The User Profile Service failed the logon. User profile cannot be loaded.

How to Fix the Error "The User Profile Service failed the logon. User profile cannot be loaded."​

   Information

When you log on to Vista or Windows 7 using a temporary profile (user account), you receive this error message:

The User Profile Service failed the logon. User profile cannot be loaded.

For more information, see:
Error message when you log on to a Windows Vista-based or Windows 7-based computer by using a temporary profile: "The User Profile Service failed the logon. User profile cannot be loaded"

   Note

CAUSE:

The jury is still out on the exact cause, but so far :

• This issue may occur if the user profile was manually deleted by using the command prompt or Windows Explorer by a user or by some program. A profile that is manually deleted does not remove the security identifier (SID) from the user profile list in the registry. Since the SID is still present, Vista will still try to load the profile by using the ProfileImagePath that points to a nonexistent path. Therefore, the profile cannot be loaded.
• This can also be a issue with the user profile entering into a backup state.
• Manually renaming the C:\Users\(User Name) user profile folder.

   Warning

If you have this error message below instead, then see: How to Fix the Error "Your user profile was not loaded correctly! You have been logged on with a temporary profile." in Vista

Your user profile was not loaded correctly! You have been logged on with a temporary profile.

Changes you make to this profile will be lost when you log off. Please see the event log for details or contact your administrator.

   Tip

If the steps in the tutorial below do not help or you wish to try this first, then:

• You could also try doing a System Restore at boot using a restore point dated before the this error to see if it may be able to fix this.
• If you do not want to repair the user profile, you can delete it and create a new user account in OPTION TWO. If this still does not work for you, then you will be left with doing a clean install for your Upgrade or Full version of Vista or Windows 7.
• Try the option at this link: Rob Brooks-Bilson's Blog: Fix for Vista's: The User Profile Service service failed the logon. User profile cannot be loaded

STEP ONE

Log on to the Computer

   Warning

You must be logged on to an administrator account using either step 1 or 2 below before you can move on to do either the OPTION ONE or OPTION TWO sections.

1. To Log on to another Administrator account.​

NOTE: If you do not have another Administrator account, then proceed to step 2.​

A) Go to OPTION ONE or OPTION TWO.​

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OR​

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2. To Boot into Safe Mode and Use the built-in Administrator account​

NOTE: You may not need to enable the built-in Administrator account. If this was the only normal administrator account you had, then Safe Mode should automatically boot into the built-in Administrator account.​

   Tip

If you cannot boot into Windows and do not have a Windows installation DVD, then you can create and use the boot disc below to boot into Safe Mode with instead.

   Tip

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Windows 7: (Option Two at link)​

How to Create a Windows 7 System Repair Disc​

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Vista: (Option One at link)​

How to Create a Vista Recovery Disc​

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A) Boot into Safe Mode (in Vista) or Safe Mode (in Windows 7).​

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B) If Safe Mode did not boot into the built-in Administrator account, then enable the built-in Administrator account. If it did, then go to step 2D.​

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C) Log off in Safe Mode, and then log on to the built-in Administrator account to logon with that account in Safe Mode.​

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D) Go to OPTION ONE or OPTION TWO.​

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OPTION ONE

To Fix the User Account Profile

1. Open the Start menu.​

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2. In the white line (Start Search) area, type regedit and press Enter.​

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3. If prompted by UAC, either click on Continue (Vista) or Yes (Windows 7).​

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4. In regedit, go to: (See screenshot below step 5)​

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HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList

5. In the left pane, look for the S-1-5..... folder (SID key) with the long number that has .bak at the end of the numbers.​

(See screenshots below steps 6A and 7B)​

NOTE:​

A) In the right pane, look at the ProfileImagePath to verify that this is the user account profile that has the error.​

B) You may have another S-1-5..... folder (SID key) above it with the exact same number without the .bak at the end of it.​

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6. If you have Two S-1-5..... folders (SID key) with the same Number​

NOTE: This is if you have two S-1-5..... folders (SID key) with the exact same numbers, but the second (below) one has the .bak at the end of the numbers.​

A) In the left pane, right click on the first (top) S-1-5..... folder (SID key) that does not have .bak at the end of the numbers and click Rename. (See screenshot below)​

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B) Add .bk to the end of the numbers. (See screenshot below)​

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C) In the left pane, right click on the second S-1-5..... folder (SID key) with .bak at the end of the numbers and click Rename. (See screenshot above)​

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D) Remove only .bak from the end of the numbers and press Enter. (See screenshot below)​

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E) Now go back and Rename the first one with .bk to .bak now at the end of the numbers and press Enter.​

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F) Go to step 8.​

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7. If you have Only One S-1-5..... Folder (SID key) with .bak​

NOTE: This is if you only have one S-1-5..... folder (SID key) for your user account with .bak at the end of the numbers.​

A) In the left pane, right click on the S-1-5..... folder (SID key) with .bak at the end of the numbers and click Rename. (See screenshot below)​

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B) Remove only .bak at the end of the numbers and press Enter. (See screenshot below and below step 10)​

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8. In the right pane of the one without .bak now, right click on RefCount and click on Modify. (See screenshot below step 10)​

NOTE: If you do not have RefCount, then right click on a empty space in the right pane and click New and DWORD (32 bit) Value, then type RefCount and press Enter. This value for this entry will reset and return back to the original value after you have restarted the computer and logged on to the account.​

A) Type 0 (number) and click on OK. (See screenshot below)​

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9. In the right pane of the one without .bak now, right click on State and click on Modify. (See screenshot below step 10)​

NOTE: This value for this entry will reset and return back to the original value after you have restarted the computer and logged on to the account.​

A) Type 0 (number) and click on OK. (See screenshot below)​

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10. The registry will now look like this for the one without .bak now. (See screenshot below)​

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11. Close regedit.​

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12. Restart the computer.​

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13. See if you can logon now.​

NOTE: If this still does not help, then either try OPTION TWO below or see the yellow TIP box at the top of the tutorial.​

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OPTION TWO

To Delete the User Account and Create Another One

   Warning

You can do this option if you do not care about losing the user account and the contents in the user folders. Your programs will still be installed, but you will need to create new shortcuts for them afterwards.

1. Delete the User account profile that this error is for.​

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2. Open the Start menu.​

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3. In the white line (Start Search) area, type regedit and press Enter.​

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4. If prompted by UAC, click on Continue (Vista) or Yes (Windows 7).​

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5. In regedit, go to: (See screenshot below step 7)​

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HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList

6. In the left pane, click on one of the S-1-5..... folders (SID key) with the long number in it.​

NOTE: It may have .bak at the end of it.​

A) In the right pane, look at the ProfileImagePath to see if this is the same user account that you deleted in step 1 above.​

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B) Repeat step 6 until you find the one that you deleted in step 1 above.​

NOTE: If the user account is not here, then it has already been removed when deleted in step 1. Go to step 9.​

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7. To Backup the Registry SID Key​

WARNING: You should backup this SID key to be safe in case you delete the wrong one in step 8 below.​

A) Right click on the SID key, and click on Export.​

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B) Type in a name and save the REG file to a safe location.​

NOTE: This is your backup. To Restore the Backup, right click on the REG backup file and click on Merge.​

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C) Continue on to step 8.​

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8. To Delete the Registry SID Key​

A) Right click on the SID key, and click on Delete. (See screenshot above)​

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B) Click on Yes to confirm deletion. (See screenshot below)​

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9. Close regedit.​

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10. Now, just create a new normal Administrator account.​

NOTE: See: How to Create a New User Account in Vista​

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11. Restart the computer, and log on to your new account.​

NOTE: If this still does not help, then either try OPTION ONE above or see the yellow TIP box at the top of the tutorial.​

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That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How To Perform a Repair Installation For Vista
• How to Do a System Restore in Vista
• How to Do a Startup Repair in Vista
• How to Do a Clean Install of Vista with a Upgrade Version
• How to Do a Clean Install with a Full Version of Vista
• How to Fix the Error "Your user profile was not loaded correctly! You have been logged on with a temporary profile."
• How to Change the User Folder Name of a User Profile in Windows 7
• How to Fix Windows 7 Logon Screen Showing Only "Other User" and Last Logged On User Icon

 

[Brink]

Hello xtransform, and welcome to Vista Forums.

You will need to have UAC enabled to be able to enter the adminstrator's password when prompted by UAC to open a elevated command prompt from within a standard account. That's all.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[ztransform]

Thank you Brink - for the welcome and for the (so rapid) answer.

Now I can seem to the little lady like I actually know what I'm doing LOL! That's not something that happens every day of the week !

I had assumed that having UAC disabled was ok since my own admin account didn't have a password to be entered! I suspect that your answer has solved a few other small (but irritating) Access Denied type issues as well.

Terrific stuff - don't know why I've never found this site before.

Many Thanks
Alan

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome Alan.

 

[Duceman]

Hey, I followed step 1 and attempted to log in again, for a brief moment the message didn't appear, and I was relieved. But after waiting a few, it popped back up . I went back into safe mode and checked my S-1-5... folders to see if I had missed something. I noticed that both of them were still there and the changes I made to RefCount and State remained. Are both of them supposed to be there still? Also, one of them (the one I renamed with .bak at the end) only had (Default), ProfileImagePath, and RunLogonScriptSync. It also will not let me remove the .bak at the end since one like that already exists. Would it be a bad idea to delete the one with only 3 items in it? Id really rather not delete my user account.

 

[Brink]

Hello Duceman, and welcome to Seven Forums.

See if doing a System Restore at boot using a restore point dated before this error may be able to fix it for you.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[Duceman]

Thanks for the quick reply, impressive =]. I got the temporary profile to work by renaming the one with 3 items in it to "bk" instead of "bak". Should I system restore in safe mode still or in the temporary profile? (yes I got the temporary profile error too )

 

[Brink]

If you're still getting the errors, I would give System Restore a try at boot instead of Safe Mode or in any profile for the best results with it.

 

[Borgenvik123]

Well, I've done exactly as written, but I can't seem to find the folder " Microsoft NT "

You might know the problem ?

 

[Brink]

Hello Borgenvik, and welcome to Vista Forums.

Double check to make sure that you are exanding the corrrect keys (folders in left pane) as below.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList





If you are, then you might consider a System Restore.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[Borgenvik123]

How can I start a system restore without having the CD ?

I tried to type in rsturi.exe but that did not work

 

[Brink]

How can I start a system restore without having the CD ?

I tried to type in rsturi.exe but that did not work

What happended when you tried to do a System Restore from within Vista? Any errors, etc....?

You can see if creating a recovery disc to run System Restore at boot with may work instead.

 

[Dnev]

It's alive again!

Thanks so much for this invaluable information (Thanks to Google for a good job of indexing the content on this site too!).

Using option 1, I was able to rename the old .bak entry in the registry to make it the "current one". Booted up and so far, so good.

A little history on the problem. It only appeared after the installation of Vista SP2. I noticed that after the installation was complete (SP2), my sound card wasnt working. Never happened before, so I thought I'd just reboot. After rebooting, I received the error that so many other people were receiving. I tried another reboot to see if it was just a fluke, but no luck.

Some new software that I installed may or may not have contributed to the problem, but I'll post it below in case there are any similatiries. All these programs were installed prior to Service Pack 2 being installed, and all were subject to multiple restarts prior to SP2.

- Mozy Back Home Edition
- UltraMon (for controlling 2 monitors)
- DosBox (for emulating really old Dos games)
- The newest version of LogMeIn (new logo version)

I have a Finger Print reader that I use to login (A Microsoft Product), but that's been installed since the beginning.

Mozy made the most changes to the system by far, but that was a month ago, and hasnt caused me any trouble since I installed it. LogMeIn also was done about 3 weeks ago, and hasnt given me any reason to suspect it as a problem.

So again, thanks for all your help! Worked great. As a fellow techy (I run my own small IT company in Orlando FL), i'll be sure to come back here often to participate!

 

[Brink]

Hello Dave, and welcome to Vista Forums.

I'm happy to hear that you got it sorted. Thank you for posting back your conclusions and results.

Shawn

 

[Dnev]

After the fix

Have you seen any other mention of Vista SP2 causing this problem specifically? There seems to be some mention of this being a problem in Windows 7 as well, so I was wondering if any portion of the SP2 update for Vista was related. Judging by the date of the posts in the thread, i'm guessing that it's probably not, but who knows?

I let the installation of SP2 go unattended (I went and picked up some lunch). When I came back, it said that the install had completed with no problems. It said that it was going to restart multiple times, and i'm assuming it did. Maybe I missed some error that timed out or something. Would anything in the error log or update log be of use to you? I know you dont work for Microsoft, so it's probably something I would need to send to them. Just curious.

Thanks again!
Dave
Orlando
http://www.hughesitsolutions.com

 

[Brink]

Dave,

Since this problem was happening before even SP1, the only guess for this so far is the user account getting corrupted some how.

 

[PriscillaA]

I got the "user profile service failed" message this am after my computer had automatically installed the Security Update for Windows Vista (KB970653) and (KB972036) at 3am. Computer was fine at 10pm last night. It took me awhile to firgure out how to do a system restore, but once I restored back to before that update, I could log on without a problem. Since none of these responses seem to identify a specific cause for the "user profile service failed" I thought I would mention this. Also, what do I do about the "important" security update that inadvertantly takes away my ability to use my computer? Thanks.

 

[Brink]

Hello Priscilla, and welcome to Vista Forums.

You might see if installing them only one at a time instead to see if they may install without a problem. Sometimes they can conflct with each other when installed together and cause problems. Just have that restore point handy to be safe.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[banabon]

Hi Everyone

exact same problem here running Windows Vista basic and getting the same error, however when following the guide on here I mistook the 2nd long no. for being exactly the same as the 1st (there was one key diff.) I havent had any luck with the technique following that, I managed to remove the .bak but on the startup screen I would click log in and instantly be logged out.

I removed the other program/username with the same no. (Boinc) but my profile no. has subsiquently disappeared though I can log in on the safe mode and see files in the recycle bin.

I have and have had for some time before this began a Kernal error randomly occuring followed by the blue screen of death and a restart.

I have also tried uninstalling AVG though the program will not seem to remove itself, it has been telling me for some time that I have a tray error.

Is there any way in which I can recover my files from my hard drive? I have been told by a friend that if I hook it up too another computer I can dump that onto a HDD and then just search for what i need, without them being locked under usernames etc.

Any help advice that can be offered on this would be most appreciated, I tried using system restore to begin with but mypoints appear to have vanished...

Thanks
Chris

 

[Brink]

Hi Chris, and welcome to Vista Forums

Yes, you can connect your hard drive to another computer to copy the files off of it to back them up. Afterwards you can reinstall Vista on your computer to it, then copy the backup files back.

 

[banabon]

Hi

Thanks for the reply just to clarify there wont be any encryption etc in place on the files will there? It will be everything from that profile accessisable?

If so thats one giant F****** relief to hear that I can tell you!! Two days staring at these guides figuring out where ur going is not good for a mans sanity.