Mystery User Accounts issue

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My PC was recently in the shop for a Windows reinstall. I have all my programs reinstalled  again and everything seems to be working well. I am apparently one of the few who still uses a user account, rather than the admin one, for general security hygiene. However, there are now two of them.

When I got the machine back, I recreated my user account with the old name  — let’s call it Joe — and put my desktop items back from the flash drive I had stored them on. (My data is on a separate drive). Joe shows in Control Panel from the Admin account as a User account. However, the second one, which shows as having the current (i.e., added since then) files, is named Joe.DESKTOP-H5B7SQN. It does not show in the Control Panel, but does in File Explorer.

I have compared folders under each, copied a few from the  Joe to Joe.Desk…. that the latter didn’t have. But since the machine is evidently showing me and using the latter, I don’t know how to delete Joe and put Joe.Desk… in the control panel.

In addition, I used to have a guest account set up.  This shows in File Explorer along with files and folders, but does not show in Control Panel. I don’t want to create a second one, so how do I get Windows to recognize it?

Thanks, as always.

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Cthru wrote:

In addition, I used to have a guest account set up. This shows in File Explorer along with files and folders, but does not show in Control Panel.

Seeing a profile in your directory, but not as a profile suggests that your repair shop did a copy of your old information to your cleaned-up disk, but did not create the profiles.

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Thanks, geekdom, I have set up the missing account.

I hope someone can help with the multiple account issue.

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Your old profiles, the ones you cannot access as profiles are actually very important to you. These profiles contain the personal data that permitted your programs to run as you wanted them. Unless you know for certain that the information under your old profiles has been preserved — backed up — don’t do anything with those profiles. Leave them alone.

Make sure the old profiles are backed up.

You don’t have a multiple account issue. You have a situation where the old profiles were left on your machine and may still contain valid information. The old profiles are no longer profiles; they are files that have been left under your Users folder.

Sorting this situation out is a tedious time-consuming task.

You might want to ask the repair shop exactly the procedure employed in reinstalling your operating system.

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Geekdom, thank you. I have compared, in File Explorer, the contents of both Users. The desktops are identical — both had files shown as updated today and otherwise listed the same folders and files in the same order by name or date modified.

I found that Outlook, which I had to set up again after getting the fresh Windows install, is operating from the Joe.DESKTOP-H5B7SQN account. I.e., it is using the data files in that profile, not the plain Joe one. Based on that, I transferred a number of folders and files from Joe to Joe.Desktop…., and checked all the listed folders for duplicates and file dating.

I did not do this with hidden files showing, and from what you indicate, there may be such hidden files I don’t know about in Joe that I need. I’m not comfortable playing with system files.

I’m still confused about something, As I said, the login screen is for Joe, but the computer, as indicated seems to be using some files from the other one but is updating both desktops. I’m the kind of person who is bothered by seeing both, since I don’t really understand the difference between a profile and a user account. (Do you know a good reference for an explanation of this?) I wish there were a way to delete the one that is not (if it’s not) being used and have a single account/profile showing. This happened once before, on a previous computer., except that the data was mostly duplicated as well. I had forgotten about it.

When I back up, I back up the whole disk, so everything gets saved. I guess I’ll have to wait till the next round of installation, unless there’s something you or others can suggest.

Thanks again.

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An important hidden folder in your user account is AppData. AppData contains many of your software configurations. Those configurations you want to keep intact. AppData folder contents look like this:

The distinction between user account and user profile seems to be fairly murky. Granted, you create a profile and you view profiles, but Microsoft makes this distinction:

About User Profiles
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/desktop/legacy/bb776892(v=vs.85)

User Account Types
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/remote/multipoint-services/user-account-considerations

Here the difference is explained:
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/office/en-US/f3b818bf-8d27-4a2f-94d5-de4b7b67cdf7/difference-between-user-profile-and-user-account

I am confused, too. Usage seems to indicate that user profile and user account are synonymous. Definition says they are not.

On permanent hiatus {with backup and coffee}
offline▸ Win10Pro 2004.19041.572 x64 i3-3220 RAM8GB HDD Firefox83.0b3 WindowsDefender
offline▸ Acer TravelMate P215-52 RAM8GB Win11Pro 22H2.22621.1265 x64 i5-10210U SSD Firefox106.0 MicrosoftDefender
online▸ Win11Pro 22H2.22621.1992 x64 i5-9400 RAM16GB HDD Firefox116.0b3 MicrosoftDefender

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