Empty Folder Created in %SystemRoot%\Profiles if Default User Profile Is Missing

ID: Q232308

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows NT Server versions 4.0, 4.0 SP1, 4.0 SP2, 4.0 SP3, 4.0 SP4
Microsoft Windows NT Workstation versions 4.0, 4.0 SP1, 4.0 SP2, 4.0 SP3, 4.0 SP4

SYMPTOMS

When a user attempts to log on to a computer that is missing the default user profile, the logon request is denied and the following error message is displayed:

The operating system was unable to load your profile. Please contact your network administrator (2).

In addition, an empty folder is created in the %SystemRoot%\Profiles folder.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. This is not fixed in Windows NT 4.0, including Service Pack 5.

MORE INFORMATION

The expected behavior is that no folder is created, because the user's logon request is denied. If the user tries many times to log on, many different folders named username.xxx (where username is the name of the user whose logon attempt was denied) are created in the %SystemRoot%\Profiles folder.

Additional query words:

Keywords :
Version : winnt:4.0,4.0 SP1,4.0 SP2,4.0 SP3,4.0 SP4
Platform : winnt
Issue type : kbprb