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 K, and welcome to Vista Forums.

Are you able to do any of the STEP ONE section to get into the built-in Administrator account, or in the yellow TIP box at the top of the tutorial, to then be able to do the rest of the tutorial.

 

[barometerbabe]

Hello Brink,

You are beautiful! Thank you! You said enough for me to know how to do this...and it worked! You have made someone very happy (the person who wanted me to fix this...and me)! Have a special day.

K.

 

[Brink]

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

 

[Sugartabby]

Thank you so much for your help. I used option 1 and now have access to my computer again. Your instructions were very clear and easy to follow and I'm feeling quite chuffed that I managed to fix my error as I'm pretty hopeless at all things technical usually. Thanks again.

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome Sugartabby, and welcome to Vista Forums.

 

[icegem100]

I had this problem where it would not let me access my user profile as it had 'failed'!!

So followed all these steps to delete my profile... up until the point where you go on redegit.. etc... and then click on the long number letter thing to delete it.

I didn't delete that number/ letter as I wasn't sure which one to do.

Instead I just skipped and created a new different user profile but now ALL the documents from my original profile are gone!! I cant find them anywhere!! So i was too scared to continue the steps in case I could never get them back...

Is there any way for me to find these files/ pictures etc again????

HELP. I need them desperately... i have lots of important work.

I have tried a systems restore to before i started to delete the profile but my files were still missing!!

I downloaded a program to help me find the lost files but it has hardly helped me find any of them!!

PLEASE HELP!!!!

 

[Brink]

Hello Icegem, and welcome to Vista Forums.

Double check to see if they are in still available in the old account's "C:\Users\(user-name)" user folders.

If not, then you can also try the options in the yellow TIP box at the top of the tutorial to try and repair your old account to have access to them again.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[icegem100]

Ok thank you...

Well I looked in the C folder at the old accounts but the only files were old ones from a couple of years ago.

And I followed the steps to repair the account but they didn't help either!! None of my files are there.

Any other ideas??

 

[Brink]

Well, if they are not in the old account's user folders, then they may be gone for good. You might see if you may be able to recover the files using either or both of the free ShadowExplorer or Recuva programs.

 

[pranab]

Bravo Brink !!

The fix was absolutely spot on !! I got rid of my problem very easily with this, a very succinct description of the resolution steps... thank you very much !!

Regards,
Pranab

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome Pranab, and welcome to Vista Forums.

 

[ChrisMillar]

Hi Brink,

Joined just to say an immense thankyou for the tutorial, has worked (so far) despite the fact I was feeling physically ill messing around with system settings on safe mode. Your tutorial is very clearly written which gave me confidence enough that i was following it correctly.

Thanks again man (or woman ),
Christopher
Belfast, Northern Ireland

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome Pranab and Christopher. Thank you.

 

[ldx12345]

I have followed the steps in the tutorial and got my profile running, but the profile now seems to lack of access. I cannot even access my internet browser and it is not detecing my internet connection in the repaired account even though it is an administrator. I need help on this issue...

 

[Brink]

Hello ldx, and welcome to Vista Forums.

Do you have access to everything else? If it's only the internet connection, then double check all of your network settings to make sure that they are correct.

If you still do not have access afterwards, then as a test, create a new administrator account to see if has access to see if it may just be your current account.

 

[ldx12345]

I do have another administrator account which can acess everything.. but the fixed profile could not access the internet, it shows access denied when i mouse over the connection icon and when i try going into the disk drives it shows application not found. all these issues only happen on that fixed account..

 

[Brink]

ldx,

It sounds like your user account may be to corrupted. You can create another new account to replace this one with, then copy all folder contents (including hidden AppData folder) from the old account's C:\Users\(user-name) user folders into the corresponding new account's C:\Users\(user-name) user folders to copy most of your settings into it.

 

[cyber tkyla]

thanks a lot for the info!!!
I was able to get it fixed with the first options.

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome Cyber Tkyla, and welcome to Vista Forums.

 

[Jeke]

Hi All,
I have read quite alot of these posts regarding this error,but i have not come across a situation similar to mine on any of these posts.My situation is like this;
1. I have a domain called abc.co.zm
2.I have an administrator account i use for all administrative tasks on the network.
3.I can log onto two of these Windows Vista Machines using this administrator accounts without a problem.
4.The owners of these computers can log in with thier usernames without any problems(the user accounts are domain accounts not local)
5.When i create a new domain user account,i get the very common error when the user tries to login on these machines,but they can log in ok on any other machine on the network.
All the troubleshooting techniques mentioned in these posts refer to profiles existing on these machines with this error,can anyone please help me understand what is going on or rather help me to resolve the problem as described in this post.
Regards,
NB:i have read the issue of the service pack upgrade which i will do just after geting a response from anyone regarding this.

j.