User Account confusions

PostmanPuzzled said:

I had 2 user accounts on my Windows 10 HP Laptop - one Microsoft Account named with my initialsand a Local Account with a different name. Windows 10 seems to have been saving to either of them at random and is also saving to an old User Folder which I removed from User Accounts over a year ago.The latter is, confusingly I must admit, named the same as the current admin User Account plus the name of my husband`s old laptop.

PostmanPuzzled said:

When I checked the default saving location for This PC the result states : Recovery D and beneath that the name of the TOSHIBA External Hard Drive I have been using for backups. Surely it should be saving to the current administrator User Account ?

PostmanPuzzled said:

Windows 10 does not seem to be saving files to the folders I indicate.

Applications save your files wherever you tell them to so I do not really understand what you are trying to describe. Just browse in any application's SaveAs dialog and choose the location you want.
If you want to ask for further guidance then including screenshots in your description might help How to Upload and Post Screenshots and Files - TenForumsTutorials

PostmanPuzzled said:

… named the same as the current admin User Account plus the name of my husband`s old laptop.

Many methods of querying a username report it in the form ComputerName\UserName. Perhaps that is what you mean.

PostmanPuzzled said:

I am trying to empty the old User Folder so that I can remove it from the Directory but find there is an Apps Data Folder in it. Should this not be in the current proper User Admin Account ?
It appears to be the only copy so I am afraid to delete it.

Every user account folder has an AppData subfolder.

PostmanPuzzled said:

I also find today that the Local Account has disappeared from the User Accounts listed in Control Panel. … my Local Account has been removed though the folder is still there in the Users section of the Directory.

If a user account is not shown in Control panel, User accounts then it has either been deleted or disabled.
- Is it still listed in the response to the command net user in either a cmd or PS window?
- If a user account is deleted the correct way then you are given the choice of deleting its data or not i.e. deleting its user folder or not.

PostmanPuzzled said:

I have looked through Brink`s Tutorial on dealing with a corrupt User Profile but don`t want to embark on removing the current admin account if I can help it as I have no confidence I will be able to transfer my financial records successfully in so doing. I suppose I could print hard copies of them but it would take ages.

I think you probably mean Fix User Profile Service Failed the Sign-in Error - TenForumsTutorials
You never need to delete an unused user account's profile, whether corrupted or not. You can always just let it sit there gathering dust.
You can copy files from one user profile to another so you will be able to rescue the old financial records. Just browse to them in File explorer, copy them and paste them wherever you want.

PostmanPuzzled said:

Using command prompt to get Windows OS details get name results in the OLD User Account Title.

Does this refer to the response to the WinVer command? If so then there is no problem; the data is not used for anything. That data can be changed to whatever you want but otherwise stays displaying whatever it was when the computer was first set up.

Change Registered Owner and Organization - TenForumsTutorials



Denis

Delete the control panel screenshot now. Don't wait.
How to Remove a Screenshot or Image from TenForums.com Post - TenForumsTutorials

I've already noted what I need and will reply later.

Denis
@z3r010 - John, The OP has probably gone to bed. Would you mind deleting that top-left screenshot [the one of Control panel] so the email addresses cannot get harvested. Denis

Done.

The forum admin has blurred those email addresses from your last post for you. Even when in a picture, they can be harvested and abused so John's alteration helps to protect you.

---

The subfolders within C:\Users are such a mess that, in order to help you, I need to ask for additional info in order to correctly relate user account names to C:\Users subfolders.

1 Please open a PowerShell prompt [right-click on Start button, Windows PowerShell] then paste in this command

Code:

wmic useraccount get name,sid

Press return then do these things with the results -

1.1 Select them all then paste them here in the thread.

1.2 Amongst the Name entries will be

granny counter
mjcx2
thoma
louis

and I need you to note their SID entries [for your use in step 2].

2 Run RegEdit and paste this into its address bar to get straight to the Key of interest

Code:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList

then, for each of the SIDs you just noted, look in the right hand side for the entry

Code:

ProfileImagePath

then double-click on ProfileImagePath to open the entry so you can select, copy & post it here together with the Name/SID so I can be certain which result relates to which user account.

Those results will confirm which subfolders within C:\Users are in use by your user accounts. The nature of the remaining subfolders can then be investigated [including, but not limited to, the Tempus fugit one that you mentioned].

I already have some general comments to make but I'll put those on their own in a separate post.

All the best,
Denis

PostmanPuzzled said:

{Control panel diagram}, {Net user results diagram}

Topic 01 - These confirm the names & nature of the 4 user accounts on your computer.

PostmanPuzzled said:

{Net user results diagram}

Topic 02 -
You need not concern yourself about these entries: Administrator, Guest, DefaultAccount, WDAGUtilityAccount. Windows created them and it manages them for its own purposes.

The Administrator account is not merely an Admin account. It is the Built-in Admin account created by Windows not by you and its username is the word "Administrator". It is currently disabled, as it should almost always be, and I can see that you have never logged into it. It has some uses as a convenient method of addressing some faults but you will never need to use it for that because any of your other Admin accounts [Marie, Thomas, granny] can achieve as much as Administrator can. It is not, as some believe, any kind of superuser; it is just an Admin.

The Guest account is also disabled, as it should always be. Despite several attempts to address the issue, it has just about been abandoned by Windows as a security nightmare. As you have done for Louis, you can create separate Standard user accounts for those you regard as guests without going anywhere near the one actually called Guest.

PostmanPuzzled said:

{C:\Users\… diagram}

Topic 03 -
Some of these folders are used by the user accounts on your computer. I cannot be sure what relates to what until I see the SID checking results. But
- Your own user account profile is probably in that mjcx2.Laptop … folder and the mjcx2 folder might be a leftover / spare / a manually created folder / in use by Thomas /… {If I could be vaguer then I would be.}
- There is no folder called Thomas or any variation of that name. Might it be that Thomas has never logged in? [user folders are created when a user first logs in rather than when the user account is created]
- I know what these are and they are not of any concern: Public, Guest, Default, DefaultAppPool {this only rings a vague bell}, Default, defaultuser1.
- Guest does not normally have a folder. Its existence implies that, at some stage, the Guest account has been logged in to. Or perhaps it is a leftover from a previous OS [I can't remember if Windows 7, for example, created that folder whether or not it had ever been used]. In any case, it is not a serious matter and you'll be able to copy its files to wherever you want then leave this folder alone to gather dust.
- I am surprised that there are files in the defaultuser1 folder. I suggest you take a look in it then copy any required files somewhere useful. This can then also be left to gather dust. It is of no use at all. I'd bet it could actually be deleted but the preparations for doing so [a system image] would be more effort than any benefit from deleting it could possibly be.
- I suspect that Tempus fugit and UpdatusUser are set as default folders for some application or other. I suggest you look in Tempus fugit to see if the documents inside it help to explain what uses it. UpdatusUser looks empty.
- I think these need to be investigated and we can discuss that later:

- the set of 3 folders called defaultuser1000... {they might well be remnants of previous login failures},
- Screenshot {a user might have accidentally "relocated" their own screenshots folder here}.

- I think that these have been manually created so you could useful check what's in them to find out why they were made and move them somewhere else: Temp, Copy C Drive 17 22

PostmanPuzzled said:

… I have 3 User Folders ...

Topic 04 -
You should have four unless Thomas has never logged in.

PostmanPuzzled said:

I have ... User Folders in one of two main sub folders of This PC

Topic 05 -
Actually, the user folders are in C:\Users\... Those entries in ThisPC are a special type of shortcut dressed up to look like folders but they are not. They can cause confusion & mistakes; I dislike them. I pin shortcuts to my user folders in Quick access [at the top of the File explorer navigation pane] and then hide these ThisPC entries. I can give you a link to the relevant tutorial if you also want to hide them.
[I also hide that Libraries entry I can see in your File explorer diagram]

PostmanPuzzled said:

… both entitled Windows ...

Topic 06 -
Sorry I don't know what you mean here.

PostmanPuzzled said:

I find it confusing that this laptop only has one partition so Documents etc. all appear at first sight to be in the same partition as Programs etc

Topic 07 -
Most people have the same arrangement.
- I have two disks in some of my computers so it is easy to keep my own files separate from the OS & its applications.
- I have partitioned the disk in other case so it behaves the same way.
- The separation eases backing up for me.

I don't know why you wrote, "at first sight".

I can see a D:\ drive labelled as a Recovery drive. Is that something you have done or is it merely how things are? If you try to take a look in it then you might get rejected & that would make sense. The driver letter [D:\] can be removed so the drive does not clutter up File explorer. I'd suggest leaving this to the end or for a separate thread because it does not seem important to me. If anybody else chips in on this subject then listen to them not me as I've never had to work with a Recovery drive.

PostmanPuzzled said:

… the directory cannot show the confused collection of folders and files contained in individual accounts ...

Topic 08 -
There are several confusing entries that Windows or applications use and more of them appear if Hidden folders are displayed.

Some of them are a special type of shortcut [that look like shortcuts or are made to look like folders] like the ones discussed above. They exist to help with compatibility of very, very old applications.

I don't think that there is anything to help you in there so they can be passed over.

PostmanPuzzled said:

… Apps Data folder ...

Topic 09 -
There is anAppData [not "Apps Data"] folder inside every C:\Users\%UserName% folder. It is normally hidden.

If you look in File explorer's view menu you'll see a checkbox to show hidden folders. Set that and you'll see them.

Perhaps you have inadvertently changed your mjcx2 account's Appdata folder to be permanently visible. That won't do any harm other than tempting you to fiddle with it.

PostmanPuzzled said:

… a Standard User Account at first without a password ...

Topic 10 -
Every user account without a password is a back door into your system.


To be continued,
Denis

Continued

PostmanPuzzled said:

…Can I simply copy the AppData folder there or do I have to enter each App separately to change the location of app data ? ...

Topic 11 -
Don't copy anything. AppData is a repository for applications to keep data that is related to the user account in question.

I have seen suggested repair procedures that advise copying the AppData folder to a new user account to set all its preferences etc to that of the old user account [as a way of getting a flying start in setting it up]. I have not tried this and have no idea if it is worthwhile. If I was gong to experiment, it would not be now. I wold wait until all other issues had been resolved and I would make a system image beforehand.

This question makes me think that you have something in mind that I don't know about. Perhaps I've missed something in an earlier comment.

PostmanPuzzled said:

…My real problem is that Windows 10 does not always save files to the correct location ie to the location I choose. The Moneysoft Programme has a menu for changing default saver option and Word for saving Documents but they frequently go missing anyway. ...

Topic 12 -
Yes, applications do sometimes forget. I have also seen this [most commonly after major updates].

When you use the Open file dialog of an application & browse to a particular folder, it should remember that folder and go straight there the next time you use the Open file dialog.

When you use the SaveAs dialog of an application & browse to a particular folder, it should remember that folder and go straight there the next time you use the SaveAs dialog.

Some applications, such as Word, go a step further and allow you to set default Open file and/or SaveAs folder paths. How they get affected by your last used locations [Open file / SaveAs] varies.

Most applications will default to saving a file in the folder it is currently in.

PostmanPuzzled said:

…I was assuming the problems were due to the presence in the directory of more than one User Folder, especially as 2 have very similar names. ...

Topic 13 -
That would not be the reason.
- You know that two folders have similar names.
- Windows just knows that they have different names.

When applications forget what I've told them, I work through every common application and use both Open file and SaveAs to get things back the way I want them.

PostmanPuzzled said:

… tempus fugit a very old user account, has suddenly TODAY turned up...

Topic 14 -
As mentioned above, I think you will only solve the mystery by nosing around that folder to try to figure out what creates that folder. I expect that you'll find a [file backup?] application that ran today is involved.

The issue needs to be resolved but I doubt that it will turn out to be anything serious.

PostmanPuzzled said:

… I have made several abortive attempts to sort out the User Accounts ...

Topic 15 -
I think the steps discussed in this thread [such as the SID checks] will help you sort everything out.

Once you have done so you can make a backup of all the user's own files and can make a system image.
my ditty - file backup vs imaging, Win10 imaging deprecated, Macrium Reflect, backup drivers [#13] - TenForums

You might feel tempted to just reinstall Windows & all your applications in order to tidy things up but that is a lot of work and you'd still want the protection of file backups & system image anyway.


We are in different timezones but we should overlap again later today so I can see & help with your SID & user folder path results.

All the best,
Denis

No edit menu button next to quote. Button there is for multiquotes. Cannot delete offending .screenshot

There is one on this post though !

I started this in a panic when I am very busy. I am away for a week from Friday at a Summer School and trying to practice and pack at same time as doing this so forgive me if things seem to hang fire. Might be best to start sorting the User Folders when I get back ? But I must delete the offending screen shot. Many many thanks for your interest.

PostmanPuzzled said:

No edit menu button next to quote. Button there is for multiquotes. Cannot delete offending .screenshot

There is one on this post though !.

It's alright. John [the admin] did it for you. He blurred the email addresses so they cannot be read instead of just deleting the diagram.


Post #6 explains the action that is needed. The later posts are for discussions afterwards.

Denis