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]

Sometimes when you add a new administrator account and create a password for it, your original administrator account that was setup during installation may not be the one use for UAC when asked to type in the administrator password. Changing your original account's password will usually make it be used by UAC again.

Doing this may allow you to be able to disable the built-in Administrator while only logged into your original administrator account that was setup during installation since it uses it for UAC permission again.

 

[tommynookah]

It still has the error.

 

[tommynookah]

I just went into the built-in admin account and was able to disable it from there. Oh well, as long as it works.

Thank you very much for all of your help.

 

[Brink]

That's great news. I'm happy to hear that you got it sorted.

 

[yaye]

God bless this site. Came to my rescue again. Hope my other contributions have helped others also.,

 

[swapg]

Hi Shawn,
I am working on machine which recently had been upgraded to W7 32 bit. After fixing the hardware glitches it had, my next atsk was to get the User Profile service working. I had just browsed half the discussion and found out the 2 folders thru regedit. However i deleted first the .bak and the second one with long numbers also(as they both had the SID). Much to my dismay I read later that theres a way to rename both these and get it working. Since i deleted the .bak i should have been able to create a new profile, yet I am having the same issues. Also surpisingly I am able to log in to safe mode using the old profile password and all the work i am doing is via safe mode only. The regular logon fails to load anything, infact i dont get a default log on option at boot.
pls advice

 

[Brink]

Hello Swapg, and welcome to Vista Forums.

You might see if doing a system restore at boot using a restore point dated before you had this user profile error may be able to fix it for you.

If not, then while you are in Safe Mode, are you able to create yourself a new administrator account to log in at startup instead?

 

[swapg]

Thnx Brink..

I did not try the System Restore as there wasnt a restore point created. ..But i will try. And no i am unable to create new accounts..the explorer crashes in that case. Also since in safe mode I log in with the default profile, i should be able to see 2 profiles in User Accnts which I dont. And this is off an tablet PC so reading the event log is a pain ..Do you think registry cleaner softwares would do me any good? (Spotmau or anything else?)

-swap

 

[Brink]

Swap,

How about enabling the built-in Administrator account while still in Safe Mode and logging in to it?

I would recommend to avoid registry cleaning programs. They can do more hare than good if you let it just delete the results it finds without making sure that each one is safe to do so.

 

[RudiK]

This same problem has occured now twice when trying to set up my new computer, transferring the old accounts with easy transfer. After the first time I did a clean install of windows 7, that fixed it temporarily, but now the problem has re-occured (without obvious cause as I have not used the problem account)! I don't want to reinstall windows every two days!
Trying out the proposed solution, I have the following comments: My profile list shows 5 entries, none of which has the .bak ending.The two working user accounts are represented by a long,almost identical series of numbers. The profile image shows which ones they are. The troublesome account is not present. The other three short numbered profiles relate to system profile, local service and network service. I can set up or delete accounts from one of the working accounts, but nothing shows up in the profile list and all the new accounts give the error message.:sa: Any suggestions what I could try to resolve the problem? Many thanks in advance!

 

[Brink]

Hello RudiK, and welcome to Vista Forums.

Since the steps in the tutorialdo not seem to be helping you, you might try the items listed in the yellow TIP box at the top of the tutorial to see if it may be able to.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[dideyMi17]

The user profile service service failed to logon. User profile cannot be loaded. ---

I had this agravating problem and I couldn't log into my admin acct. I could however login to my guest acct.

I used the System Recovery to go to a restore point 1 day before the problem started, and that DID NOT do the trick.

I tried again and used restore point about 6 days before the problem happened and this worked.

thanks for you help on this terrible problem. Hopefully, it does not come back.

 

[Brink]

You're welcome DideyMi, and welcome to Vista Forums. I hope that you do not get this error again as well.

 

[fsnagovsky]

Hi there,

When doing this I found 3 S-1-5 folders, one with no extension, one with ".b" and one with ".bak". The one with no extension and ".b" are fairly similar to each other, while ".bak" has many more files. What should I do?

Thanks!

- Feodor

 

[Brink]

Hello Feodor, and welcome to Vista Forums.

It should be the one with the .bak, but check in the right pane and look at ProfileImagePath to verify that this is the user account name that has the error.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[fsnagovsky]

Thanks for the speedyness, Shawn. How do I know if it has an error?

Also, is it normal for the one with no extension to be so different from the ".bak"?

- Feodor

 

[fsnagovsky]

wow, i just reread what you said and realized what a dumb question that was lol

thanks dude, i'll try it

 

[Brink]

No problem Feodor. I hope it works for you. Please let us know how it went.

 

[azdarkblue]

Thanks very much for this site. I have the same problem referenced in the title of the thread, in a 3 month old Win7 64 bit computer. The computer was originally set up with 2 admin user accounts, "Scott" and "Diane." "Scott" was the main user, while "Diane" had never really been configured or used and was essentially a bare desktop.

On a reboot, the main user account ("Scott") would not log on, with the error message "The user profile service failed the logon. User profile cannot be loaded." The other admin user account ("Diane") was able to log on. I spent several hours searching the internet under the "Diane" user account to try to find a solution, which ultimately led me to this site and the solution noted at the beginning of the thread.

I followed the steps in the first approach and everything appeared to work fine. I was able to log on again as "Scott" without the failed logon error message. However, when I logged on as "Scott," I was essentially logged on as a new user, with a bare desktop, etc.

Within windows explorer, if I open up the C: drive and look at users, "Scott" is there, and all of the expected folders (desktop, my documents, etc.) still have all the files in them from my original user account "Scott." However, there is also now a new user listed within the users folder called "Scott.DESKTOP." The folders under that user are empty, and presumably, that is the user now associated with the log in "Scott." I also looked within "control panel/add or remove user accounts" and there is the one user account named "Scott." There is not a separate account named "Scott.DESKTOP."

If I attempt to open up any program that requires configuration (Windows Live Mail, ITunes, etc.) when I have logged in as "Scott," the program treats me as a new user, and I fear it would be a lot of effort and would create some potential problems to move all my files around so that my emails, my ITunes files and libraries, and probably a bunch of other things I haven't thought of yet would be configured to fall under "Scott.DESKTOP" as opposed to "Scott."

To summarize, within c:users, there is a user folder named "Scott" and a new user folder named "Scott.DESKTOP." When I login as "Scott," it takes me to the desktop of user "Scott.DESKTOP" as opposed to the desktop of user "Scott," and I don't seem to have any way of actually logging in as the original user "Scott."

Is there any way that I can re-associate the logon "Scott" with the original user folder structure that still appears within windows explorer under the user name "Scott?" All the correct files/folders/information are still there. For example, the folder "Desktop" within C:Users|Scott still shows all of the shortcuts, folders, etc. that I had on my desktop. I just don't seem to have any way of getting there.

Two other potentially relevant pieces of info: During one of my failed attempts to log on, prior to attempting the solution offered here, I received a different error message, which said "Windows\system32\config\systemprofile\Desktop is not accessible. Access is denied." Also, at one point, a dialog box opened up stating that "This copy of Windows is not genuine." However, I just closed the box and proceeded, and that message never reappeared. I am confident that was a strange side effect of whatever problem I am having, as my copy of windows is OEM and I have never had an issue with my copy of windows, updating windows, etc. before.

Also, in the course of attempting to solve the original problem, I attempted to use system restore, since some folks had said that this solved their problem. I had 4 restore points to choose from. The two most recent were both on the day the problem arose. System restore itself appeared to work, but they did not solve the log on problem. However, system restore would not function with the two older restore points (3 days before and 6 days before the problem arose). If I tried to restore to either of those restore points, system restore would begin and would then stop with an error message that "instruction at -----referenced memory could not be read." I am not sure if the system restore issue failure is somehow connected to the logon problem or not.

Any help would certainly be appreciated.

-Scott

 

[Brink]

Hello Scott, and welcome to Vista Forums.

Did you try to do the system restore that failed at boot instead of while logged in Windows 7?