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Vista - User Profile Error - Logged on with a Temporary Profile

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User Profile Error - Logged on with a Temporary Profile

Published by Brink
03-03-2008

How to Fix the Error "Your user profile was not loaded correctly! You have been logged on with a temporary profile." in Vista

Information
  When you log on to Vista using a temporary profile (user account), and you receive this error message:
For more information, see: Microsoft Help and Support: KB947242

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.
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.


RELATED LINKS:
STEP ONE:
Logon to the Computer
NOTE
  Go down the list here until you find a option that will work for you.
1. Logon 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.
2. Boot into Safe Mode.
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. See: How to Start Vista in Safe Mode
A) If Safe Mode did not, then enable the Built-in Administrator account. If it did , then go to step 2C.
NOTE: See: How to Enable or Disable the Real Built-in Administrator Account in Vista

B) Logoff, and logon to the Built-in Administrator account.

C) Go to the STEP TWO section below.
STEP TWO:
Delete the User Account Profle
1. Delete the User account profile that this error is for.
WARNING: 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)

2. Open the Start menu.

3. In the white line (Start Search) area, type regedit and press Enter.

4. If prompted, click on Continue in the UAC prompt.

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 in it. (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, 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.
repair.jpg
8. To Delete the Registry SID Key -
A) Right click on the SID key, from step 6 with bak at the end, and click on Delete. (See screenshot above)

B) Click on Yes to confirm deletion. (See screenshot below)
confirm.jpg
9. Close regedit.

10. Logoff and logon.
NOTE: After you logon 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 dows not help, then you will need to create a new account and restore the user folder files afterwards from the warning in step 1. See: How to Create a New User Account in Vista
That's it,
Shawn

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Applies to
All Vista Versions
64 Bit & 32 Bit

Old 04-10-2008  
shaze


Vista Home Premium 32bit.
 
 

Re: User Profile Error - Logged on with a Temporary Profile

wow! this must of taken u ages well erm i had this prob and i did the reedit thing i then took of the .bak instead of deleting anything so it still allowed me to logg on but looking at this have i doen something wrong

My System SpecsSystem Spec
Old 04-10-2008  
Brink


Vista x64 Ultimate SP2, Windows 7 Ultimate x64
 
 

Re: User Profile Error - Logged on with a Temporary Profile

Hi Shaze,

As long as it is letting you logon without any problems, it will be ok.

See this other related tutorial below to reference also to see if this was the problem you had instead of this one here.

The User Profile Service failed the logon. User profile cannot be loaded.

Shawn
My System SpecsSystem Spec
Old 04-19-2008  
swaye


Vista Home Basic
 
 

Re: User Profile Error - Logged on with a Temporary Profile

This did work for me also. Why did it happen and might it happen again????
My System SpecsSystem Spec
Old 04-19-2008  
Brink


Vista x64 Ultimate SP2, Windows 7 Ultimate x64
 
 

Re: User Profile Error - Logged on with a Temporary Profile

Hi Swaye, and welcome to Vista Forums.

It can happen from some unknown reasons, but usually can happen when the C:\Users\(user name) folder gets renamed or deleted. While this is not a problem that happens usually, it can happen again since part of why it happens is unknown.

Hope this helps,
Shawn
My System SpecsSystem Spec
Old 04-19-2008  
swaye


Vista Home Basic
 
 

Re: User Profile Error - Logged on with a Temporary Profile

Quote  Quote: Originally Posted by Brink View Post
Hi Swaye, and welcome to Vista Forums.

It can happen from some unknown reasons, but usually can happen when the C:\Users\(user name) folder gets renamed or deleted. While this is not a problem that happens usually, it can happen again since part of why it happens is unknown.

Hope this helps,
Shawn
Yes it does and I am grateful that you were here to help. I was not looking forward to re-installing vista. Your answer does precipitate another question. Is Microsoft doing anything to correct this particular problem??? Thank you...
My System SpecsSystem Spec
Old 04-19-2008  
Brink


Vista x64 Ultimate SP2, Windows 7 Ultimate x64
 
 

Re: User Profile Error - Logged on with a Temporary Profile

You're welcome Swaye,

Well, I suppose that they did place this solution in a KB article at the top of the tutorial, but I do not know if they are doing anything else.
My System SpecsSystem Spec
Old 04-27-2008  
srap


Vista Ultimate 32bit
 
 

Re: User Profile Error - Logged on with a Temporary Profile

Fortunately I've found this topic. I got the same problem like this since I renamed the folder in Linux accidentally and changed it back again right after.
Then when I logged in Vista with temp profile, I couldn't even open my profile folder "C:\users\srap not accessible. The file or folder is corrupted and unreadable" even though I can access to it in Linux.
My profile is sort of huge thing with lots of stuff so I'm very afraid of restore them all after. Is there anything else I could do in this case? And my profile hasn't been changed a bit.

Thank you to write this tut for us.
Srap.
My System SpecsSystem Spec
Old 04-27-2008  
Brink


Vista x64 Ultimate SP2, Windows 7 Ultimate x64
 
 

Re: User Profile Error - Logged on with a Temporary Profile

Hi Srap,

Welcome to Vista Forums.

You might try Option One in this tutorial below instead to see if it can restore the user profile to the way it was.

The User Profile Service failed the logon. User profile cannot be loaded.

Hope this helps,
Shawn
My System SpecsSystem Spec
Old 04-28-2008  
srap


Vista Ultimate 32bit
 
 

Re: User Profile Error - Logged on with a Temporary Profile

Thanks, Brink.
I'll try to do this and post a result. I don't know exactly what could be an explaination for this. I could open the folder Srap under NTFS Pro with a Hiren BootCD or in Linux, but not in Vista. Have to use Linux right now.

Edit: No help for whatever methods. I think I need to rename folder Srap by BootCD, then re-create this profile by deleting SID, and finally copy it back. Maybe I'll lose some info but it could be the best way now.

Last edited by srap; 04-28-2008 at 03:32 AM..
My System SpecsSystem Spec
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