Sometimes I find this error when I’m creating Shared Service Provider (SSP).

Provisioning failed: User cannot be found.

Yes, it happens a lot and there are some places to look at, usually I find myself updating user accounts for:

• Search and SSPs: I use the following stsadm commands
  • stsadm -o updateaccountpassword -userlogin domain\username -password Password –noadmin
  • stsadm -o spsearch -farmserviceaccount domain\username -farmservicepassword Password
  • stsadm -o spsearch -farmcontentaccessaccount domain\username -farmcontentaccesspassword Password
  • stsadm -o osearch -farmserviceaccount domain\username -farmservicepassword Password
  • stsadm -o editssp -title SSPName -ssplogin domain\username -ssppassword Password
• App Pools
  • Central Administration > Operations > Service Accounts

• Site Collections: If there are just a few…
  • Central Administration > Application Management > Site Collection List (or stsadm –o enumsites)

(You have to check the if “Primary Administrator” is correct; I’ve found that sometimes I doesn’t even exist!)

• And use stsadm –o siteowner –url http://yoursite –ownerlogin domain\username

The site collection owners tend to be the most hidden ones, good luck!