Not only did this post bring my computer up and running again, but it gave me
back all my research that I have saved for my thesis. Looks like I will be
making a copy now. This post was VERY helpful. Thank you so much!!!
"Marek" wrote:
Quote:
> I've just had this problem on my computer, and I just fixed it. > It seems to be caused by a horrendous bug in Vista that renames your User > Account Profile as a backup, and then creates a new user account with the > same name but with nothing in it. > I googled it and followed several bits of advice but none of them worked, > but I managed to fix it with a combination of ideas. > This is how I did it: > > 1. Boot up in Safe Mode. To do this, hit the F8 key while the computer is > booting, and then scroll down to the "Safe Mode" option and press enter. On > my computer the user account icon appeared, but bigger than normal, and I > clicked it and it loaded my desktop in safe mode. It came up with an error > bubble saying that my user account hadn't loaded properly, but i just ignored > this. > > 2. Click the Start Button and in the white "Start Search" space at the > bottom type "regedit" (without the quotation marks). This will open the > registry editor. > > 3. In the left-hand pane, navigate by clicking the little triangles next to > the following folders: > HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SOFTWARE > Microsoft > Windows NT > CurrentVersion > ProfileList > > You should now have a list of folders all starting with S-1-5- and then a > number. > (You might need to drag the divider between the 2 panes of the window across > so you can read the whole folder name) > Look at the end of each name and you should see one with .bak at the end of > it, and there will be another one above it with exactly the same name but > without .bak at the end. > The one that's got .bak at the end is your old User Profile that Vista has > now made into a backup, and the one without .bak after it is the new empty > User Profile that Vista has created. > Just to check that this is the case, have a look in the right-hand pane for > each of the 2 folders and look at what's written after "ProfileImagePath". > For the folder with .bak at the end it should say C:\Users\ and then your > usual User Account name, and for the one that doesn't have .bak at the end it > should say C:\Users\TEMP. > > What you need to do now is to rename the folders in the left-hand pane so > that the one with .bak at the end changes back to being the one containing > your proper User Profile and the new one without .bak at the end becomes the > backup. Do do this follow the next step: > > 4. Right click on the folder with .bak at the end and then click "rename", > and just change the ".bak" part to ".bk" - i.e. just remove the "a" from the > middle - (this is just to allow you to change the other one to have .bak at > the end). Press enter or click on some blank part of the screen for the > change to take effect. > Then, right click the one that doesn't have .bak at the end and click > "rename". Remove the .bak from the end and press enter or click anywhere on > some blank part of the screen to accept the change. > Then, right click on the one that now has .bk at the end, choose "rename" > and add the "a" back into the middle, so it now has .bak at the end. Press > enter or click on blank park of screen to accept the change. > Close the regedit window. > > 5. Click the Start Button and then "Restart". It should work now. Fingers > crossed. 
> > "george1dful" wrote: > Quote:
> >
> > Can someone PLEASE help me... My computer hasn't loaded for 3 days now.
> > It just comes up with:
> >
> > User Profile Service service failed the logon.
> >
> > User Profile could not load.
> >
> > What do I do? I cant get on the computer at all, because i only have
> > one user profile on my computer. I'm in school, and I don't really know
> > much about computers. What could have caused it? And how do I fix it?
> > Please help, I really need to get to some of the files on my
> > computer... Please!
> >
> >
> > --
> >
> >