APF seems to have trashed my accounts...

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the nightfly
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Feb 10, 2019 4:59 am

APF seems to have trashed my accounts...

Post by the nightfly »

I had some start menu corruption, so I decided to give UVK’s profile fixer a try. It rebooted my system, put me into a temp “fixer” account, told me it was copying a bunch of things, then said it was finished and I needed to “click to reboot.” I did, and then found myself at the start screen where I had the option of logging into my original account — except, instead of a password entry field, I had a simple “Sign in” button. I clicked on it, got a “Preparing Windows” message, then it went to the desktop with a “We can’t sign in to your account” dialog, which told me it can “often be fixed” by signing out and signing back in. Tried it multiple times, with no success.

How do I fix this problem and get my old account back?
wmmiller
Posts: 1098
Joined: Fri Dec 07, 2012 6:02 am
Location: Minnesota, USA

Re: APF seems to have trashed my accounts...

Post by wmmiller »

Hello, Take a look at this and see if helps you out.

Bill

https://www.carifred.com/apf/
Play stupid games….win stupid prizes
Fred
Site Admin
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Joined: Sat Jul 30, 2011 12:05 pm
Location: Red coast, France
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Re: APF seems to have trashed my accounts...

Post by Fred »

Hello,

It seems something went wrong with your user repair operation, but all your user data is still in the hard drive, so you don't need to worry. The reason why it didn't work we can not know for sure, probably your antivirus software blocked one or more repair operations.

You can log in to the Account Profile Fixer temp account and try to repair your old account again, but this time, disable your antivirus software temporarily. If it does not work again, you can manually create a new account and move your data from the old account profile to the new one.

Best wishes.
One thing we humans have in common is that we are all different. So, if you think you're weird because you're different from everyone else, then we are all weird.

Fred
the nightfly
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Feb 10, 2019 4:59 am

Re: APF seems to have trashed my accounts...

Post by the nightfly »

O.K., if I log into the APF temp account, what steps do I take to “try to repair” my old account again? Just re-run UVK/APF, or some other process?
Fred
Site Admin
Posts: 2357
Joined: Sat Jul 30, 2011 12:05 pm
Location: Red coast, France
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Re: APF seems to have trashed my accounts...

Post by Fred »

Yes, I meant try to repair your account again with UVK->APF. If that does not work again, you can manually create a new administrator account from UVK->Quick User manager, or from Windows Settings or the User accounts control panel applet, and then move your data manually from the old profile. That is basically what APF is trying to do.
One thing we humans have in common is that we are all different. So, if you think you're weird because you're different from everyone else, then we are all weird.

Fred
the nightfly
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Feb 10, 2019 4:59 am

Re: APF seems to have trashed my accounts...

Post by the nightfly »

Well, the results are kind of a good news-bad news situation. This time, it was able to recreate the account so I could get back in…but my customized Start Menu is completely gone, replaced by what looks like the “Stock” start tiles with about half of them replaced with download-icon tiles, with the caption “A great app is on its way!” Similarly, all the items I had pinned to my task bar are missing. Each and every app in the start menu’s program list is marked as “new”...and, on further inspection, it appears that some vital programs, such as Adobe Lightroom Classic CC, while installed on my computer, don’t appear in the program list at all!

Where would the information that would allow full restoration of the start menu and task bar layouts be found? If, by some mishap, that information got trashed during one of the two procedures, I do have a recent backup I could pull that information from.
Fred
Site Admin
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Joined: Sat Jul 30, 2011 12:05 pm
Location: Red coast, France
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Re: APF seems to have trashed my accounts...

Post by Fred »

APF does not restore the Start menu tiles. It's a good thing you mentioned this because I will add that feature to the next update. As for the taskbar pinned shortcuts and programs list, they should be restored, but because the first repair attempt failed something must have gone wrong. Also APF does not automatically log you in to your MS account. You need to do that manually.

APF creates a new user account and moves data from the old account to the new one. However, not all data is moved. Windows Store (WUP) apps need to be reinstalled. Stored application data for WUP apps can be restored, though, if that option is selected during APF repair setup.

I know you probably have some work ahead customizing everything the way it was before, but the goal was to repair issues related to your account without losing data (pictures, documents, etc). Your account should now be working as new, and logging in should be much faster.
One thing we humans have in common is that we are all different. So, if you think you're weird because you're different from everyone else, then we are all weird.

Fred
the nightfly
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Feb 10, 2019 4:59 am

Re: APF seems to have trashed my accounts...

Post by the nightfly »

What I wound up doing was copying my user folder to another drive, restoring my whole c: drive from a backup made a few weeks back, then selectively restoring appropriate items back to the user folder.

Obviously, something serious went wrong when the restore failed the first time; while I understand now that the current version didn’t restore the menu tiles, I was getting “download arrow” tiles for a lot of what I assume were Windows store apps, even restoring those apps from the Store didn’t fix the tiles. And there were enough other weird bugs that I decided it would be best to just restore the whole thing.
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