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

​

​

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.​

​

OR​

​

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

​

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 2C.​

​

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 the STEP TWO section below.​

​

OR​

​

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​

​

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​

​

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.​

​

2. Open the Start menu.​

​

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

​

4. If prompted by UAC, then 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. (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.​

​

B) Repeat step 6 until you find the one that you deleted in step 1 above.​

​

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.​

​

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

​

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

​

​

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)​

​

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

​

12. Close regedit.​

​

13. Log off and log on.​

​

​

   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

 

[nhutl1]

Acer Aspire 5536
Amd Motherboard and processor
ATI Graphics Card
OEM vista home premium system

Hello,

I hope Shawn is still here to help me with my problem...see last night i installed some updates for vista and when it went to restart it did not start.
I checked the BIOS settings and booted from a vista boot disc and used Startup repair, when this had finished i checked the log and found that the master boot record had been corrupted but anyway it fixed this supposedly and when i started up the machine again i logged on and it said "Preparing your desktop..." after this it went to a blue screen with my mouse in the middle of the screen.
I ctrl+alt+del it to bring up the task manager where i then run explorer.exe, it loads the desktop with some of my desktop items missing and the pop-up baloon stating "Logged on with a Temporary Profile..."etc.
my drives messed around:
My OEM partition which is normally hidden is now my main C Drive and my main Acer drive is now my D drive :/
Pls tell me if u need any more information

regards,
Nick

 

[Brink]

Hello Nick, and welcome to Vista Forums.

Have you tried any of the tutorial yet to see if it may be able to help you fix this error? Be sure to do the STEP ONE section first.

 

[nhutl1]

sry i will b right on that once it is finished the disk check

regards,
Nick

 

[nhutl1]

I started on step 2 after doin step one and found that when i went into control panel and then User Accounts that when i click on Manage another account absolutely nothing happens o.o :/
PLS HEELP!!!

regards,
Nick

 

[Brink]

Nick,

That's not good. You might see if you may be able to do a system restore at boot using a restore point (if available) dated before you installed these updates and got this problem.

If not, then it looks like you may need to do a full factory restore instead. Be sure to backup anything that you do not want to lose first though. Scroll down a bit to Q7 in the link below for the chart on the left where you press ALT + F10 off and on during boot to start the factory restore.

Acer Service & Support

 

[nhutl1]

Thx for ur help,
We actually just got it back from the acer service center last week where they had to replace the hard drive and the first thing i tried when this happened was F10+alt on and offf repeatedly but it wouldnt work :/
Last night when it made the up date it also made a restore point but the computer reckons there isnt any

oh yea and i restored my user profile
and another thing...cuz i only just got it back from acer there is really nothing on it that i care about losing

 

[nhutl1]

umm...I am still working on my laptop and would like some advice:
My main drive is now my secondary drive and my hidden OEM partition is my main drive...well when booting from the vista boot disc and clicking load drivers it has my main drive as C drive and my OEM partition as D drive like it should normally but when i start it back up it is back to it's messed up way :/

Do you have any ideas on y this is happening and how to fix it? if u can pls
regards,
Nick

 

[Brink]

Nick,

This is normal for your OEM partition to be different like this at boot, and in Windows. Whenever you are in Windows Vista, it will consider the hard drive that it's installed on as the C: drive no matter what drive letter it my be in any other environment (ex: at boot, or if your dual booting with another OS)

 

[nhutl1]

i dont think i explained it right but anyway i fixed it by going into the rgistry and switching the mounted drive letters around: PROBLEM SOLVED
thx for ur help,
Nick

 

[Brink]

Ah, ok. I'm happy to hear that you got it sorted.

 

[onlykidalive]

ok. I got confused on step one. I have no idea what you mean by profile. But i guessed and i tried all the steps and nothing happen. What i deleted as the one where you manage your acc. Im guessing im wrong also will upgrading it to window 7 fix the problem?

 

[nhutl1]

umm yes, because that would be replacing the whole operating system and your user data. so it will definitely fix your problem if you replace your operating system.

regards,
Nick

 

[onlykidalive]

what about step 1. I went through the whole'provcess deleted the acc and then at the end nothing happen so i lost my acc. The system restore wont work. so what should i do now?

 

[Brink]

Hello Onlykidalive, and welcome to Vista Forums.

Did you create a backup of the files as suggested in the WARNING of step 1?

If so, then you could just create a new administrator account and copy the files back.

 

[onlykidalive]

yeah but wat do i do with the folder. I see have my user folder in the user folder but icant access it. I made another admin acc it says that icantgo on it and get my files

 

[Brink]

You should be able to take ownership of the folder and it's contents, and set their permissions to "Allow" your new administrator account "Full control" of them to be able to afterwards.

 

[s2pids2pid]

hi
i have the same problem of this topic. i don't have a second adminstrator account and i only use my main account which is the adminstrator account. on the step where it suggests to backup the .bak registry key, i don't know where i should export the key to since i only have one account (the admistrator account). also, i can't delete my profile folder since its the adminstrator account, do i really have to delete it?

 

[Brink]

Hello s2pids2pid, and welcome to Vista Forums.

You should be able to do the STEP ONE section to log on as an adminsitrator using Safe Mode and the built-in Administrator account.

 

[s2pids2pid]

Hi,
Thanks for replying back so fast. I'm still having trouble with this though. I don't get the difference between deleting the user account profile from deleting the C:\Users\(user-name) folder. Can you explain why I have to delete this user acount profile before I just delete the .bak registry key? Also could you explain how to delete the user account profile or do I really just follow the "How to delete a user account in vista" guide? Could you also please explain "You should backup anything you do not want to lose in this user account personal folders first. (See note in step 10) They will be located at: C:\Users\(username)"? How is the fact that if I delete my user account profile I could lose things if I don't back them up first different from deleting the C:\Users\(user-name) folder?

Thank you in advance.

 

[Brink]

Deleting .bak is for if you get the error message below instead. You can try it, but it may not work since this is not the error message that you said you got.

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


Yep, you would just click on the link in step 1 for how to delete the user account, but just do not delete the C:\User\(user-name) folder at step 4 in the steps at that link.


The backup part is just a safety precaution so that you will not lose anything in case something does go wrong and you lose the user account. You would just manually copy anything say from inside the "Videos", "Musis", etc... folders in the C:\User\(user-name) folder of the user account that you are deleting before deleting them, then save it to another location.