How to Recover a Lost Windows XP Profile

Symptom:

Logged into windows and a basic desktop appears. My icons and data files are missing.

Solution:

Log off and log on as Administrator

Note: The Registry is one of the most crucial components of Windows operating systems, therefore it is important to backup the current Registry prior to making any changes to it. To create a backup, follow these simple steps:

a. Go to RUN and type “regedit”, hit Enter.

b. Open the File menu and click on Export, a new screen will open.

c. In the bottom of the screen, select All under Export range (it is a good idea to backup everything in the registry in case a registry entry accidentally gets changed)

d. Give a name to your Registry backup file and then press the Save button.

Note: To restore the registry, open File menu in the Registry editor and select Import. Browse and select the backup file you created and then press Open. Your Registry will be restored.

Now when you've successfully created a backup of Windows registry, follow these steps to recover the lost user profile:

a. Go to RUN and type in ‘Regedit’ then press OK.

b. This will open the Registry Editor - A Windows tool that stores important operating system and users’ information.

c. On the left side, go to the following key:  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList

d. Now rename the new profile that the system created by adding .TMP at the end.

e. Now rename the previous profile, removing the .BAK and restart.

After Logging into Windows, you should now have your old profile. 

Next Download and Run the following patch. This will prevent your profile from getting corrupted again. 

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=6676