Still problems after file backup recovery
After a format/install of Windows Vista x 64 and restoring all files from a backup and unchecking the "Restore files preserving their security settings" option there are still some issues I'm having that began after the file restore.
1st, I'm connected to my network through a wireless router and my internet connection seems just fine but the icon at the bottom of the desktop shows the red X and when I hover over it, a greyed out notice says "Not Accessible" "Status Unknown." But like I said the network seems to work fine. ?? I've tried turning the network off, rebooting what ever else I can think of.
2nd, When I try to go to control panel and edit my user accounts, when I click on an option the window opens for a split second and then disappears. Doesn't mater what option I choose, it does it every time. Both accounts are "administrator" accounts. I've tried switching back and forth with the accounts. Nothing works.
These are all new after the True image 2013 file backup was restored to their original location.
It was everything under the main folder for each user so, pfl04/AppData, Desktop, Documents, etc., etc.
Ed's laptop/AppData, Desktop, Documents, etc., etc.
The Windows registry has entries for each user and the associated users folders. When you install Windows Vista, new entries are created in the registry and new user folders are created for any user you create during install. If you have a user named User1 for example, Windows will create registry entries for the User1 user and create a folder for User1 in the Users folder. The user folder for User1 contains a file called NTUSER.DAT that is specific to the user and to the registry entries for User1 in the registry.
If during the install of Vista (of after booting up) you created user accounts with the same name as the users in your backup data, then restore the user data folders to the original locations overwriting the users folders and in particular the NTUSER.DAT files, you will have corrupted the links between the users folder and the registry entries for those users creating the problems you are seeing.
I would suggest a fresh install of Windows Vista (or restore from the image you made after the install, but before doing any user data folder restores). Create one of users that existed before the new install, then restore the user data folder excluding the NTUSER.DAT file and see how that goes for that user. Do not restore the data folder for the current user until you check to see how things work with the additional user restore first.
Thanks James, that's very clear. I will give that a go and let you know.
I'm sorry I meant to ask, are you talking about the two files at the root of my user account? I have two files "ntuser.dat.LOG1" and "ntuser.dat.LOG2 So, Ed's Laptop/ntuser.dat.LOG1, etc.
No, those are only log files. You must have show hidden, system and protected files turned on the to see the NTUSER.DAT files.
Okay, there are a bunch of them. ??
There should only be one NTUSER.DAT file per user folder. There may be other files that start with NTUSER.
There is still only ONE NTUSER.DAT file in this screen capture. All of the other files start with NTUSER.DAT but contain additional characters in the file name. The NTUSER.DAT file is located directly after the video folder. All the rest of the files are not NTUSER.DAT, they are, for example, "NTUSER.DAT{0fb6f16a....regtrans-ms" with everything from NTUSER.DAT to .regtrans-ms included in the filename. All of the .regtrans-ms files and .blf files, as well as the log files can (and should be) excluded from the restore as well.
I would not restore anything except in the visible folders under C:\users, at least initially.
Keep your backup files so that you can restore manually later some selected files in appdata, for example Outlook files, or Windows mail files.
Thank you everyone, I'll give it a try.
I still do not see how this can be done. I can't see how NOT to backup the ntuser.dat file in the file backup. It never was visible in True Image explorer. And I could not see how to eliminate it during recovery. Again none of this stuff was visible in TI explorer.
Edward,
If you have Windows set to display hidden, system, and protected files, you can choose whatever you wish to include in the backup from within True Image. True Image respects the Windows settings, so if you can't see them in Windows Explorer, you can't see them in True Image.
If you are in disk/partition mode you can not browse and see individual files, only folders. If in file/folder mode, you can see and include or exclude anything you wish. See attached screenshot of a file/folder backup selection screen.
One thing that needs to be cleared up, is that during the backup you do not need to exclude any of the files/folders unless you wish to. It is during the restore that you should exclude the NTUSER.DAT file(s) and possibly the appdata folder initially as Acronis MVP Pat L has suggested.
I normally restore the user folders from a backup to a new temporary location and then manually move the data from the temporary folder to the proper users folder and delete the temporary folders after I have determined that I have moved everything I need.
I'm sorry, I don't get it. I'm in file mode, I have windows set to show all files. I can see .ini files on my desk top, I can see the ntuser.dat file in windows explorer but I can not see beyond this. I don't even see AppData folder. ??
See this for more info: http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/how-to-see-hidden-files-in-wi…
Edward,
Close ATI. Make sure that Windows is set up to show hidden files. Relaunch ATI. You should now see hidden files in the what to backup.
I've been working from my standard user account and even though I ran ATI as an administrator and unchecked hidden files etc., it didn't do the trick. I needed to log in to my administrator account and then uncheck hidden files etc. Now I can see everything.
So after about half a dozen attempts I have some answers. Definitely, the best way to approach file/folder restore is to restore to a different location as James F suggested. I then copy/paste what I need to it's proper location. I copy/paste "Windows Mail" and "Windows Calendar" folders individually instead off the whole "AppData" folder. Something in there seems to be the problem. When I "Restore to Original Location" and left out "Appdata" folder, that was the only time I had no issues.
I would never restore the entire contents of AppData\Roaming\. To me, that's asking for trouble. While some apps work fine using contents of a previous installation's AppData\Roaming\, some need to be launched and set their own path information and variables into AppData\Roaming\ which may differ from the previous installation.
Whiile I do backup AppData\Roaming\, when moving to a new installation (even a clean install on the same PC), I take restoring on a case-by-case basis. I would not restore the entire folder, but just restore certain AppData\Roaming\ files for certain apps that I know will creaate a good result.
Also, when doing such things, or when installing applications or configuring system settings, it's best to be logged in to a user account with Administrator privileges rather than a Standard user account.