unable to create a new user

[davexnet]

Hi all
I wanted to create a new user to troubleshoot some display issues I noticed -
such as the drag bar within windows is not visible until you put you mouse on it. Don't remember that before.
I first noticed a problem is Firefox, but it seems as if there are other issues afoot.
In Firefox, clicking the down arrow on the right side of the address box folds down a list of frequently used sites.
Hovering the mouse over them does not highlight them as it once did.

I created a new user to see if the problems were there also, but the new user does not get created.
It says it does, but the folder in c:\users does not created neither does the registry entry in
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList

I did a system restore to Monday morning (which took almost a hour to do). The restore appears to have worked
but the problem is not alleviated. I had an expectation it might work because on Monday afternoon had a sudden power blip
and everything went off for about 10 seconds (it's like a third world country with the grid here in Los Angeles)

sfc /scannow has not found any problems, I'm wondering if the registry has got corrupted somewhere.
I tried regsv32 shell32.dll but this did not help and have used system restore to undo what ever it did.
Here's an image showing the missing drag bars. Any thoughts on this appreciated.

 

[davexnet]

I found some info in the event log which I've started to research. Here's what it said
event 1:
Windows cannot log you on because your profile cannot be loaded. Check that you are connected to the network, and that your network is functioning correctly.

DETAIL - The configuration registry database is corrupt.

event 2:
Windows was unable to load C:\Users\TEMP.Desktop-Dave.000\ntuser.dat

event 3:
Windows was unable to load the registry. This problem is often caused by insufficient memory or insufficient security rights.

DETAIL - The configuration registry database is corrupt.
for C:\Users\TEMP.Desktop-Dave.000\ntuser.dat

event 4:
Windows cannot find the local profile and is logging you on with a temporary profile. Changes you make to this profile will be lost when you log off.

event 5:
Windows was unable to load C:\Users\davex2\ntuser.dat
DETAIL - The configuration registry database is corrupt.
for C:\Users\davex2\ntuser.dat

event 6:
The winlogon notification subscriber <Profiles> failed a critical notification event.



davex2 was a test user I just created for this test. c:\users\davex2 does not exist.

 

[davexnet]

I believe the Default profile is damaged, at least the ntuser.dat. Not sure if there is another copy of this in the system somewhere. I'm going to spend a bit more time researching before throwing in the towel and reinstalling clean

EDIT I was lucky to have found a backup of the all important file from mid August. Adding it to the \users\default
has restored the broken functionality and I can create users normally again.
To remind everybody, the reason for this was so that I could test to see if some of the display elements were a result
of something in my main profile getting out of whack. But using the test user I still see some things, such as the
too-transparent Taskbar (I can't even see the clock if the thing behind is too light) and the disappearing drag bar
that now does not show up until you put the mouse over it. Perhaps a recent update is to blame ?

EDIT2 well I'm a little embarrassed, the problem with the display turned out to be the monitor. The brightness/contrast digital
controls had gone out making certain shading and fine lines invisible, This must be yet another side effect of these power blips
I've been getting lately. I unplugged it, reset and redid the controls all is good now.