Vista, user profile cannot be loaded

[Dannep]

Hi guys,
i have a serious problem and im struggling to find anyway to get my files safetly.

what has happened is ive had the dell 0146 error which means the hard drive is failing.

i want to get my files off it but i cant log on because it will just hang at the windows loading screen.

after some research i did the whole chkdsk /r and let that run which took about 12hours

i also tried using the vista disc to go into repair but that didnt work, so i did chkdsk next as i said above

when that finished i tried to log in and now it says user profile cannot be loaded

i tried safe mode and it puts you in a temporary profile where changes you make are not safe onced logged off

i tried the reg edit thing where u change the user profile and remove the .bak off the end and changed state to 0 value that didnt work

i tried going into safe mode with cmd and tried creating a new admin account, i get the same user profile cannot be loaded when i try to log into that too

i managed to activate the admin account and i can log in through that when i let windows run normally but it still says the temporary profile thing when it starts up

and i cant view any of my files

my next idea was to use cmd to try copy the files from my hard drive to an external hdd using xcopy but i cant get it to work

i tried xcopy "C:\User\Dan" "F:\DANFILES" /i /s /y

that didnt work , it just says file not found when it is there i know it is.

i just really need the files off the hard drive and im at a brickwall, its got all my uni work on and i dont know what to do please does someone have a solution for me?

 

[Brink]

Hello Dannep, and welcome to Vista Forums.

You might see if this tutorial may be able to help instead.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/135858-user-profile-error-logged-temporary-profile.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[Dannep]

i tried that guide too and it still didnt work, im so stressed im going to lose my files

 

[Yard Dog]

Hello, and if that does not work , see if you can access your stuff thru Ubuntu : Use Ubuntu Live CD to Backup Files from Your Dead Windows Computer - How-To Geek

 

[Dannep]

that ubuntu method looks very promising thank you yard dog i will be trying it in the next 30mins so fingers crossed! ill post back results thanks muchly

 

[Yard Dog]

I wish you luck , If that does not work. we in trouble.

 

[Dannep]

it hasnt worked, i loaded ubuntu and when i view the hard drive and go into docs and settings i cant see my user name

but it still says theres only 85gb free when its a 250gb hard drive so surely my data is still there?

any more solutions please? im at wits end

 

[Yard Dog]

Dang. that is not good. Anything worthwhile to save , that you can see ? If so, get it now.

 

[Dannep]

there was literally nothing, only Default and Public, Dan was not there, im proper gutted, but i logged back on in windows on the admin account ive activated and norton popped up and i thought ooo hold on a second
31gb's of files backed up 10/12
oh i jumped for joy! all these times i cursed norton and it has saved my files!
im just hoping it got everything as im sure there was atleast 100gbs worth
fingers crossed anyway

thanks for all the help and if you do have any solutions please post them as i will be checking this when i get an email.

the files must be there even if they have been split as the hdd capacity hasnt changed from what i remembered it as!

 

[Yard Dog]

Looking,, see if this gives you anything : SystemRescueCd

 

[Dannep]

oooo that also looks promising, im halfway through recovering my files from good ole norton so once ive got those backed up on my external ill give that a try for all the extra files to recover, thanks very much for your help! will keep posted