Re: Active Directory user goes corrupt

[Ansgar Wiechers <bugtraq () planetcobalt net>]

On 2010-08-17 Peter Odigie wrote:
> I am new to active directory and I am presently managing one in a
> firm. A staff comes to me and says his desktop contents are no longer
> there and with his login he cannot open packages on the his system.
> Initially, I thought it was his computer but after I logged in with my
> own user and he tried logging into the domain on other computers he
> had the same problem. It seems his user profile on the server (Windows
> Server 2003) has gone corrupt. 
>
> How did that happen?

Gremlins.

> And what am I to do?

Restore his profile folder from backup. If you don't have a backup: fix
that. Now. Then rename the corrupt profile folder, so a new profile will
be created on the user's next login. Copy the contents of the folders
"Desktop", "My Documents", "Start Menu" and "Favorites" (and perhaps
those configuration files from the "Application Data" folder that you
know won't break anything) from the corrupt profile to the respective
folders in the newly created profile.

> In the main time I have created another user for him and I am going
> through the pain of transferring giving him privileges to what he
> should have access to.

Don't. If only the profile has gone corrupt, you don't need to create a
new user. Just delete or rename the profile folder, which will cause the
system to create a new one for that user.

Also, don't grant permissions on a per-user basis. Grant permissions to
user groups, and add your users to the respective groups.

Regards
Ansgar Wiechers
-- 
"All vulnerabilities deserve a public fear period prior to patches
becoming available."
--Jason Coombs on Bugtraq

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