Corrupt Users

[burtie]

Recently I seem to be getting a lot of problems with user profiles becoming corrupt. Evertime myself or another user logs on we are given a temporary profile. The problem seems to go away after a reboot of the machine

Just wondering if anyone else has had teh same problem?
I am thinking it may just be a problem with the current installation I have (build 7100)

 

[Dzomlija]

Recently I seem to be getting a lot of problems with user profiles becoming corrupt. Evertime myself or another user logs on we are given a temporary profile. The problem seems to go away after a reboot of the machine

Just wondering if anyone else has had teh same problem?
I am thinking it may just be a problem with the current installation I have (build 7100)

Try running a full disk check to determine whether or not there is a problem with your hard drive?

 

[poin2]

I had a problem with that after upgrading from Vista. Eventually led to a blue screen and inability to recover a user profile, if I recall.

Did a fresh install and hasn't occurred since.

 

[burtie]

Hmmm maybe it could be my hard disk, I know one of the times I restarted it ran a disk check and my hard drive is getting on a bit now

I recently reinstalled W7 on the partition that Vista used to be on. Maybe another install again might sort it out? I think I will wait until things unusable then I might give it go but it seems to be ok for now

Thanks guys.

 

[Generator]

You could try this Vista solution from Microsoft.

Fix a corrupted user profile - Windows Vista Help

 

[Barman58]

Hmmm maybe it could be my hard disk, I know one of the times I restarted it ran a disk check and my hard drive is getting on a bit now

I recently reinstalled W7 on the partition that Vista used to be on. Maybe another install again might sort it out? I think I will wait until things unusable then I might give it go but it seems to be ok for now

Thanks guys.

One thing I would advise that you do now is to create a new (password protected) admin user so that if you do get problems with the user accounts in use that are not fixable with a re-boot at least you have a way to access the OS.

Personally I would activate the Hidden administrator account Now, (with a secure password), just in case

Experience has taught me that putting off an intermittent, minor annoyance, can sometimes escalate into something a lot worse so even if you do not have the time to fix things now at least put in a recovery plan

 

[burtie]

How do I enable the hidden admin account?

 

[Barman58]

Hi Burtie,

Have a look at this tutorial from our sister site Vista Forums

Administrator Account - Vista Forums

Shawn explains things much better than I do

Just ensure that when you enable it you give it a secure password and only use it or emergencies

 

[sup3rsprt]

Hi Barman58,

What is the advantage of activating the "Administrator" account? Doesn't the first account created after install already have admin privileges once UAC elevated?

 

[Barman58]

Due to the changes in Windows Vista and now Windows 7, and the way that permissions are applied certain areas of the system are difficult to access for a normal admin user even when elevated, especially on a hosed system.

The is due to the addition of a new super user "trusted Installer" which is given ownership and exclusive rights to parts of the "Program Files" tree.

The hidden administrator is not subject to this restriction and is also "immune" from UAC restrictions. This results in the real administrator often being able to perform operations during a system recovery scenario that is not possible for any other user.

The problem with all this power is that should a virus or other undesirable gain hold when this superuser is active the system is completely open to attack.

The security changes were brought in to prevent this outcome

 

[sup3rsprt]

Thanks,

As you said, the "trusted installer" is the owner of the Program Files tree. But if I needed to, couldn't I just take ownership of it without using the hidden "Administrator" user?

I'm a bit puzzled by this, because both the "Administrator" user and my user account are members of the same Administrators group.

 

[Barman58]

It's true that you could take ownership and then give yourself, as admin, (or even as a standard user), give yourself the rights you need, however people who have done this have reported strange issues at a later date.

As for the administrator account, I fully agree looking at the groups and rights it should be identical to an elevated admin account. However possibly through some "hard wired" differences in the security model this account does not trigger UAC prompts and is given higher access rights that any other user.

will have to see if I can find a definitive explanation of the differences and post back

 

[sup3rsprt]

this account does not trigger UAC prompts

Interesting. Now I wonder if being logged on as hidden Admin account is the same as being logged in to the regular Admin account with UAC disabled.

 

[Barman58]

Even more interesting is the contents of this article which indicates that the hidden account does not have higher rights than the "Trusted installer"

the article does explain the differences quite simply between the account types and how to change some behaviour

 

[sup3rsprt]

That article falls in line with what I originally thought about Administrator users. However, I was not aware that group policy disables UAC for the built-in Administrator account. You brought that up earlier and it is good to know.

In older versions of Windows such as Windows XP and 2003, it was possibe to read/write system files and protected parts of the registry by aquiring SYSTEM level privileges. I would imagine that the SYSTEM account and TrustedInstaller have similar, if not the same permissions in Windows Vista/7.

 

[burtie]

Intresting. thanks for the info, will get the hidden admin sorted.

Thanks guys