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

 

[Brink]

I would keep good backups to be safe so that you do not lose anything in case you get the error and lose access completely. If you do, then you can do a clean reinstall and restore your file backups.

 

[billp]

Thanks for your patiece and help. I'll post results when I do something.
billp

 

[Sarumann]

Hey Shawn,

I tried your solution to the "temporary profile" problem, eventhough I am using Windows 7 and it is meant for Vista, because I have read that it should work the same way.

After following your instructions I found the profile folder which belonged to the account I deleted, but in user accounts the profile was of course gone, and after creating a new one with the same name, Windows also created a new profile folder.

So now I have 2 accounts and 3 account folders (the one belonging to the deleted account can't be deleted for some reasons). Could you please tell me how to make number of my accounts equal number of my account folders?

Looking forward to your answer

Ben

 

[Brink]

Hello Ben, and welcome to Vista Forums.

You can safely delete any C:\Users\(user-name) folder that you had also deleted the user account for in the Control Panel - User Accounts. However, you might look through these user folders to see if there may be anything that you wish to copy back into your current account first.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[bobk99]

10. Log off and log on.
NOTE: After you logon to the computer, the profile folder you are having problems with is re-created.

Greetings Shawn,
Upon reading through this and the other related thread one notes that the excellence of your guidance is truly out of this world. It is greatly appreciated.

After three years of usage, my HP Pavilion with Vista home premium 32 suddenly showed up with this thread's subject problem for the main account. Other accounts can be created including the built-in administrator. The 'bak' editing in the register does not correct the problem, there are no restore points prior to the problem, and startup repair did not help. Deleting the bad account followed by step 10 above has not been tried; nor has copying the folders/files to a new user account.

If one deletes the account but keeps the files, does Vista in step 10 automatically re-create the profile or is one to create a new user account with the same name? Does deleting the account leave the user folders under a different name? What do you mean by "profile folder?"

Regards,
bob

 

[Brink]

Hello Bob,

Doing the steps as is in the tutorial should result in the restoration of your user account. However, be sure to backup the files in your user folders to be safe in case your user profile is unable to be restored. This way you can just create a new administrator account and copy the backed up files into the new account.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[bobk99]

Hello Bob,

Doing the steps as is in the tutorial should result in the restoration of your user account. (text left out)...(or) you can just create a new administrator account and copy the backed up files into the new account.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Thanks for such quick response, Shawn. You are a treasure to have still monitoring this thread! Would you kindly offer further comment on whether or not the following unique aspects of the problem might affect the solutions:

1) The bad user account in this case (named 'bob' of course) is very large - over 60gb after pruning down. There is not room for another copy on the computer's hard drive which is only 137gb total. (It has been backed up on an external 1TB drive.) Does deletion of the account with keeping files make another copy of the data first or will it work within the same hard drive space that is used now?

If the second option of copying into a new user account is pursued, is it possible to copy a portion, check its operation in the new account, delete the portion in the bad account folders, and then proceed so on? Or will one get into trouble with missing .ini files or other hidden stuff?

2) There is no key in the register with solely 'bob' identified as the user. There is one identified as 'Bob.Bob-PC' which gets the '.bak' every time 'bob' is logged on even though the '.bak' had been edited out. In Explore under users it can be seen that a new user folder has been created named 'TEMP.Bob-PC with no data in it and apparently none can be saved there in 'bob' sessions. (Don't know if it is important but the name of this laptop is Bob-PC.) Would you say that the register key with 'Bob.Bob-PC' is the one to back up and delete? It obviously is the temp one that logging into 'bob' utilizes.


Regards,
bob

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome Bob, and thank you.

I would recommend to create a new adminsitrator account, then "Cut & Paste" the files in your old user account user folders into your new one. This way you are not using up any more space for the files that you currently are. After everything checks out ok in the new account, you can delete the old corrupted one from within the new account.

The Start Menu shortcuts for a individual user account is located in the hidden C:\Users\(user name)\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs folder. This way you can copy them over as well.

 

[bobk99]

Thanks again, Shawn. When using the cut&paste or copy approach into a new user does one need to worry about any other files in AppData, or .ini files that are all over the place, or other hidden files? Believe one can copy anything except the 'ntuser' files, dat etc.

Another quick question: in the old user, 'bob', there is 'My Documents' and 'Documents' which seem to be the same so only one needs copying over to the new account. Similarly, there is 'Pictures' and 'My Pictures' (in my doc and in doc) which seem to be the same so only one needs copying over. Right?

Many thanks,
bob

 

[Brink]

Bob,

There will be some file in the AppData folder that will not allowed to copy over. When you are prompted about them, you can just ignore them to finish copying the others.

You would only need to copy the contents of the user folders that are not hidden (faded) junction point folders instead.

 

[bobk99]

Bob,

There will be some file in the AppData folder that will not allowed to copy over. When you are prompted about them, you can just ignore them to finish copying the others.

You would only need to copy the contents of the user folders that are not hidden (faded) junction point folders instead.

Hi Shawn,
One last question - should the Desktop.ini files of the old user account be copied over and replace the Desktop.ini files of the new account? or does it make any difference which ones are kept? The desktop.ini in pictures and in music of the new user account were replaced by the old ones and then it occurred to me that this might not be the best.

Regards,
bob

 

[Brink]

No problem. No, you will not need to copy them over. Just the normal files (images, data, startup shortcuts, etc...) that you wanted to keep.

 

[bobk99]

:D joy joy
Sir Brink,
Thanks for all your help in understanding this problem and guidance in solving it, Shawn. All has been recovered by establishing a new user, establishing the built-in administrator account, and copy-paste from old bad account into the new good account in small enough chunks that the hard drive space allowed. The new user account worked appropriately after the copying and contained all of the data. Even onenote got all the data back.

Still working two nuances; one with Palm Desktop which doesn't run with error message about wrong configuration setting, but all the data is there; the other with Adobe Photoshop Elements in which some of the organization of photos in the gallery is mixed up but all the photos are here and accessible.

Thanks Much,
bob

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome Bob.

 

[Angela824]

Hello~

I am having this same problem. I took my laptop to Geek Squad and the guy knew nothing about this. He showed me how to access all my files that were under my username. I moved all those files to the desktop and everything seemed to be working fine. Now, this morning the computer restarted and seemed as though it was brand new. Now, I tried to access all my files the same way I was shown, and there is nothing there! How do I get them back??? PLEASE Help!!!

 

[Brink]

Hello Angela, and welcome to Vista Forums.

Have you tried the suggestions and steps in the tutorial on the 1st page of this thread to see if it may be able to help?

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[Angela824]

I can do those steps, But it mentions to back up your data. And that is the problem I am having, I cant find all my files.

 

[Brink]

Check back at the C:\Users\(user-name) folders location to see if they may be there.

If not, create a new administrator account temporarily to see if you may be able to find or access them while logged into that account.

If still not, then you might try the free progams ShadowExplorer or Recuva to try and recover the files from their original source folder.

 

[Angela824]

Unfortunately, No such luck. Im not sure what else to do??

 

[carl0s]

Thank you very much, .