Windows 10 update 1803 renamed the user account folder with .000 suffix

I installed the Windows 10 update version 1803 yesterday night. Some time later, I realized that for some reason, it had renamed my original User's folder with a .000 suffix. My user account name is still the same. There is now a new folder with the original username, but there are only a couple of folders inside it. All of the documents, downloads, application data, etc. is inside the folder suffixed with the .000. Opening the cmd prompt opens directly into the folder with the .000 suffix.

I am able to login to my account, see desktop icons, etc. However some apps that expect data to be in the folder without the suffix are unable to load their settings. For example, Notepad++ cannot load its last saved session. Also, unable to browse downloaded files through Firefox.

I'd like to have my User folder back without the .000 suffix. Could someone tell me how. I haven't seen anything on Microsoft acknowledging this and haven't come across any fix for it.

user1720897

Posted 2018-05-02T07:27:40.480

Reputation: 277

Which files remained in the original user folder? – Jorrit Schippers – 2018-05-03T06:49:51.423

@JorritSchippers There are 2 folders AppData and Downloads. These folders have subfolders. – user1720897 – 2018-05-03T15:50:36.163

Do you have access to those folders or does Explorer present you with a dialog asking you for permission when you want to open those folders? – Jorrit Schippers – 2018-05-07T11:00:41.063

@JorritSchippers I have access to them. – user1720897 – 2018-05-07T14:25:37.903

also to the deepest subfolders within those folders? – Jorrit Schippers – 2018-05-09T11:55:15.197

@JorritSchippers Yes – user1720897 – 2018-05-09T17:45:15.283

Answers

I think you was using a Microsoft account to login, then upgrade system to 1803 version.

Try to roll back to the previous Windows version.

Sign-in your PC with a local account.

Upgrade again under the local account.

Note, don’t use built-in Administrator account as local account.

Reference:

Why user profile is C:\Users\ username_000 (truncated username and underscore)

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/ie/en-US/37c266c0-0124-4fb1-83b7-8bde4db986b0/why-user-profile-is-cusers-username000-truncated-username-and-underscore?forum=w8itprogeneral

Origami

Posted 2018-05-02T07:27:40.480

Reputation: 1 309

Nope. I was not using a Microsoft account. I was using a local account. – user1720897 – 2018-05-02T08:42:06.477

@Origami how to roll back to the previous Windows version? – Benjamin Toueg – 2018-05-17T20:01:01.353

I was using a Microsoft account, rolling back fixed the issue. I'm not keen on retrying the update any time soon. – Benjamin Toueg – 2018-05-17T20:08:41.410

This typically happens when the old profile path is inaccessible. There are a number of reasons for this such as changing the computer's SID or even the old profile not being properly unloaded or wrong ownership or DACLs. This has been the case since at least Windows NT 4, btw.

With the registry editor of your choice go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\$SID, where $SID is the placeholder for the SID of the account which shows the behavior you describe. You can see which SID corresponds to your account by asking wmic useraccount get name,sid. Typically the one ending in -500 is the built-in (local) admin account and -1000 the first created user account. These numbers (500 and 1000 respectively) are called RIDs (relative IDs).

Inside said registry key locate the value for ProfileImagePath and adjust as needed.

Please note that if the profile still exists under the old path (without .000) and is still inaccessible (say due to ownership or DACLs) you may run into a situation where WinLogon will simply create another new profile (presumably with .001 suffix). Although I have not seen it on modern Windows versions, there's a chance you may lock yourself out by tampering with the ProfileImagePath value, so I suggest you keep a secondary account active and available (e.g. the built-in admin account).

As mentioned, this should be the same procedure for anything from NT 4 onward. However, possible that Microsoft introduced new rules for these Microsoft (online) accounts which you can use. Also the SIDs look different when dealing with domain accounts.

0xC0000022L

Posted 2018-05-02T07:27:40.480

Reputation: 5 091

Adjusting the value of ProfileImagePath makes Windows unable to login to the account. – user1720897 – 2018-05-07T14:39:10.610

@user1720897 if done improperly, it does. That's why I suggested having a secondary account that you can log on to. In fact it's best to perform the change from the built-in admin account when changing another account. Unfortunately since you're not detailing what you were changing how and which folders exist (and if you checked ownership, DACLs and so on), I cannot help you further. – 0xC0000022L – 2018-05-07T20:33:32.427

I've done this many times to salvage profiles for which the respective client machine had decided it should create a fresh one from scratch. Was a favorite in the days when there wasn't a dedicated service to unload user hives. – 0xC0000022L – 2018-05-07T20:42:15.727

I do not have the -500admin account, only the -1001 user account, which ends with .000. The old profile path contains a few things: C:. └───Search └───Data ├───Applications │ └───Windows └───Temp └───usgthrsvc and when I want to delete it it says it's opened in another program... My current favorite game is broken because of that – Benjamin Toueg – 2018-05-17T19:54:28.050

I think you should go back to the previous Windows version, remove all the folders (or back them up) that currently remain in the old user directory and try the upgrade again. See my proposed solution at https://superuser.com/a/1321082/73039.

– Jorrit Schippers – 2018-05-18T09:11:15.693

@BenjaminToueg: you certainly have the account, the profile list may not contain it, though, if no one ever logged into the system as (built-in) admin. – 0xC0000022L – 2018-05-22T07:49:45.403

Make a safe copy of your profile from C:\Users Next go to Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList and remove the entry for the profile. Reboot. Sign back in as a new user. Access the back up you made and copy everything over to the user folder just created. Reinstall applications as necessary, etc. It's a little bit of work, but this is the only way I could get rid of the 000 issue. Smooth sailing!

BFG9000

Posted 2018-05-02T07:27:40.480

Reputation: 1

This happened to me on updating to 1903.

From what I read here, Zune can end up locking some user files which interferes with the upgrade process. Suggestion is to try rolling back the update (if you still can), then try removing Zune before updating again. You can also just disable the performance trace inside Performance Monitor (you'll see it inside Data Collector Sets -> Event Trace Sessions).

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/updated-to-1903-but-user000-now-created-and-holds/06636b30-9838-4c5e-b236-dc1d06f2f175?page=4

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/windows-10-update-1903-renames-user-fiolder/050a0bbe-a9b1-4a16-8239-7b7a9852022a?page=4

Other things that seemed to be giving me trouble (as evidenced by those files remaining in the "old" profile folder):

relocating my favorites directory into OneDrive (I temporarily reset it to default)
Team Foundation Server Power Tools shell extension (I temporarily removed that feature)

Mark Sowul

Posted 2018-05-02T07:27:40.480

Reputation: 2 877