XP new user accounts don't work

[genistas]

Hi!

I've got a Windows XP Home PC with service pack 2 installed, and it's all up to date. A short time ago, I deleted all the "extra" user accounts on the machine, keeping only mine. THat being said, my accound works great. However, I recently tried adding a new account, and when I log into it for the first time, it's very very slow and the task bar takes up the whole bottom half of the screen. Further, the start button is missing and it's pretty much impossible to use. I've tried creating a number of new accounts, each with different names and priviledges, but they all do the same thing. I have done a virus scan and SFC. Any ideas why my account works but any new ones do not?



Thank you for your time!

-dan

 

[V-tek]

Seems like the default user profile is corrupted, its because the default user profile affects only the profiles of new users. The default user profile is stored in the \Documents And Settings\Default User folder, which is hidden. Delete the profile and log on with the user's account, windows will create a new profile when the user logs on.

 

[talldude123]

When you deleted the user accounts, did you delete the files along with the actual account?

 

[genistas]

Yes, I backed up all the user-named folders from the Documents and Settings folder to a new location on the hard drive, and then deleted them. Besides those folders in the Documents and Settings directory, are there any other files associated with these user accounts that I should be removing?

Would deleting the default user folder cause my main user account to lose any data? I'll give it a try this afternoon.

Thanks!

 

[genistas]

I deleted the default user folder and restarted. I then created a new account and restarted. When I log into the account, it says it cannot find the profile and that it will load the default profile. Once it loads, the problems still occur. I managed to unlock the taskbar and swith it to classic taskbar, which allowed me to shrink it down and see the whole screen, but there's definitely something still wrong with it.

I'll probably end up reformatting if I don't figure it out soon.

Thanks!