I have no idea how. Everything works fine when I create a new user account but in the long run doing a repair/re-install is probably the best and most complete option but I don't know how to do that as laptops don't come with a physical disc copy of Win 7.

 

[kado897]

If you need to do a reinstall this tutorial will help you. It includes a link to download the appropriate ISO.http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/219487-clean-reinstall-factory-oem-windows-7-a.html

 

[indianacarnie]

Just follow the link kado897 provided, follow the instructions and all will be fine. I truly believe this is your best option, plus you'll have the benefit of a good fresh install. If you have any problems and/or questions , don't hesitate to ask. Someones always here!

I agree with your frustrations having "been there" myself at various times.

Additional : The registry cleaning may have had a lot to do with the subsequent problems. Be very wary of any changes you do in there. Registries are very delicate,finicky and easy to mess up. 99.99% of the time no changes are ever needed there as far as cleaning goes.

 

[barton]

"I think the problem is that OP wen into safe mode and deleted his user folder"

Agree. If the folder is still in recycle bin, wouldn't restoring it help?

 

[johnnya]

Hi thunper427 and welcome to the Forum. The clean Factory Reinstall Tutorial is probably your best bet at the moment. You will be able to perform a Repair Install which should fix your problems and leave your data intact. (Caution: back up all your data anyway) Now, beyond that, manufactures no longer supply Windows DVD's with new systems. However, they do provide a program on your computer to Create (burn) a set of Recovery DVD's that you can use to restore your system back to Factory Condition. All your data is lost with this method. This is the very first thing a person should do on purchasing a new laptop. You would use these to restore to a new hard Drive.

Secondly, there is an option at bootup (look at your manual to find what keys to hit) to restore to Factory Condition from a hidden partition already on your computer. You would use this method if the hard drive was physically ok but Windows was beyond repair. Be aware that this method also erases user data..
Good luck and keep us posted on your progress.
Cheers
JohnnyA

 

[Thumper427]

Hi there,

Thanks again for all the helpful replies.

So if I do this backup/restore//re-install/repair/iso disc thing, will that not solve anything because I'm copying everything from how it is now? Do excuse me I'm (clearly) not very good with this stuff!

No-one told me to make any kind of discs when I bought the laptop so I'm unsure with that.

The tutorial page seems pretty straight forward, I think even I can manage that I'm just wondering if it will work because of my first paragraph up there ^^

I have an external hard drive so I can back up all my data on that, is it just things like personal stuff, pictures and videos that I backup or do I need to backup anything else?

Thanks again, feeling more positive now instead of horrified

 

[Bongo]

Back up your data documents, videos, pictures, music etc. to a external hard drive, then go to your manufacturers web site and download the drives put them on the external hard drive, then do a clean install, install drivers, updates, install programs, put data back.

Jerry

 

[boohbah]

you could try downloading a windows 7 iso burn it to a disc using imgburn, creating a bootable disc
then run a repair install from that.
the iso download should match your existing OS, for instance. win7 x64 home premium

these links should help.

http://www.heidoc.net/joomla/technology-science/microsoft

http://forum.imgburn.com/index.php?showtopic=11194

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/3413-repair-install.html

 

[indianacarnie]

Just do your back-ups, follow the tutorials TO THE LETTER and you'll be fine. As I mentioned earlier, we have some very excellent people in here writing some very good detailed tutorials. They've worked for literally thousands of people. If you have any questions about anything, just ask someones always here.

 

[johnnya]

Creating a set of Recovery DVD's does not include copying any of your data to the DVD's. The Recovery DVD's are actually created from the hidden Recovery Partition and allow you to restore your system to Factory condition in the event of a hard drive failure. As I mentioned in my previous post, this is the FIRST THING YOU SHOULD DO!
Cheers
JohnnyA

 

[Thumper427]

Well damn and blast I didn't know about these recovery discs. They should tell you that in the user manual or when you first set up your laptop!

I've copied over all my personal data (pics, vids etc) and next up is getting all the drivers for my laptop from the Sony website. Then I will do the re-install repair from the tutorial provided, it's extremely well written, good enough for a noob like me to understand it all!

Hopefully doing this will work. If it does, can I then do the recovery DVD's? Is there a tutorial for that too please?

Thanks again, such a fantastic forum!

 

[Thumper427]

None of this stuff seems official, it's not from a microsoft website, won't this invalidate my warranty?

Sorry, another question. I am looking at the Heidoc website and don't know which iso to download and burn. There's media refresh, old, RTM, RTM (not bootable), Home Premium x64 N RTM.... Help!

 

[kado897]

You want the appropriate Media Refresh version this has SP1 incorporated. Some early SP1 disks had problems and this replaces them. The links provided are to the official Microsoft download from Digital River.

 

[Thumper427]

Brilliant, thanks Kado!

Now then... (how inept am I), I have gone to the Sony website to look at downloading drives, I assume this means drivers? I found this page and there are LOADS. Which ones do I need to download to disc?

Sony : SVE1511A1EW updates | Download updates for SVE1511A1EW