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.​

​

OR​

​

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

​

Windows 7: (Option Two at link)​

How to Create a Windows 7 System Repair Disc​

​

Vista: (Option One at link)​

How to Create a Vista Recovery Disc​

​

​

​

​

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

​

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.​

​

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

​

D) Go to OPTION ONE or OPTION TWO.​

​

OPTION ONE

To Fix the User Account Profile

1. Open the Start menu.​

​

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

​

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

​

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

​

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.​

​

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)​

​

​

​

​

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

​

​

​

​

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)​

​

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

​

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

​

​

​

​

F) Go to step 8.​

​

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)​

​

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

​

​

​

​

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)​

​

​

​

​

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)​

​

​

​

​

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

​

​

11. Close regedit.​

​

12. Restart the computer.​

​

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.​

​

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.​

​

2. Open the Start menu.​

​

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

​

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

​

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

​

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.​

​

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.​

​

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.​

​

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.​

​

C) Continue on to step 8.​

​

​

​

​

8. To Delete the Registry SID Key​

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

​

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

​

​

​

​

9. Close regedit.​

​

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

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

​

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.​

​

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

 

[RickRogers]

Instructions under Option 2 worked perfectly.

Thanks,

Rick

 

[Jeke]

Hi Rick,
Did you really go through the problem i explained,becuase you just refered me to the tutorial which has not addressed the problem i have explained.When i followed both option 1 and 2,i realise none of these profiles are listed becuase these users have never logged onto these Vista computers,therefore their profiles are not listed

Please correct me if am wrong but my situation with this error involves Domain Users accounts trying to log onto these computers for the first time and i understand a profile can only be listed on a machine if a successful log in has been made.How do i resolve this issue without completely doing a fresh installation??
Regards,
J.

 

[Jeke]

Hi,
For those that have followed my post,here is how i have come around to resolve the profile problem,its not the best of solutions but i feel its better a fix that having to do a fresh installation.

All you need to do is turn off User Account Control using your administrator account,restart the machine and then log in using the new account.After successful log in with the new account,turn the User Account Control back on.
to turn off the User Account Control(UAC),follow the following steps;

1. Launch MSCONFIG by from the Run menu.
2. Click on the Tools tab. Scroll down till you find "Disable UAC" . Click on that line.
3. Press the Launch button.
4. A CMD window will open. When the command is done, you can close the window.
5. Close MSCONFIG. You need to reboot the computer for changes to apply.

i hope this will help someone stuck as i have been.

Thanks
J.

 

[mariodigir]

Thank you very much for the postings.

Our Windows 7 laptop would not allow either of the 2 Users (Admin & Standard) to logon. We kept on receiving "The User Profile Services Service failed the logon. User profile cannot be loaded" message.

Using Safe Mode, I was able to modify the Registry Settings for both User Accounts, so that the ".bak" profile became a functional User account.

I have created several additional Admin Accounts, just in case this happens again.

Thanks again for your great posting!
:D

 

[Brink]

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

 

[aboazam1990]

Simply....

you are awsome:D

 

[MarceloRJ]

I only have one user account, which has my name and I believe is also the admin account. I can't logon to this account, therefore I can't open the regedit and do the whole .bak renaming thing. Can anyone help me? Can I access the regedit some other way?
Also, my laptop is an HP Pavilion and it gives me the F11 option (system recovery), but I´ve been told that this deletes EVERYTHING I have and makes the computer exactly as it came from the factory? I DEFINITELY do not want to lose all my data, so I didn't do F11. Is this true, will it delete everything?
Thanks in advance

I just managed to get to regedit, just don't ask me how I did it. But on my ProfileList there's only S-1-5-18, S-1-5-19 and S-1-5-20. There isn't the one with the really long number/name. Should I change anything on these (18, 19 or 20) ??

 

[Brink]

Hello Marcelo, and welcome to Vista Forums.

No, you would not want to change the numbers of these keys. These are your system accounts that Vista uses.

You might see if you can create a new user administrator account to use, or try a system restore using a restore point dated before you got this error.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[ofoufou]

i have found no bak files on my registry...what can i do?????please help

 

[Brink]

Hello Ofoufou,

You could check to see if the options in the yellow TIP box at the top of the tutorial may be able to help instead.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[LiraelG]

Hello.

I'm having this problem too.

Sadly, I only have one account, so I can't use the recommended method as things stand.

I've looked over posts and solutions, but nothing helps. I only have the UPDATE disk for 7. My laptop came with Vista, and I don't have a disk to install that, or to create a new account, as far as I can see. I can access Startup Repair; System Restore; System Image Recovery; Windows Memory Diagnostic; and the Command Prompt from the disk I have. I've tried Startup Repair and System Restore, and looked at the others.

Is there a way to create a second account using the cmd?

Many thanks!

~ LiraelG

 

[Brink]

Hello Lirael, and welcome to Vista Forums.

You can try the options in the STEP ONE section to see if you can log into the built-in administrator account to then be able to use the rest of the tutorial to try and fix this error.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[LiraelG]

Thanks, Shawn.

I did try that before posting. :/ I enable the built-in admin account, but my system never logs onto it; even in Safe Mode I'm asked to log into my own account.


Edit:

Well, Shawn, you must work through magic, 'cause system restore worked when it hadn't previously! Thanks very much for the advice, though!

 

[Brink]

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

 

[martinez2k5]

U guyz r gd. Worked for my Win 7n Ultimate. Failed to log onto my account after activating bit locker on Recovery(D). Gd i had an admin account so i followed all the steps when logged onto the admin account. never even restarted my machine. just did a switch user and my account was running again!

 

[Brink]

That's great news Martinez, and welcome to Vista Forums.

 

[Yogens]

Hi Adminstrator,

I am also facing a similar problem with my Windows Vista Premium Home edition on my laptop, I had created 2 profiles a Guest and a Admin profile, now my Admin Profile has been corrupted (which I don't know how) as I login into the system my user profile settings doesn't come up correctly and I am not able to work properly.... I always get a msg "User Profile Service failed the logon" and whn I try to login with guest then also I am not able to login.....

I tried searching help in this regards and found everybody is talking about the registry settings for SID under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList but the problem is I didn't find the same entry on my registry as I am able to go till HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ but further I don't see any ProfileList there....

secondly few people suggests to try the System Restore option... I also try using the same but I am not able to set it beyond last 5 days...as like in XP there was no option to choose the date for previous version there or any specific date in the past.....

hereby I am requesting everybody who are technical masters to help me in this regards...as this is really frustrating me

thanks a billion to everyone in advance
Yogen

 

[Brink]

Hello Yogen, and welcome to Vista Forums.

Are you trying this from you Guest account? If so, try doing it again using the STEP ONE section to see if you may be able to using the built-in Administrator account.

Hope this helps for now,
Shawn

 

[Homitu]

Great fix and tutorial! Thanks so much!

 

[Brink]

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