User Profile Error - Logged on with a Temporary Profile

How to Fix the Error "Your user profile was not loaded correctly! You have been logged on with a temporary profile." in Vista and Windows 7​

   Information

A user profile is a collection of settings that make the computer look and work the way you want it to for a user account. It contains the account's settings for desktop backgrounds, screen savers, pointer preferences, sound settings, and other features. User profiles ensure that your personal preferences are used whenever you sign in to Windows.

A user profile is different from a user account, which you use to sign in to Windows. Each user account has at least one user profile associated with it.

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

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.

For more information, see:
A temporary profile is loaded after you log on to a Windows Vista-based system

   Tip

This problem usually occurs if the current user's profile was accidentally deleted from the system or got corrupted.

   Warning

If you have this error message below instead, then see: How to Fix the Error "The User Profile Service failed the logon. User profile cannot be loaded."

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

EXAMPLE: Error Message in Windows 7

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STEP ONE

Log On to the Computer as an Administrator

   Warning

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

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 the STEP TWO section below.​

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OR​

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2. To Boot into Safe Mode for 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 2C.​

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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 the STEP TWO section below.​

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OR​

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3. To Enable the Built-in Administrator account at Boot​

A) For how, see: How to Enable the Built-in Elevated "Administrator" Account from WinRE​

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B) When enabled, log in to the built-in Administrator account, and go to the STEP TWO section below for what you would like to do​

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STEP TWO

Delete the User Account Profile's SID Key

1. Backup anything that you do not want to lose in this user account's C:\Users\(user-name) profile folder, if the profile folder still exists, to another location, then delete the (user-name) profile folder.​

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2. Open the Start menu.​

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3. In the Start Menu search box, type regedit and press Enter.​

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4. If prompted by UAC, then 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

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6. In the left pane, click on one of the S-1-5..... folders (SID key) with the long number. (See screenshot below step 7)​

NOTE: It should 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.​

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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 from step 6, 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. Right click on the SID key, from step 6 with bak at the end, and click on Delete. (see screenshot above)​

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

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10. If there is another SID key with the exact same long number from step 6 for this user account without bak at the end, repeat step 7 first, then right click on this same SID key, and click on Delete. (see screenshot below step 7)​

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11. Click on Yes to confirm deletion. (See screenshot below step 9)​

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12. Close regedit.​

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13. Log off and log on.​

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   Note

After you log on to the computer, the profile folder you are having problems with is re-created. If not, then try a System Restore using a restore point dated before you got this error. If this still does not help, then you will need to create a new account and restore the user folder files from the backup created at step 1.

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

 

[bcasper05]

I didn't know about that, nor did I know how to do that. What are my solutions?

 

[Brink]

You can install a antivirus program like the free Avast Home Edition to scan it with.

 

[bcasper05]

Okay well i currently do have one and after a restart there was no problems with it. So what could I do next?

 

[Brink]

That's great news.

You can now copy over the contents of your old user account's C:\Users\(user-name) folders into the corresponding new account's C:\Users\(user-name) folders. If everything still checks out ok, then you can delete the old user account from within the new one.

 

[bcasper05]

Well everything is backed up on my external hard drive so I'm good. What do I do next?

 

[Brink]

Well everything is backed up on my external hard drive so I'm good. What do I do next?

If you have not already, then:

You can now copy over the contents of your old user account's C:\Users\(user-name) folders into the corresponding new account's C:\Users\(user-name) folders. If everything still checks out ok, then you can delete the old user account from within the new one.

 

[bcasper05]

Maybe I should explain this better. When I restored my computer to factory state, yes I did get that error message that I am logged on a temporary user, BUT all my pictures/music/videos/documents got deleted when I would restart the computer because they were being placed under C:\Users\TEMP.100Casper.000 and everytime I placed something in the folders, or even the desktop, it would get deleted when I restarted the computer. So technically I don't have ANYTHING in ANY of the folders, or under my "user" folder in the C drive. I already have everything backed up on my external hard drive, I had it done days ago, and it's already been 2 weeks since all this crap went down, so if you could just tell me something new besides running a scan or backing up my non-existant files from my user folder under the C drive.

 

[Brink]

Casper,

Go ahead and do another Factory Restore. It seems something may have gone wrong the first time if you are getting this error right after doing it. Afterwards, run a antivirus scan on your backups before restoring anything from it to be safe.

 

[bcasper05]

Well I followed your (and Geek Squads) advice, and reinstalled the restore CD. It went through everything and it recently just finished. Afterwards when I logged on, the message of death got me again.

Is there ANY solution to this problem? Besides going on Internet Explorer (which I am on right now), I haven't done ANYTHING else that might catch a virus. I don't wanna pay Toshiba $35 to get a solution from them, so what else can I do? Again I have the C:\Users\TEMP folder for documents/pictures/music/video/desktop again, I have everything backed up on my external hard drive, so what can I do?!

 

[Brink]

Casper,

It seems that you may have a corrupted Vista from your recovery partition since this keeps happening right after a factory restore without you doing or installing anything else.

If you have a friend that has the same model of computer as you, then you can try the OEM recovery discs from his/her computer on your computer with your product key number to see if it works instead. If not, then you may need to get a replacement copy from Toshiba if you have not already created a set of your own.

I'm not sure what else it could be. :huh:

 

[bcasper05]

If i follow the steps but instead of deleting the profile i go on it and do the regedit part then i can find the profile list of my username. Can i go on from there or no?

 

[Brink]

You can give it a try to see.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/1...-failed-logon-user-profile-cannot-loaded.html

 

[idamike49]

I have been fussing with this temporary profile for a month with no time to research the problem. I had a few minutes tonight and stumbled on to you. I just wanted to say a big thank you. I ran through the process and it worked like a charm.

Thanks again

 

[Brink]

You're welcome Mike. I'm happy to hear that you got it sorted.

Shawn

 

[maglib]

This keeps happening to my computer now. My son has had to have his restored 5 times in 3 months and now mine as the administrator has needed it done twice in only a week plus the other 2 profiles lost all theirs too. After it loses, I end up with MSN as my home page on IE which not only did I change, I had set up as a restricted site for all users!!!!! How can i get rid of MSN forever even if the user profile gets corrupted. By the way, it only started happening after my SIL went on MSN and is happening on all the pc's she has used including my MIL's and BIL's which are all XP pc's. May or may not be related but I hate MSN.

Is MS working on a fix or is 7 their answer? Sadly I had ME on my last PC and now I buy another 5 years later and got Vista. Seems I keep getting the wrong Windows versions....

Please find out what is causing this issue that is definitely a nightmare now for me and system restore isn't working and I have all these id's everywhere and since some users have some files in the temps, I'm just afraid to delete anything.

Thank you for any help.

 

[Brink]

Hello Maglib, and welcome to Vista Forums.

If you are able to, backup anything that you do not want to lose. It sounds like you may have a corrupted installation and may need to do a clean install of Vista to fix all this. If you are not able to, the try the methods in the tutorial (including yellow TIP box if needed) to get to a point where you can backup your files.

 

[maglib]

thank you. I decided to do a system restore to the oldest restore date (early Sept). As one of the many fixes, we actually created 2 new id's so my sons account has actually needed fixing even more times.

Well after doing the system restore, the new account names no longer shows up as an option. If I go to regedit, the account isn't listed. If I look under C:/users the accounts are both still there.

How can I get them to show back up on the sign in screens. Note they were not administrator accounts but there is files he doesn't want to lose. I already copied them. I found info similar on XP where it said use CTRL ALT DEL but that doesn't work in this case.

Any chance I can get the account back up?

Another issue: My product key. I went online and looked and that code didn't work then I went to the code listed on my pc and that didn't work. Why they would be different????? I do know that they sent me an install disc as I did have to do a complete reinstall after a month. I don't want to go this route if I don't have to as I know I lost all the software and it took days back then, now after 2 years I'm sure I couldn't reinstall all the other software... especially finding driver files for the non-Vista compatible printer and scanners.... Wish I had it all written down.

Vista is worst than ME....... They should give 7 upgrades for free to all of us who supported Vista and now are once again going to lose support as it's really an absolute nightmare. I won't pay to upgrade, will use LINUX if they won't give it. It's amazing that they sold this and even their support staff didn't like it and many were using XP when I spoke with them. It's worst than ME for which while it was shaky, I never had such issues as I'm constantly facing with Vista.

Thank you for your diligence and answers.

any help to getting back the profiles from the last message? They still exist under users directory.

Thanks.

 

[Brink]

Maglib,

What brand is your computer? I'll see if I can lookup the factory restore instructions for it at the manufacturer's website. If you are able to, be sure to backup anything that you do not want to lose.

 

[maglib]

I have the reinstall disc. I really don't want to go that route. Dell dimension e521 is the computer.

just a a note. I did find that the SP2 service pack didn't originally install, which I now have installed. May or may not be related to my issues as other updates are installed. There was an error message and the fix worked that was listed.

i did get the user id once again up and running after many hours, then the issue is they can't get MS Word clip art pictures unless they run word as an administrator. I found fixes for this clip art issue for XP but not Vista. Seems some type of security issue is out of wack which may be related to the profile issue?

Now my newest issue after installing SP2 is my printer HP C7280 is printing blank pages which is definitely only after the update as I printed fine right before the update and did nothing else other than call up email to print out some attachments. I tried in other programs including just a screen print w/ same blank page being sent and the printer going into a non-ending work mode w/ nothing coming that I have to cancel out.

I also found 3 more people with same vista issue w/ profile problems all of a sudden happening so it has to be related to some updates and security. This was just at a meeting of 10 people so seems like a very common recent problem.

Thanks again for any assistance but I really don't want to reinstall as too many other programs will be lost.

 

[nate42nd]

This happened to me and it's a pain. I could not fix it. Thankfully I had a complete image from just a month ago. I used that to restore my computer. I would sure like to know what causes it to happen.

I was messing around with some sharing on my home network. I think that is what caused it but it sure is a bad deal. I had everything backed up so I lost nothing. It may not be the same for some. Good luck and thanks for the tutorial so I had something to try before using the image.