User folder - security changed

Question

Hello! 

I have recently installed Windows 10 on a new storage drive. I also kept the older drive with it's own Windows 10 (licensed with it's own key). From now on, will refer to winC as the fresh install and winD as the previous install. So, I booted my pc on winC and started to copy all my files on the new drive, including the ones being stored in the user's folder of winD (D:\Users\xpoiz)(copying the content within each one, not the folders themselves). To do that I was asked to gain access to the winD user's folder, as it was not part of winC installation. It went well, with just a click I managed to acces winD user's folder.

Note: This is my personal computer so a single windows account was used to login on both winD and winC simultaneously. No other account was created for those installations.

Everything went very well, I have managed to copy more than 99% of all files. But there were a few files (text files with source code) that refused to let me access them (something about security and ownership, too). To solve this problem, I booted on winD (the old installation) which granted me access to the respective files (note: nothing went wrong, the system booted normally) . My ideea was to copy them on winC user's folder, within the folders they belonged to. The transfer was a success. Although, in order to access winC user's folder within winD (prior the transfer process), I was again asked to have the permission for this action; this time it didn't take just a click (like the first time), instead, I needed to take the ownership of the whole winC user's folder. I've done that using the security tab in properties(such a huge mistake, I believe now), so that the transfer could be made (the owner was changed to xpoiz, the name User's folder has on both winD and winC and which was set by Windows during the installation; no other changes were made in the ownership window). 

The problem appeared when I tried booting winC again. I was asked for the the account's pin (as usual) and after a very long time of waiting (considering a read speed of 3500 mb/s), a blank desktop appeared, along with a sign-in error message box:

I rebooted the system with the same result. 

I clicked 'sign out' and then signed-in again with the same result. 

So I clicked 'close' and went directly to winC user's folder and changed the ownership to xpoiz. I rebooted with the same result. 

Searching (on a different device) about my problem, I've done the following:

* I booted Windows (winC) in safe-mode. I entered my pin and then waited small amount of time. The desktop that appeared was my true winC desktop, with all the shortcuts (including taskbar), as I left it before the winD boot. 

* I booted again on normal mode (without doing anything else), but the result was the same. 

From this point, I was afraid to take advice from the internet anymore. The only changes I've made were changing ownership to xpoiz within the safe-mode, then rebooting with no other result and changing the ownership to SYSTEM, within the normal mode, then rebooting. 

Every time I boot in normal mode (winC) I am in the situation in the image. 

I really cannot trust any solutions to similar issues on the Internet by myself because I don't want to harm the OS much more. Please help me! I could do a fresh installation again, but I would really rather not to. 

P.S. Sorry for the length of the text, I wanted to tell you as much information as I could, so there wouldn't be any misunderstanding. 

Thank you in advance!

Answer 1

It is rare that we get such a detailed solution report in this forum!👍

Answer 2

Well, seeing that my question is getting views but no answers appear (@Frederik Long you had not responded yet when I checked the question last time), I took the risk and watched some youtube videos. Part of their information combined helped me to solve de problem and very gracefully, indeed. Here is what I have done:

First of all the Registry:

[Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList]

Inside this key there are some other keys with encoded names.

   1.

   I search for those keys that have a .bak ending (found one).

      I search for the key that has the same name as the one found first, except the .bak ending. I delete this file (the one without ending).

      I rename the key found first, removing its ending. Right now it has the exact same name as the one deleted.

   2.

   I go through all the keys.

      I search for the value with name 'State' within every key.

      I modify the data for every 'State' value to 0.

Then, Windows Update:

3.

I search for available updates in settings.

Fortunately, there is an update that is going to be installed when I close my PC.

In the Start menu, I click 'Update and Restart'.

After reboot everything came back to normal.

I do not really know which of these helped me or if there were all of them, but they worked for me without any damage.

DISCLAIMER:

I am not a registry expert (although I wish to). This advices come from unverified people over the internet. I do not guarantee that this is going to work for somebody else and I do not guarantee the safety of these procedures (even more that they imply manual registry editing). What you do, you do at your own risk. I am not responsible for any damage these procedures would imply.

Answer 3

I have seen this message before and I have never been able to solve it gracefully. The only solution I found went like this:

1. Create a local admin account, then reboot and log on to it.
2. Delete the problem account with a console command.
3. Rename the problem profile folder, e.g. by adding ".bad" to its name.
4. Recreate the old account.
5. Move the contents of the various library folders from the renamed profile folder to the new profile folder.