User account hidden after ntbackup restore

Hi! I'm migrating to a new computer with Vista Home Premium and have somehow
managed to make both my admin account folder and my Document folder to become
hidden in the Explorer window. However, I can access the Document folder by
clicking on the link to it but not through regular file browsing. This is how
it happened:

I used ntbackup to save data on my old XP 2002 machine, then downloaded
Microsoft's ntbackup-restore utility to my new Vista laptop and used it
(without keeping the original security settings) to restore documents to my
admin account's Document folder. The documents kept their original paths so I
took ownership of the old backup structure and dragged the documents to the
main folder. But then I noticed this:
- I can't select my admin user in the Users folder in the Explorer, not even
if I select to view hidden files. I can go to my account, however, by
clicking the link to it in the margin. And there the Document folder has the
icon of a hidden folder. When I view the properties of the Document folder it
is hidden, but I can't remove the hidden attribute check mark, which is
shaded and impossible to change there.
- I tried to restore documents to another (standard) user account on the
Vista machine, and the same happened. The account folder and its Document
folder became hidden. It seems as if thise hidings are caused by the restore
program itself.

Even if I'm not stopped from accessing my files, it's no good to have user
and documents being hidden while using the explorer. Can I just remove the
hidden attributes using DOS or can this cause more damage? Need I check the
registry somehow?

Any suggestions are most welcome!

Greger, Stockholm, Sweden

Hi greger,

I did change the folder attributes to -h -s (in my case the folders I backed
up where given the both attributes). I did with the DOS attrib command and it
worked, the folders where shown into the explorer window.

Hope this would help you.

Regards.

"bloomsbury" wrote:

> Hi! I'm migrating to a new computer with Vista Home Premium and have somehow
> managed to make both my admin account folder and my Document folder to become
> hidden in the Explorer window. However, I can access the Document folder by
> clicking on the link to it but not through regular file browsing. This is how
> it happened:
>
> I used ntbackup to save data on my old XP 2002 machine, then downloaded
> Microsoft's ntbackup-restore utility to my new Vista laptop and used it
> (without keeping the original security settings) to restore documents to my
> admin account's Document folder. The documents kept their original paths so I
> took ownership of the old backup structure and dragged the documents to the
> main folder. But then I noticed this:
> - I can't select my admin user in the Users folder in the Explorer, not even
> if I select to view hidden files. I can go to my account, however, by
> clicking the link to it in the margin. And there the Document folder has the
> icon of a hidden folder. When I view the properties of the Document folder it
> is hidden, but I can't remove the hidden attribute check mark, which is
> shaded and impossible to change there.
> - I tried to restore documents to another (standard) user account on the
> Vista machine, and the same happened. The account folder and its Document
> folder became hidden. It seems as if thise hidings are caused by the restore
> program itself.
>
> Even if I'm not stopped from accessing my files, it's no good to have user
> and documents being hidden while using the explorer. Can I just remove the
> hidden attributes using DOS or can this cause more damage? Need I check the
> registry somehow?
>
> Any suggestions are most welcome!
>
> Greger, Stockholm, Sweden

Thank you bearr. You have to change the attributes using DOS. I was told the
same by a MS support official. You also need to restore the ownership of the
files, as this is given to the SYSTEM by the ntbackup-restore utility. One
thing remains to fix for me, though. I first started restoring files to the
Documents folder in my account. After I changed back the attributes the
localisation of the folder name stopped so I could no longer see the
Documents name in Swedish (which is Dokument). I have to get back to MS
support for this. Then I restored to the Public Documents folder, but the
same loss of Swedish names happened there.
So a tip if you use the ntbackup-restore utility, always restore to a new
folder in C:\Windows\Temp, e.g C:\Windows\Temp\RestoredFiles\. After restore,
change ownership using Properties>Security>Advanced back to your account for
the whole restored folder structure. Then drag and drop the restored files to
their right place.
Greger, Stockholm, Sweden

"bearr" wrote:

> Hi greger,
>
> I did change the folder attributes to -h -s (in my case the folders I backed
> up where given the both attributes). I did with the DOS attrib command and it
> worked, the folders where shown into the explorer window.
>
> Hope this would help you.
>
> Regards.
>
> "bloomsbury" wrote:
>
> > Hi! I'm migrating to a new computer with Vista Home Premium and have somehow
> > managed to make both my admin account folder and my Document folder to become
> > hidden in the Explorer window. However, I can access the Document folder by
> > clicking on the link to it but not through regular file browsing. This is how
> > it happened:
> >
> > I used ntbackup to save data on my old XP 2002 machine, then downloaded
> > Microsoft's ntbackup-restore utility to my new Vista laptop and used it
> > (without keeping the original security settings) to restore documents to my
> > admin account's Document folder. The documents kept their original paths so I
> > took ownership of the old backup structure and dragged the documents to the
> > main folder. But then I noticed this:
> > - I can't select my admin user in the Users folder in the Explorer, not even
> > if I select to view hidden files. I can go to my account, however, by
> > clicking the link to it in the margin. And there the Document folder has the
> > icon of a hidden folder. When I view the properties of the Document folder it
> > is hidden, but I can't remove the hidden attribute check mark, which is
> > shaded and impossible to change there.
> > - I tried to restore documents to another (standard) user account on the
> > Vista machine, and the same happened. The account folder and its Document
> > folder became hidden. It seems as if thise hidings are caused by the restore
> > program itself.
> >
> > Even if I'm not stopped from accessing my files, it's no good to have user
> > and documents being hidden while using the explorer. Can I just remove the
> > hidden attributes using DOS or can this cause more damage? Need I check the
> > registry somehow?
> >
> > Any suggestions are most welcome!
> >
> > Greger, Stockholm, Sweden