If you ever log into your Windows XP account and you see this error:Windows cannot load your profile because it may be corrupted. You may be logged in using a temporary User Profile.
The way that Microsoft says to repair this problem is to backup the user's data and recreate the account.
Log into an account that you can recreate the account. It doesn't matter if you get the above error message or not.
Creating the Accounts
- click Start -> Control Panel
- click on User Accounts
- Under Pick a Task, click Create a new account
- Type the name and information for the user, then click Next.
- Click on Account Type and click Create Account.
Copying User's Data
- After logging into the user account open up Explorer
- In Windows Explorer, click Tools, click Folder Options, click the View tab, click Show hidden files and folders, click to clear the Hide protected operating system files check box, and then click OK.
- Locate the C:\Documents and Settings\Old_Username folder, where C is the drive on which Windows XP is installed, and Old_Username is the name of the profile you want to copy user data from.
- Press and hold down the CTRL key while you click each file and subfolder in this folder, except the following files:
- Ntuser.dat
- Ntuser.dat.log
- Ntuser.ini
- On the Edit menu, click Copy.
- Locate the C:\Documents and Settings\New_Username folder, where C is the drive on which Windows XP is installed, and New_Username is the name of the user profile that you created in the "Create a New User Profile" section.
- On the Edit menu, click Paste.
- Log off the computer, and then log on as the new user.