Limited User cannot connect to Internet

Not sure if this gets us anywhere but here's some things you might try

1. Boot into safe mode. Immediately log into your Admin account and try again

2. If this still fails, let's check if Windows will simply let you open either ntuser file using Notepad. If it denies you access, let's see what error message says. (if need be we can check NTFS permissions later)

Start->Run, enter notepad. Click File->Open and navigate to the Doc and Settings / Kitchen User account and try to open the ntuser.dat file and ntuser.dat.log files with Notepad. Does Windows allow either?

LookinAround-
Thanks for your continued help on this. As for a question you asked some time ago I didn't see, yes I am actually restarting between procedures versus logging between or switching users. We have had some application functionality issues in the past when both are logged on so I figured it was 'safer' to restart to make sure I was avoiding issues related to whatever that problem is.
So I tried the safe mode option with no luck; hive still won't load. Furthermore, in case I didn't mention this earlier, I can't get hive to load for any of our four users, I always get the same error message.
Just to check, the "key name" I am entering is the user name.
I had no problem opening the .dat file in Notepad. The .dat file has a string with some odd chars and the file name at the end of the string. The .dat.log file is empty.
My understanding is that the goal is to get the user name to appear in the HKEY_USERS list so I can go in and manipulate the network connections settings. Based on this, I wasn't sure what to do - if anything - with the .dat file once it was opened in notepad. Also I thought it may be helpful to report what folder are in the HKEY_USERS list:

.DEFAULT
S-1-5-18
S-1-5-20
S-1-5-20_Classes
S-1-5-20-73796726.......
S-1-5-20-73796726......._Classes

In case that helps. I restarted after the failed Safe Mode attempt and checked the HKEY_USERS folder list again, and two files had been added:
S-1-5-19
S-1-5-19_Classes

Thanks again.

Hmmmm... Frustrating problem you have!! A brief overview for perspective

I'm thinking your problem can be caused by either a problem with
> Your registry access permission and/or
> Your file access permission or if the file is already in use

We're using Notepad to simply test file access SUCCESS/FAIL to see if you can open both files ntuser.dat and ntuser.dat.log in the limited user account directory when logged on as Admin
> If you can successfully open both files with Notepad, the test is done. It indicates file access is OK. So just close the files without changing content. (The files contain some binary data is why it displays as gibberish)

Once you prove file access OK, then i suspect registry access. First thing that comes to mind: Anti-malware real-time protection might be disabling your registry access rights
> Unplug your network cable
> Turn off your antivirus software
> Also check and turn off any of your other other anti-malware as well (e.g. if you have Spybot Teatimer it does r/t protection as well)

Then try to load the hive again

P.S. The key name you enter isn't really important (you could simply enter blotz for key name) It's just the local name assigned to the registry hive when it's loaded for you. You should select blotz , then click regedit File->Unload Hive and reboot when you;re all done

That sounds great - thanks for the tutorial!
I am wondering if ZoneAlarm or LogMeIn might be affecting the process. I almost always quit them on startup as they are so irritating (my own fault for not configuring them, I might as well uninstall at this point) but I have noticed recent versions of software like LogMeIn and AdAware restart themselves frequently.
I will try your suggestion above and if it fails I will try a Windows repair and try again, if that fails I may uninstall ZA and LMI and try again - I will report back.
Thanks so much for all your generous help!
With blessings,
Matthew

Hi Matthew

Glad to try and help

A few additional comments (based on your last post)
1. I wouldn't think LogMeIn should affect registry access (though, of course, with computers all most anything is possible! )

2. Do reconfigure and try turning off/disabling ZoneAlarm/AdAware/etc for your next attempt (per my last post) and all your antimalware products as they might be protecting and denying you registry access

But when you say

i have to double check to ask: You do normally run with antivirus, antispyware and firewall protection don't you? (Note you should only have ONE antivirus and ONE firewall product running)

Hope your next round of tests produce good results!

No luck. I am guessing a "repair reinstall" is the next most logical step. Grr.

Grrr as well.. i was hoping turning off real-time protection would do the trick.

i agree, at this point, the repair install is probably the easiest and next best thing to try

So this became a great story about how a little knowledge can be dangerous - which I only share in the hopes that I can help someone else somewhere else make their life easier. Grab a beer or coffee, sit back, and try not to spray your drink out your nose while reading about my disaster.
So I decided to do the repair reinstall, after getting what turned out to be some bad advice, by using regedit to change the E: drive to the C: drive and vice versa so the machine would boot from the install disk. It had been years since I used F12 so forgot about it, but I did Google the above method before trying and several other people had suggested this as well.
After restarting, not only did my computer not boot from the XP install disk but it stopped at the light blue XP screen where users can select and sign in - only without any users. It jsut sat there with the XP logo. Frozen. Forever. A great advertisement (lol).
I did a bit of Googling and remembered F12, booted to the install disk, and on the final screen where you choose which disk on which to install the OS, in the disk listing all it said was "Unknown Disk (there is no disk in the drive)." Bummer.
When I tried to install on that disk anyway, I got the blue screen with the stop error 0x0000008E and some ---.sys message.
After several hours on the phone with Microsoft and many F2, F8 and F12 investigations, they got frustrated, refunded my tech service fee, and told me that based on the stop error code the problem had affected the non-OS software and I needed to call Dell.
After several hours on the phone with Dell and many F2, F8 and F12 investigations, they got frustrated, refunded my tech service fee, and told me that the stop error code meant it was a hardware problem and that when I made the reg edit it must have been written to a bad sector - mostly based on the fact that my HD is 4 years old. I wasn't really buying this, but went and bought a new larger HD anyway. I installed it and the same errors occurred both with a normal boot attempt and an install disk boot attempt. By the way, by this time a startup no longer led to the XP window, I just got a black screen with a flashing cursor.
Sooo the next day after several hours on the phone with Dell again running all the same diagnostics, they decided it was the software on the memory card. I think they were just tired of me and wanting to end the call. To their dismay, i have two of the same machine bought at the same time in my house and the other one was fine, so I switched out the memory cards and again, same problems. Then they decided it was the BIOS battery. Switched it out. Same problem, except this time I first got a message saying 'system battery is low.' Cool.
So last night in despair (we run a business off this machine, too, so were down 2 days' work and income) I took it to the Geek Squad without high hopes. After 2 hours and 3 geeks, after ruling out the mobo, bad SATA cables, power supply (one theory being F2 Drives could see the disk but XP couldn't because SATA cable was good but power was bad so disk wasn't spinning), and a BIOS problem, one of the guys figured out the first half of the issue. My Dells are about 4 years old, and shipped just as SATA was becoming standard. The XP install disk has no SATA drivers, which is why the install didn't see the old 'bad' drive OR the new one. This led to realizing that everything was pretty much fine (though we never figured out the boot-to-black-screen issue or the 'system battery low' issue) and they put their own disk utility drive in, reset my registry to the day before I screwed it up and then we got back in the system. **phew**
So the machine still won't boot normally, however it runs fine in Safe Mode Networking, so we were able to catch up on business files a bit. The thing I need to decide is whether I want to put Win 7 (which I disliked in beta) on the new drive, or do I put XP on there (which doesn't cost me anything and I like better anyway) and THEN go back and edit the hive LOL. That older drive will become a data drive one way or the other.
Anyway, that's the loooong story. Don't mess with your registry, don't call Dell or Microsoft for help, and don't disparage the Geek Squad even if you live in a small town - they only charged me for a half hour too!
Matthew

Wow! What a saga! (sorry, am just now catching up.....)

Did you get Win 7? As if you haven't at this point i think you could just as well stick to XP Home (unless it's more limited functionality just doesn't seem sufficient for your needs). But re: problems with editing the hive: while googling the topic appears you weren't the only one with that problem it seems you and other unfortunate ones with that problem were in the distinct minority so i would think a clean install of XP Home should fix that problem (and as i recall some other Local Account issues you said you experienced).

Also, I'm guessing whatever backups you do are file/folder type backups? You'd probably find something like Acronis True Image that can provide both drive image backups along with typical file/folder backup functionality worth it. That way you can also keep drive image backups to fall back to if needed (tho i sincerely hope you don't ever find yourself in this type of situation again!)

/* edit */
Oh! But wait a minute... your Dell XP CD didn't include SATA drivers?
> Then i'll guess you don't have the original Dell XP CD for that computer?
> As to do the clean install you'd either need the original from Dell or
> You'll need to be able to add the SATA drivers in to the install process or
> Check BIOS to see if the drive can be set to emulate in IDE mode

Great guide, thanks a lot