Unable to define any personal settings XP Pro

[lokiju]

I have a users PC and for whatever reason you can't define any personal settings like desktop background or menu layout, start menu layout, etc...

I logged in as myself and as the local admin and have the same issue.

Everything else seems to be working, I'm able to pull up everything and click on say a desktop background I want to use but when I apply it, nothing happens and all I have is a blue desktop.

I scanned for spyware/adware and viruses and found none also.

Any suggestions?

 

[MiniDoom]

Domain computer? maybe the setting are defined by group policy?

 

[Xsorovan]

Originally posted by: rdubbz420
Domain computer? maybe the setting are defined by group policy?

That's definitly where I would start. Make sure it's not to a domain (IE: add it to a new workgroup) reboot it a time or two and then open up gpedit.msc and see if any settings are put in place. You can also run rsop.msc (resultant set of policies) for a quick and easy way to determine if there are any group policies left.

Also, you might want to create a brand new user and see if the settings effect them as well. It's possible that accounts that were already on there have been infected if it's not Group Policy.

 

[Robor]

Or maybe a local policy?

 

[lokiju]

Originally posted by: rdubbz420
Domain computer? maybe the setting are defined by group policy?

Nope. We have nothing in place to restrict users access to their PC's.

 

[lokiju]

Originally posted by: Xsorovan

Originally posted by: rdubbz420
Domain computer? maybe the setting are defined by group policy?

That's definitly where I would start. Make sure it's not to a domain (IE: add it to a new workgroup) reboot it a time or two and then open up gpedit.msc and see if any settings are put in place. You can also run rsop.msc (resultant set of policies) for a quick and easy way to determine if there are any group policies left.

Also, you might want to create a brand new user and see if the settings effect them as well. It's possible that accounts that were already on there have been infected if it's not Group Policy.

I never logged into this PC before today and it did the same thing with my domain account and the local admin account and another backup admin account also.

 

[lokiju]

Any other ideas?

 

[HeartView]

Check the file permissions on the Windows folder. If the user had local admin rights and changed the permissions somehow that could be what is going on. Also, log in as local admin and take ownership of the root folder and propagate that to all subfolders, just in case (without changing permissions, just changing ownership).