I'm sorry if this is the wrong place but it seemed the best. Last night I got done using my computer and shut it off. The computer has this problem of just restarting so I just flipped the power switch when it was on the Motherboard logo screen. This morning I wake up and start the computer it says it can't find my Windows system folder. I'm a little miffed but I figure it's my fault. I pop in the windows XP disk and let it load up the neccasary files. (A side question, Sometimes the CD gets stuck on a file and has to restart and then sometimes it doesnt, It is no specific file though, what could cause this?)So i press Enter To Set up Windows XP, I told it to fix (I can't remember the exact wording sorry) and it recognize that there was already a windows folder. I told it to delete everything in the windows folder and copy all the files into it, I believe. It installed the files and then went through the installation process after it was done it told me to enter my name, I put Cook because that was the name of my profile before. Now the computer restarts and boots up to the original, rolling hills desktop and 800X600 resolutions. All the program files are still on the hard drive and heres the kicker, when I go to C:\Documents and Settings Cook is there with everything in it and the profile I'm under is under Chris-Cook(chris being the name of my computer). Does anyone know how I can get that profile back. I can't logon to it in Regular or Safe mode. Please help. Thanks

Hello ChrisC098 and welcome to PC Help Forum!!

If your computer still has the restarting issue, we need to address that. "Flipping the switch" while the computer on is never a good thing to do. If the computer is accessing the hard drive at the time when you cut power to it, you can expect some serious damage. Let me know if the computer still randomly restarts from time to time.

The account itself is gone (as far as I know), but there is a way you can make your current profile point to your old one. And then all your documents and everything from the old one should appear in the new one. I've only done this procedure once, but it isn't hard, and I was successful.

To make your new profile point to the old one:

Right-click on My Computer and select Properties. Click on the Advanced tab. Click on the button Environment Variables at the bottom.

Now, at the top you should see 2 variables already: TMP & TEMP. Click on New so we can create a new variable.

For variable name, type %userprofile%

For variable value, you must provide the full path to the old profile, such as c:\Documents and Settings\your user name\

Click OK and then OK again. Reboot your computer and see if My Documents and all that good stuff is pointing to your old profile's folder