This article covers the following scenarios when you want to backup and restore a windows profile because
you cannot just copy and then restore the profile folder

1. If you need to reinstall windows
2. you have swapped the domain you belong to
3. your domain controller goes down and needs to be replaced
4. if you want to change someones username you can use the following methods. ie when someone new comes in to do a job and the profiles are first names

All of these scenarios cause the usernames to get a new SID's that references the profile to windows and any domains so this is why you can not just copy and paste the profile they have to be 'processed' by one of the methods below.

Firstly backup the windows profile you wish to keep

To backup and restore follow one of the solutions below

Method 1

This solution only works (i think) if you still have access to the windows install

1. Insert the Windows XP CD-ROM and, in Additional Tasks you'll find " User State Migration Tool ".
2. Run it, and then import after you have added the pc to the "new" domain !

Method 2

This is not the quickest method (can be quite long) but it is reliable and just works.

1. Go to the pc logon the user, which will create the new profile
2. REBOOT the machine
3. logon as someone other then the old or new user that has administrative access to the local computer
4. right click My computer
5. click properties
6. click the advanced tab
7. click the 2nd box "user profiles" [settings]
8. copy the old profile to the new profile
9. you will also have to permit the user to have access to the folder, once that is don the user can login and have all their previous settings.

Method 3

The key is to login to windows with the user first! Windows creates a profile folder at this time and associates it with the user account. Once this folder has been created, you can delete/rename it and rename/add the correct folder in its place. Skip the Advanced user copy button thing, takes way too long. Once you get the hang of it, this process can be done in less than 5 minutes.

You might suffer permission issues with this method, i have not fully tested it.

1. Restart and logon as a local administrator or another user with admin rights.
2. Rename the C:\documents and settings\username folder to username_bak
3. Delete (or rename) any bad folders that were created in a similar manner.
4. Add user to the pc's local administrators group.
5. Login to pc with the "correctusername" or domain username.
6. Restart and logon as a local administrator or another user with admin rights.
   (Restart is necessary because if you logoff, windows will still have some of the users files locked)
7. delete the newly created profile folder c:\documents and settings\correctusername folder
8. rename the c:\documents and settings\username_bak to the name of "correctusername" (the newuserfolder)
9. Logout and login as the new user.
10. Done.