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

​

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

 

[Lonnix]

Funny thing is that i've already done that and some other stuff,BUT guess what?i managed to create another administrator account by doing a command prompt to enable a real built in administrator...so i can transfer my old administrative files to a standard account and only use my new administrator account when needed...sadly there was nttn that could be done to enter back into my old account,and i dont want to delete it bcause i fear it will disrupt the computer somehow,so i'll have to leave as is until theres a way to fix it,thanks for your help...much appreciated :D

 

[Brink]

Lonnix,

I'm happy to hear that you have got it sorted to work fine for you. As long as you have a working adminstrator account, it will not hurt anything to delete your old corrupted user account though.

 

[pepsimiddleton]

Please help me, I received a new vaio yesterday, spent 6 hours loading photo's and documents and software etc and it worked great.

Today I got the error message that the user profile service failed my logon.

I followed the instructions on this thread to the point where I had to create a new user account in the control panel (my control panel did not have the click to play icon)

Anyway I managed to set up a new user account another way and restarted the computer.

I can log in now on all the profiles but the file I saved as my backup in safe mode is not on the desktop where I saved it and none of my documents or photo's are on my user profile even though other things I had downloaded (Mozilla, Itunes, printer drivers etc) are.

Have I lost everything or is it on the computer somewhere for me to find?

Please help I am losing the will to live and have so far not found the vaio support to be the 'pampered' experience it claims to be on the website!

 

[Brink]

Hello PepsiMiddleton, and welcome to Vista Forums.

It should still be in the old user account's C:\Users\(user name) folders. You can open them from within your new account and copy over what you want.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[pepsimiddleton]

oh my god why didn't i think to look there, brilliant, thank you, you've made my day!

Thought I was going to have to sit for another 6 hours reloading stuff.

I just hope it doesn't happen again I've been in a bad mood all day cos of it!

Thank you again:D

 

[Brink]

You're welcome PepsiMiddleton.

 

[oneofayykind]

Please help me... I backed up the user profile folder and saved it to the desktop of the temporary user that windows created when I had this problem. I should have created a new user or backed it up to the c root drive but I didnt. I deleted the reg key for the profile i was having a problem with and also deleted the profile folder like it says after I backed it up to the desktop of the temp user. I am an idiot and now I have no idea where the backup is. I'm screwed as this is a clients computer!!! What can I do to get this folder back? I never deleted it out of the recycle bin and I went into the recycle bin and hit restore and it said the folder already existed do I want to overwrite and I said yes. But nothign is in the profile folder. PLease someone help

 

[Brink]

Hello Oneofayykind, and welcome to Vista Forums.

Double check to see if it may still be at the C:\Users\(user name) folder location.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[oneofayykind]

unfortunately no its not there under users. I have checked everywhere on the computer. I was able to get an answer from experts exchange. I had to installed undelete and then recover the files from the computer. Some of them worked and some of them didn't. Seems like whatever you create while you are under the temp profile gets deleted once you log off it. Although it remains SOMEWHERE on the hard drive just who knows where. I called Dell support because I have a Dell and they were useless.

 

[Brink]

I'm sorry to hear that OneofAyyKind. It appears that they are gone or just useless now.

 

[Dernus]

I am having the same issue, but it is very random, well almost.
I am getting this error

Windows cannot load the locally stored profile. Possible causes of this error include insufficient security rights or a corrupt local profile.
DETAIL - The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process.

I have found that if I reboot, but with the network cable unplugged, the profile will load correctly.

This has been the case for both Vista Ultimate and Home Premium on my PC.

Not sure if it has something to do with the network side of things (I keep my drivers and windows updates upto date), or that fact it is multihomed, or because I have a RAID 0 setup. Could also be the Virus Scanner locking the files on boot (Symantec Antivirus 10).

I rebuild my system every few months, but I just can't nut this one out.

 

[Brink]

Hello Dernus, and welcome to Vista Forums.

As a test create a new administrator account and see if it works ok when you have the network cable plugged in. If it does, then just delete the old user account from within the new one.

Shawn

 

[skyeball]

I followed the steps and my profile was not re-created. I just have the new profile now. I tried a restore but received an error message that it was unsuccessful, twice. I am left with a new profile and the back up folder is empty.....how do I access all my folders (pics, music etc....). Can I still merge the info and settings in my new profile as everything is still on my hard drive?

 

[Brink]

Hello Skyeball, and welcome to Vista Forums.

If you still have the old C:\Users\(username) folder, then yes you can just copy the contents over to the corresponding folders in the the new user account.

Shawn

 

[herehereMich]

Hello,

I have a similar problem and I'm hoping you (or another contributor) can help me.
I found the topic using a search and I found a couple of similar threads but they haven't been helpful.

Two weeks ago my computer downloaded an automatic update for Windows Media Player and since then I am always logged on with a temporary user profile
(and a prompt notes that I wasn't logged properly and any changes made to the temporary profile created will be lost).

Each time I log off/log on a new temporary profile is created and all settings are reset.
Occasionally files downloaded will be saved, however with the exception of programs I have lost several files with each log off/shutdown.

I think something in my registry may have been changed- I've read about MS auto updates occasionally doing this, and I'm hoping to correct the problem.

I've created two other user profiles and they haven't helped- I have a total of 3 user profiles- only one has programs, etc.


Thanks in advance,
Michael

 

[Brink]

Hello Michael, and welcome to Vista Forums.

You might see if you can do a System Restore using a restore point dated when your user account worked properly to see if it can fix this for you.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[herehereMich]

Thank you for replying Shawn.
I tried a system restore shortly after it happenned but the same thing happens-

Vista indicates it is preparing my desktop preferences (which it never did before) and the desktop appears a few minutes later with the factory icons and the prompt that I've logged on with a temporary profile and the setting will not be saved.

I think the auto update may have jarred something but I'm not sure what was changed in the process. I've also run several full scans in safe mode but everything else is okay.

Is it possible that deleting the original profile will restore things? - I created other profiles and tried logging in with each one but the system starts the same. (I'm hesitant to delete the main profile because everything is found through it).

Thanks,
Michael

 

[Brink]

Michael,

I would give it a try using STEP TWO. Just be sure to backup anything that you do not want to lose to be safe though.

 

[herehereMich]

Thanks, I searched and found a resolution on Microsoft's page (I think you covered this earlier in the thread regarding sid.bak).

I removed the string and things went to normal, however when I tried removing the profile as indicated (and saving the contents in an accessible folder)- the folder with files never appeared.

Thanks for your help and I'm glad I didn't perform what was suggested on another site- keeping the string and retitling it. It seems this is very easy to resolve and could be done with an automatic update (removing .bak string from the registry).


Thanks,
Michael

 

[Brink]

Michael, I'm happy to hear that you got this sorted out.