need help restoring account 10.4

[jimmi]

Firstly hi, I'm new to forum and hoping someone can help with this problem.

OSX10.4.1
when logging into second user account desktop icons were scrambled, applications from dock were missing and some wouldn't open.

I then noticed that all the folders inside user/library are missing (preferences etc.)

What is the best way to restore this if at all without losing any or as little account preferences as possible.

my initial Idea was to delete the account and create a new on from the.dmg
but it does not give me the option to "save deleted account".

any help greatly appreciated

 

[hughvane]

Seems to me there's a major Permissions issue.

Do you really mean OS 10.4.1? If you mean 10.4.11, or even if it is the first version of Tiger, and you have the original OS disks, why don't you use Archive & Install.

Now that will not preserve a number of the OS settings, so in your situation I would do screenshots (Cmd-Shift-4) of everything you wish to retain, and transfer those images to a flash drive or cd.

Once you've got the user account you want established, keep OnyX http://www.titanium.free.fr/pgs2/english/download.html on disk to repair permissions and run maintenance (although that may not be necessary for a while after an OS install).

 

[jimmi]

HI hughvane thanks for the reply,
I did mean 10.4.11

It's my sons account on the computer I thinks he's accidentally trashed folders within the library dir.

I guess archive and install could work but I might just create a new account and transfer files across.

The main issues was keeping information such as email client settings and Firefox bookmarks etc, I presume that these are all lost due to the missing plist files.

I'm also unable to open Firefox or entourage, I presume again due to missing prefs.

I guess this is a good lesson in maintaining a decent backup schedule

 

[hughvane]

Missing prefs should not prevent an application from opening. In fact, prefs are created upon opening. Library files however are another matter.

Secondly, data such as email addresses (don't know which app you use) and bookmarks are usually kept in a data file rather than prefs. Check Application Support. If the whole bookmark folder is missing, yes, there's a problem.