# Duplicate domain account created at every login



## jambro (Dec 2, 2009)

We have been having an ongoing problem with one of our domain accounts. It only seems to affect one account as well.

What happens is on login of the account, lets call it "user", a profile is created in documents and settings. On the next login, a new profile for the account is created called "user.domain", and the previous profile folder is empty. The next login creates a profile called "user.domain.000", and from then on it is "user.domain.001", "user.domain.002" etc etc.

I am truely lost with this issue, after trying multiple solutions and getting no fix.

As abit of extra information, the profile is not a roaming profile. I have tried removing the machine from the domain, giving it a new SID and then adding it back to the domain. I have also tried removing the profile and re-logging in with the user account. I have also tried changing the ownership of the profile folder and putting the files from the default account into the users folder.

It is strange because when i am logged into the account, it has all of the user files, however when i log into another account each folder for that profile is empty. Also, sometimes if i log straight into the admin account after being in that user account, the duplicate disappears from the documents and settings folder.

I originally posted this to Win XP support, but got no replies. Hopefully someone here will have some suggestions 

Anybody have any idea on this issue?

Thanks in advance.

EDIT: The domain controller is windows server 2000 and all machines are windows XP.


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## 2xg (Aug 5, 2009)

Hello,

I will need more info from you. Please check the server's and client's comp Event Viewer. I'm looking for some Event ID.

This link is a profile clean up tool. It might help. But first, compare the Event ID from this link before installing.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...6D-8912-4E18-B570-42470E2F3582&displaylang=en

Give me an update.


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## jambro (Dec 2, 2009)

I have looked through the event logs for the client machine. After doing a recheck, there is nothing relating to the machine i logged into with that account on either of our domain controllers (checked both because i couldn't remember which one it authenticated to).

The only events i found for the time of login on the client machine have been attached to this post. Hopefully the application one might mean something. The security one is just a successful audit event.


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## 2xg (Aug 5, 2009)

Need to verify something. You've mentioned that this is happening only to 1 User Account? and the other Users are ok?
It looks like that you have a corrupt User Profile. This might work.
You may try creating new user Profile by following this guide.

Create a New User Profile in Windows XP
1. Log in as admin or an account with admin permissions.
2. Select the windows START button and click CONTROL PANEL
3. Click USER ACCOUNTS
4. Select CREATE A NEW ACCOUNT. You may need to select pick a task first
5. Type in a new name for the account
6. Click create account and ensure it is an admin account.

Copy Files to the New User Profile
1. Log on as a user other than the user whose profile you are copying files to or from.
2. In Windows Explorer, click Tools, click Folder Options, click the View tab, click Show hidden files and folders, click to clear the Hide protected operating system files check box, and then click OK.
3. Locate the C:\Documents and Settings\Old_Username folder, where C is the drive on which Windows XP is installed, and Old_Username is the name of the profile you want to copy user data from.
4. Press and hold down the CTRL key while you click each file and subfolder in this folder, except the following files: Ntuser.dat, Ntuser.dat.log, Ntuser.ini
5. On the Edit menu, click Copy.
6. Locate the C:\Documents and Settings\New_Username folder, where C is the drive on which Windows XP is installed, and New_Username is the name of the user profile that you created in the "Create a New User Profile" section.
7. On the Edit menu, click Paste.
8. Log off the computer, and then log on as the new user.

Please keep me posted.


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## jambro (Dec 2, 2009)

Yes it is just the one user account. It seems to be happening on machines i have been using a slipstream disk to install XP on, although i am sure i had seen it once or twice with other accounts on different machines before i used this disk (machines set up more than 12 months ago).

In recent times, it has only been happening with this account on some new machines - not all of them.


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## 2xg (Aug 5, 2009)

Please follow the guide that I've provided you, it might fixed the issue.


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## jambro (Dec 2, 2009)

I have created a user account called "admintest" which is and admin for that machine. Just a reminder, the account in question is a domain account which has just user privileges.

I have a question about the process:


> 1. Log on as a user other than the user whose profile you are copying files to or from.


So log in as a user that is not admintest or the one having the issues?



> 3. Locate the C:\Documents and Settings\Old_Username folder, where C is the drive on which Windows XP is installed, and Old_Username is the name of the profile you want to copy user data from.


When you say old_username, are you talking about the account i am having issues with?

The problem with copying data from that profile, is that there is only data in its folder when i am logged into that account. If i am using a different profile then there is nothing in any of the folders for that username.


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## 2xg (Aug 5, 2009)

answers:
Quote:
1. Log on as a user other than the user whose profile you are copying files to or from. 

So log in as a user that is not admintest or the one having the issues? YES


Quote:
3. Locate the C:\Documents and Settings\Old_Username folder, where C is the drive on which Windows XP is installed, and Old_Username is the name of the profile you want to copy user data from. 

When you say old_username, are you talking about the account i am having issues with?YES

The problem with copying data from that profile, is that there is only data in its folder when i am logged into that account. If i am using a different profile then there is nothing in any of the folders for that username. It's ok, it's impt. to follow the these procedures.

Pls. let me know.


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## jambro (Dec 2, 2009)

Sorry i don't think i made it clear. I can't follow the procedure of copying data from old_username because there is not data in that folder. There is only data in the folder when i am logged in with that account.


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## 2xg (Aug 5, 2009)

Let us try this link from Microsoft, tell me if it's a better guide for you. We just fixed a corrupt User profile here last week using this link and it worked like a charm.
Pls. skip "Create a new user profile on the workgroup computer"

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/811151/


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## jambro (Dec 2, 2009)

I've had no luck with this method. I am alittle unsure how it could work for a domain account anyway.

I also tried creating a local account with the same name as the domain account, then logging into it first and then the domain account. This did not help either.

I've been trying to fix this for days now, really starting to loose it


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## 2xg (Aug 5, 2009)

don't give up.....let me work on a better solution for you.


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## jambro (Dec 2, 2009)

Thankyou, much appreciated.

What i don't understand is why the contents of the user profile in documents and settings is emptied when the user logs off. I also don't understand why it is happening to just this account and no others on the domain.


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## 2xg (Aug 5, 2009)

You are welcome.

You said that you've been having this issue for a while now? Have you tried a System Restore and set up a restore point prior to this issue? See if this works.

At this point, I would recommend an O/S Repair.


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## jambro (Dec 2, 2009)

We don't use system restore here. We have ghost images of our SOE for XP aswell as specific roles for each of our machine. The machine i am working on atm is a brand new box which i am building the first image for.

I have only started to notice this issue regularly since i created a slip stream unattended XP disc with nlite. I am wondering if this is causing the issue - but i would suspect that it would have problems with other accounts if this was the case.

I will try an OS repair and see how that goes...hopefully that will fix it.

I am hoping that there is not a problem with the unattended install as it saves us alot of hassle.


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## 2xg (Aug 5, 2009)

I would go with the O/S Repair then.

Goodluck and please give me an update.


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## jambro (Dec 2, 2009)

I have done the os repair, but it hasn't seemed to fix the issue.

Something has changed though; there are no longer duplicate profiles for the user. Instead it seems that the profile is deleted when the user logs off from the machine. Then it is recreated when the user logs on. Rather than the profile folder being empty, it is now gone all together when i inspect from another account.

Any ideas?


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## 2xg (Aug 5, 2009)

Have you done a rename of that problem User Account in your Windows 2000 AD?


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## jambro (Dec 2, 2009)

no i haven't tried that yet. will give that a go.


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## jambro (Dec 2, 2009)

I haven't had a chance to rename the account yet, but one thing i have just noticed is that under user profiles, the account is displayed as type=local, status=temporary. When i added the user to the administrators group for the local machine, this changes to type=local, status=local. I think this is the problem and afew google searches suggest that there is an error on login which causes this.

Does this give you any ideas?


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## 2xg (Aug 5, 2009)

jambro said:


> I haven't had a chance to rename the account yet, but one thing i have just noticed is that under user profiles, the account is displayed as type=local, status=temporary. When i added the user to the administrators group for the local machine, this changes to type=local, status=local. I think this is the problem and afew google searches suggest that there is an error on login which causes this.
> 
> Does this give you any ideas?


Is it possible to give me a snap shot of this? I can't picture it.
Also, do you have a couple of disabled accounts? Maybe employees that are terminated. I need you to activate one account and rename it to the problem's User's Name, it won't hurt to give it a try.


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## jambro (Dec 2, 2009)

We don't actually have accounts for employees, as we have 2 separate networks - corporate and process. Being process, we have accounts for electricians and operators etc etc. So these are never disabled or removed...they are always there.

Here is a screen shot of what i am talking about.


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## 2xg (Aug 5, 2009)

How about accounts that are not being used, but active and totally not disabled? You shd have at least one right?


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## jambro (Dec 2, 2009)

The current account is located under Users_policies in the domain controller. It then has subfolders. For the account in question, i created a new user account in the same folder as the one with issues, but made the name "nametest". This new account worked fine.

Are you suggesting that i do something like disable the current account "name" and then rename "nametest" to "name"?


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## 2xg (Aug 5, 2009)

Yes, you may try that. I have a feeling that it is going to work, bec. the other one has a corrupt profile. So, go for it and let me know.


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## jambro (Dec 2, 2009)

This particular user has been added to the security for lots of shared folders across many different machines. What i am unsure about is how it authenticates - as in is it based on the name or the SID of the account. We don't want to change it and then find we have to reset the access to all these folders.

Do you have any idea on this?


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## 2xg (Aug 5, 2009)

The only thing to find out is give it a try. If the new User account that you've created didn't work, then switch it back to the old one (the one with the issue), rename it again to what it used to be.

It's your call. You've been working on this issue for a while anyway, I think that you're too close to resolving this issue. I would go for it, if you ask me. I like challenges.


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## jambro (Dec 2, 2009)

Haha well thanks for your help so far, this will probably be my last post on this issue for the week. I will let you know next week how i am going with it.

I appreciate your time and effort so far 

Cheers.


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## 2xg (Aug 5, 2009)

You're welcome jambro!

Please keep me posted and you have a good weekend.


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