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

 

[mkc1970]

thanks..but which is the correct one to delete?

 

[Brink]

Right click on each of the user folders one at a time and click on Properties. If it has a "Location" tab, then that is the one that you do not want to delete.

 

[mkc1970]

ok, so from step 1 to end, how do I find this and where do i look? Am I deleting user profiles or a REGEDIT SID?

 

[Brink]

This is with the actual user folders themselves at C:\Users\(user-name).

 

[mkc1970]

ok thanks. So I am in the Computer>Local Disk (C>users
and what I have listed is the following

-Administrator (when I click on properties, under LOCATION it is says C:\users)
-Mark (my name) (when I click on properties, under LOCATION it is says C:\users)
-Public (when I click on properties, under LOCATION it is says C:\users)
-User (when I click on properties, under LOCATION it is says C:\users)

So I have no idea which one I should be deleting?

 

[Brink]

You will need to open the user folder (ex: Mark or User) that you say everything is doubled in, then right click on the Desktop, Music, Pictures, etc.... folders and click on Properties instead. If the folder has a "Location" then do not delete it. If it does not have one, then delete it.

 

[thedigitalhobo]

i had a slightly different scenario, but close enough to post my success.

I'm using Win 7 (i know, wrong forum) and XP in a dual boot configuration. I am the only user of the computer, and only had the one admin account that was corrupted.

The issue started after using Windows Update to install the Windows Live components upgrade and/or Office 2007 on the Win 7 side. I installed the Live add ins 1.4 and a slew of office 2007 updates at the same time. It was all of the updates available for Office 2007 as of 11/29. All installed successfully.

I did not have any .bak registry entries, so I was limited in what I could try. Logging on in safe mode, I only changed the value in the RefCount from 1 to 0 and everything was back to normal.

I dont have any clue as to what specifically caused the problem, but I'm pretty annoyed b/c this machine ONLY has MS products on it. Was hoping to avoid as many issues as possible by sticking with IE, MS Office 2007, and MS keyboard and mouse.

Gobble Gobble!

 

[The Player]

Thanks for the 'fix' I had the problem for 3 days before I found this thread's solution. It worked a treat although I'd like to know what is causing this to happen?? I only have 1 administrator account and could not perform a system restore in safe mode hence the steps I followed to resolve this issue were the only ones that helped.

 

[The Player]

Awesome fix after this tedious bug. Please let us know when you find out what the cause is. Star man

 

[DhyaniHemant]

Should i delet the registry with .bak

 

[Brink]

Hello Dhyani,

No, only what is in the tutorial.

 

[The Player]

Hi Dhyani

Do not delete the profile, just the .bak as in the tutorial. I have 2 user profiles on my pc and had to change them both but only the .bak and the value from 8000 to 0 on my 2nd profile. Follow the tutorial and it will solve this annoying problem

 

[Aussie85]

Love this site found it when looking for fix to this problem for a customer...

 

[Brink]

Hello Aussie, and welcome to Seven Forums.

 

[jchee04]

Jchee,

As a test, create a new administrator account to see if everything runs ok while logged in it. Hopefully it's just a issue with your current user account. If not, then you may need to reinstall Vista.

Thank you. I have deleted 2 adm accounts and created a new adm one. After account A was login and some operations have been done, then I tried to login account B. With no luck the problem (not always, just sometimes) came again, account B could not load its profile. The problem persisted even after logout and login again without shutting down the notebook.

Then I shut down the notebook and tried again. This time I login account A, without doing anything and then login account B. This time account B could load its profile.

<for more details of the problem please refer to my previous posts in page 77.>

 

[The Player]

I found the best way to resolve this issue was to follow the tutorial and remove .bak from one user profile ( I had 2 ) and add it to the second etc. It worked for me without having to delete my admin account or having to re-install vista...something I'm more than happy about. The tutorial does work if you follow it step by step.

 

[lemonz23]

I have more than two S-1-5-21-(insert numbers here) Which one do I choose?
NVM. Got it to work. Thank you very much

 

[Brink]

Hello Lemon, and welcome to Vista Forums. I'm happy to hear that you got it sorted.

 

[JLMRACING]

Morning all seeking a lil assistance.....

My admin account is the only account...it has this error...I went to safe mode and I am not able to create a new user....

Ive tried the steps layed out in the first post only for the computer to return the .bak to the end of the profile.....

suggestions?

 

[Brink]

Hello JLM Racing, and welcome to Vista Forums.

Since you are unable to do STEP ONE, then you might see if doing a System Restore at boot, or the other options listed, in the yellow TIP box at the top of the tutorial.

Hope this helps,
Shawn