1. You are viewing our forum as a guest. For full access please Register. WindowsBBS.com is completely free, paid for by advertisers and donations.

Resolved Cannot eliminate remnants of deleted user

Discussion in 'Windows XP' started by tquinn, 2007/06/03.

  1. 2007/06/03
    tquinn Contributing Member

    tquinn Well-Known Member Thread Starter

    Joined:
    2002/08/05
    Messages:
    271
    Likes Received:
    0
    I noticed that there were still some unused folders in my Documents and Settings area that were left over from user names that I had previously deleted. I was able to delete all of these folders except for one.

    When I try to delete it (from my administrator account), it gives an error message that it is a system folder and cannot be deleted. I then looked at properties, and it showed it as read-only. I unchecked read-only and hit okay, and the system proceeded to change the read-only status on many more files than were in this folder.

    The user name of the folder I'm trying to delete is Allen Admin 2. I also had an active account that is named Allen Admin. I wondered if the system might have gotten these two confused, so I renamed Allen Admin to Allen Actual and rebooted. Then I tried again to delete the documents folder for Allen Admin 2, and got the same error.

    Does anyone have a suggestion on how to clean out the remnants of Allen Admin 2?

    Terry
     
  2. 2007/06/03
    Evan Omo

    Evan Omo Computer Support Technician Staff

    Joined:
    2006/09/10
    Messages:
    7,899
    Likes Received:
    510
    Hello Tquinn. A lot of people have issues when it comes to deleting files and folders that won't delete. The solution to deleting those types of files and folders is realitively simple. You have to take ownership of the folders and/or files in question. You can learn how to do this by following this link. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308421/en-us
     

  3. to hide this advert.

  4. 2007/06/03
    tquinn Contributing Member

    tquinn Well-Known Member Thread Starter

    Joined:
    2002/08/05
    Messages:
    271
    Likes Received:
    0
     
  5. 2007/06/03
    noahdfear

    noahdfear Inactive

    Joined:
    2003/04/06
    Messages:
    12,178
    Likes Received:
    15
    Hi Terry,

    Lets have a look at the active profiles in the registry. Please download profiles.exe from the link below, saving it to the desktop.

    http://noahdfear.net/downloads/profiles.exe

    Double click to run and hit enter at the first screen. It will create and open a text file named prof.txt when done. Post the contents of that log.
     
  6. 2007/06/03
    Bill_R

    Bill_R Inactive

    Joined:
    2003/02/28
    Messages:
    20
    Likes Received:
    0
    There are approx 1,200 PCs where I work, and I see this problem about once every other week. The fix is usually the same . . . if I can't delete a user or user folder, I boot in SAFE mode. I can usually delete just about anything in SAFE mode.
     
  7. 2007/06/04
    tquinn Contributing Member

    tquinn Well-Known Member Thread Starter

    Joined:
    2002/08/05
    Messages:
    271
    Likes Received:
    0
    I'm quoting myself here, because of some additional information. As I mention above, when I first tried to change this folder from read-only to read, I noticed that there were many more files that changed than I could see in the folders.

    When I changed the "ownership" of the file as suggested by Evan, again I noticed a change of many files.

    So today I looked at the number of files in the folder, and there are 4,700+ files listed there, even though I cannot hardly any of them.

    And what is also strange is that even though I was logged into another user when I put a new icon on the desktop, that icon appears in this user name's documents and settings information, along with the user that I was logged into. Further, the user that I'm logging into has only 135 files in that documents and settings folder.

    So now I'm a little concerned that these two users are somehow mixed together, and if I delete the Allen Admin 2 user account which has more than 4700 files (almost all of which I cannot see), it will mess up the other account and ***** up the whole system.

    Maybe I'm better not touching anything, and chalking this up to another Windows screwup.

    Terry
     
  8. 2007/06/04
    Rockster2U

    Rockster2U Geek Member

    Joined:
    2002/04/01
    Messages:
    3,181
    Likes Received:
    9
    That's certainly an option but this is not a Microsoft screwup. If I were in your shoes, I'd followup with noahdfear's request so this thing can be fixed properly. Then again, that might be too easy.

    ;)
     
  9. 2007/06/04
    tquinn Contributing Member

    tquinn Well-Known Member Thread Starter

    Joined:
    2002/08/05
    Messages:
    271
    Likes Received:
    0
    I'll do that tonight, when I get back from work.

    Terry
     
  10. 2007/06/04
    tquinn Contributing Member

    tquinn Well-Known Member Thread Starter

    Joined:
    2002/08/05
    Messages:
    271
    Likes Received:
    0

    Here is the prof.txt:

    DefaultUserProfile REG_SZ Default User
    AllUsersProfile REG_SZ All Users
    ProfileImagePath REG_EXPAND_SZ %systemroot%\system32\config\systemprofile
    ProfileImagePath REG_EXPAND_SZ %SystemDrive%\Documents and Settings\LocalService
    ProfileImagePath REG_EXPAND_SZ %SystemDrive%\Documents and Settings\NetworkService
    ProfileImagePath REG_EXPAND_SZ %SystemDrive%\Documents and Settings\Allen
    ProfileImagePath REG_EXPAND_SZ %SystemDrive%\Documents and Settings\Allen Admin
    ProfileImagePath REG_EXPAND_SZ %SystemDrive%\Documents and Settings\Allen Admin 2
    ProfileImagePath REG_EXPAND_SZ %SystemDrive%\Documents and Settings\Alen Admin
    ProfileImagePath REG_EXPAND_SZ %SystemDrive%\Documents and Settings\Guest
    SystemRoot REG_SZ C:\WINDOWS


    Note: Alen Admin was already deleted. Neither Alen Admin nor Allen Admin 2 show up as user accounts when I use the User Accounts 2 program.

    Terry
     
  11. 2007/06/04
    noahdfear

    noahdfear Inactive

    Joined:
    2003/04/06
    Messages:
    12,178
    Likes Received:
    15
    Please copy the following command (in quote box) to a blank notepad and save it to the desktop as;

    Filename: dsusers.bat
    Save As Type: All Files (*.*)

    Double click to run. Post the contents of the dsusers.txt file it creates on the desktop.

    Ummm, a bit lost here. What User Accounts 2 program?

    What profile name do you logon to, normally.
    What profile name do you logon to as your Administrator account?
     
  12. 2007/06/04
    tquinn Contributing Member

    tquinn Well-Known Member Thread Starter

    Joined:
    2002/08/05
    Messages:
    271
    Likes Received:
    0
    "User Accounts 2" is a utility that displays the available user accounts that Windows sees in a Windows 2000 format.

    Output of Users.txt

    All Users
    All Users.LOG
    Default User
    Default User.LOG
    Guest
    LocalService
    NetworkService
    Allen
    Allen Actual
    Allen Admin 2

    The account I normally log into would be Allen
    The administrative account is Allen Actual

    The Allen Admin 2 account does not show up anywhere as a user account.



    Terry
     
  13. 2007/06/04
    noahdfear

    noahdfear Inactive

    Joined:
    2003/04/06
    Messages:
    12,178
    Likes Received:
    15
    My recommendation at this point, since there appears to be some connection/confusion/corruption between Allen and Allen Admin2, is that you create a new profile with administrative rights, say Terry or tquinn or whatever. Logon and verify that everything works as it should. Once that's done, copy or move whatever documents, pics, music, favorites, etc you want from the Allen account(s) to the appropriate location in new account. If necessary, take ownership of the Allen files from the new account (should you get any access denied errors). Then, using the User Accounts applet in the Control Panel, delete the Allen account.

    Warning: If you encrypted any files from within the Allen account, remove the encryption before removing the Allen account.

    Once the Allen account has been deleted, you should be able to delete the Allen/Allen Admin 2 folders.
     
  14. 2007/06/05
    tquinn Contributing Member

    tquinn Well-Known Member Thread Starter

    Joined:
    2002/08/05
    Messages:
    271
    Likes Received:
    0
    Noahfear,

    That might work, especially if there is a "connection" as you say between the two users.

    Since I saw an indication of 4700 files in some way associated with Allen Admin 2, what is a robust way to insure that I find all of those files that I want to preserve to put onto the new admin account? I'd hate to delete Allen and Allen Admin 2, and then find out that something just stops working because I killed off some needed configuration file!

    Terry
     
  15. 2007/06/05
    noahdfear

    noahdfear Inactive

    Joined:
    2003/04/06
    Messages:
    12,178
    Likes Received:
    15
    Replace the command in the dsusers.bat with this one and run again.

    dir /a /s "%systemdrive%\docume~1\Allen Admin 2" >> dAA2.txt

    Recommend you manually delete the contents of the following folders first. Note that the Local Settings folder is a hidden folder, so you will need to show hidden files and folders.

    documents and settings\Allen Admin 2\local settings\temporary internet files\contentIE5
    documents and settings\Allen Admin 2\local settings\cookies
    documents and settings\Allen Admin 2\local settings\temp
     
  16. 2007/06/09
    tquinn Contributing Member

    tquinn Well-Known Member Thread Starter

    Joined:
    2002/08/05
    Messages:
    271
    Likes Received:
    0


    Sorry I've been away from this for a couple of days. Very busy here.

    I've made three versions of your file, one to find the files that are associated with each of these accounts:

    Allen [my non-administrative account]

    Allen Admin [my normal administrative account]

    Allen Admin 2 [the admin account that is gone, but whose files I could not erase]

    When I ran each of these batch files, I came up with the following line counts (approximate entries) in each file:

    Allen 45,338 lines, 798 pages
    Allen Admin only two lines, essentially no entries
    Allen Admin 2 6,512 lines, 115 pages

    I expected that Allen would be the biggest, as that is the user that I do the most with.

    Allen Admin is a "legitimate" user on the system according to Windows.
    Allen Admin 2 is the user that isn't there according to Windows, but seems to have all the information that should be in Allen Admin. Also cannot delete any of that information.

    The conclusion I've drawn is that somehow Windows is confused and it treating Allen Admin and Allen Admin 2 as if they were the same. So once again, Windows got itself messed up.

    I suppose I could build a new administrative account, and maybe get Allen Admin and Allen Admin 2 off the computer, but at this point, I think I'll give up. Things seem to be working okay, I'm not using up excess space with an extra user. And if I try to change it, chances are high something will stop working right.

    Terry
     
  17. 2007/06/09
    noahdfear

    noahdfear Inactive

    Joined:
    2003/04/06
    Messages:
    12,178
    Likes Received:
    15
    Suits me if you want to leave well enough alone, but after that last bit of info, I am now wondering if there may be some confusion as to which of the Allen Admin accounts is actually your Administrator account. I would certainly expect to see more than two lines of results in a directory search for the Administrator account. As a test, logon to the Administrator account and place a new text file on the desktop, then log back on to Allen and see which directory the text file is in.

    When you changed the name of Allen Admin to Allen Actual, did you do it via the User Accounts applet in the Control Panel, or just rename the folder?
     
  18. 2007/06/09
    tquinn Contributing Member

    tquinn Well-Known Member Thread Starter

    Joined:
    2002/08/05
    Messages:
    271
    Likes Received:
    0
    I'm pretty sure they must be mixed up. I'll run the test you suggest, but like you, I cannot believe that there is nothing in the Allen Admin account. When I log into it (Allen Admin), I've made changes to the desktop before. Somehow it logs into Allen Admin, but then uses the files from Allen Admin 2 (and apparently puts new files into Allen Admin 2 also.




    I used the User 2 utility that I talked about earlier in the thread.
     
  19. 2007/06/18
    kosketus

    kosketus Inactive

    Joined:
    2005/12/08
    Messages:
    229
    Likes Received:
    3
    Hi

    I've read this thread with interest because I have a problem similar to Terry's. But rather than just blindly emulate the solution(s) offered here, could I first of all run over my own circumstances in case there are significant differences?

    To start with, my problem has a different origin: I reinstalled WinXP (Home) on top of an existing installation. As a result, I have a duplicate set of 'Documents and Settings' folders superimposed upon the previous set. I'm a lone user, working at home, so I don't require multiple user accounts or settings - one for Administrator and one for me ('Robert') is sufficient. I'm posting the contents of the prof.txt log, from which it will be seen that currently I have a lot more than that!

    Will it be OK that (having taken ownership of the files and folders I want to get rid of) I just delete them, or are there traps I have to guard against first?

    EDIT

    For some reason, the Posting Rules don't allow me to add attachments (so I can't post my prof.txt log). Why is that, can anyone tell me?
     
  20. 2007/06/18
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

    Joined:
    2002/05/10
    Messages:
    28,889
    Likes Received:
    386
    You must be a Contributing Member to post attachments.

    Copy/paste the log into a post here.
     
  21. 2007/06/18
    kosketus

    kosketus Inactive

    Joined:
    2005/12/08
    Messages:
    229
    Likes Received:
    3
    Here's a copy/paste:-

    DefaultUserProfile REG_SZ Default User.WINDOWS.0
    AllUsersProfile REG_SZ All Users.WINDOWS.0
    ProfileImagePath REG_EXPAND_SZ %systemroot%\system32\config\systemprofile
    ProfileImagePath REG_EXPAND_SZ %SystemDrive%\Documents and Settings\LocalService.NT AUTHORITY
    ProfileImagePath REG_EXPAND_SZ %SystemDrive%\Documents and Settings\NetworkService.NT AUTHORITY
    ProfileImagePath REG_EXPAND_SZ %SystemDrive%\Documents and Settings\Robert.ENLIGHT
    SystemRoot REG_SZ C:\WINDOWS.0

    "Windows.0" is the name applied by Windows to the duplicated folders. Windows has also put a duplicate copy of Windows itself onto my computer and has called it "Windows.0 "

    BTW, I've found that I can't take ownership of the folders concerned in the manner prescribed in KB Article 308421. When I bring up 'Properties' of any of these folders there is no 'Security' tab to be seen.
     
    Last edited: 2007/06/18

Share This Page

  1. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.