RE: [PcTech] Microsoft Outlook .PST file gone...

["John Taylor" <lists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Chuck:

> ... I mean who would think 
> searching the registry for every reference to this "gone" 
> user and replacing it with the new user, would do something 
> like this with now warning or something ? It also lost the 
> file locations settings in Word, Excel and Power Point.

The problem with your method is that most things in the registry which
are associated with a user profile are not referenced by the name of the
profile, but rather by a GUID value. In Windows, a user profile name is
simply a description. The name is associated with a security identifier
called a "SID". It is the SID which uniquely identifies the profile, and
so most registry entries are associated with the SID, not the name.

Changing all references of the name within the registry is something
akin to running Al Barsa's MAKEAMESS command. Hacking the registry is
always done at your own risk, as you're bypassing all the "safe"
interfaces, so backing it up first is an important step. 

However, that doesn't mean that you're S.O.L yet. Just mucking with the
registry will NOT delete the user's documents. Unless you've deleted the
profile, your user's document folder should still be on the drive, and
the .pst file safely stored within it.


Regards,

John Taylor