How to fix a Windows Vista or 7 corrupt user profile: The User Profile Service failed the logon
If you're getting a "The User Profile Service failed the logon" message in Windows 7 or Vista, don't panic - we show you how to fix it
A corrupt user profile is one of the most annoying faults you can get. Although your data remains safe on your hard disk, it prevents you from logging on to get access to it. If you're getting a "The User Profile Service failed the logon" message in Windows 7 or Vista, then don't panic, as the error is fairly easy to fix. We'll show you how in this article.
As always, when trying to repair your computer there's a chance that you could cause further problems, so regular backups are a must. As you can't get into your computer, it may be prudent to take its hard disk out and save the files to another computer or laptop. USB disk caddies can be a life saver in this situation, letting you plug your hard disk with the damaged user profile in it, into another computer via USB.
SYSTEM RESTORE
There's a chance that you can fix your computer by using System Restore. To do this, restart your computer and hit F8 to bring up the Windows 7 or Vista boot menu. Choose Safe Mode and boot into Windows. When you're at the desktop get up a Command Prompt and type in rstrui to load System Restore. Click Next and then choose the restore point by date: pick a date where you know that you computer worked properly. Click Next and Finish to restore your computer. That may fix the issue, but if not, you'll need to follow our advice below. First, you should make a backup of your computer's Registry using Safe Mode first, which we'll show you how to do.
BACKUP THE REGISTRY
Your first job is to backup the Registry, protecting your computer should the steps fail below. Fortunately, this is an easy job and you don't need to be able to boot into the full OS to do it. Restart your computer and tap F8 after the BIOS POST screen to bring up the boot menu. Select Safe mode from the list.
Let your computer boot up. You may need to enter your username and password to log in to the Safe Mode Desktop. Normally, you'd be able to backup the Registry by creating a System Restore point, but you can't do this in Safe Mode. Instead click on Start, type Regedit and hit Enter. In the Registry Editor hit File, Export, browse to where you want to save backup, enter a name and click Save.
If your computer has a second Administrator account that you can access, you can backup the Registry simply by booting into Windows and creating a new System Restore Point. Click Start, right-click Computer and select Properties. Click System Protection in the left-hand pane, then click the System protection tab and then click Create. Your computer will take a backup of key files and the Registry.
RESTORING THE REGISTRY
If you do have a further problem with your computer after making Registry changes, you'll need to restore everything to its previous settings. Doing this is pretty easy once you've followed our steps above. Restart your computer and tap F8 after the BIOS POST test messages to bring up the boot menu. Select Safe Mode to boot into the special mode used for recovery. If prompted, select your username and enter your password to log onto your computer.
If you created a backup by saving the Registry, browse to the .reg file you created above to find the Registry backup for your computer. Just double-click this file and click OK on the warning dialog box to integrate your old settings into the Registry. When you reboot your computer next you Registry will be back its old settings.
If you created a backup by creating a new System Restore Point, run System Restore from the Start Menu. Select the System Restore point you created, using the date and time to select the correct one and restore your computer. After a reboot, you'll have the Registry back in its initial state before you made any changes.
At this point you'll still have the original corrupted user profile problems, but you can now try following the instructions again (or attempting a different method) in order to recover your computer. You can restore your computer from the Registry backup as many times as you like, so don't worry about further attempts to fix your computer.
Be careful of your backup, though, as you can run the file after you've fixed your computer. If you accept the Registry changes that it will make, you'll just break your computer and corrupt your user profile, forcing to fix it again.
FIX A CORRUPTED USER PROFILE METHOD 1 - CREATE A NEW ACCOUNT
Creating a new account means that you don't have to edit the Registry and can avoid more potential damage. It's not such a clean fix, though, so if you're more confident about using Windows, read Method 2 below.
STEP 1 - ENABLE HIDDEN ADMINISTRATOR ACCOUNT
The easiest and safest way to fix the problem is to create a brand new account and copy over your old files and settings. However, you can only do this if you've got another user account on the computer with Administrator settings. If you have, just boot your computer as normal and skip to Step 2. If you haven't got another account, you need to enable the hidden Administrator account. Boot into safe mode, as above. Click Start, type 'cmd', then right-click Command Prompt and select Run as Administrator. In the command prompt type:
Net user administrator /active:yes
Hit Enter and you should see a message that says, "The command completed successfully".
STEP 2 - LOG IN
Start your computer as normal, but when you get to the login screen, don't log in with your normal user account. Instead, select either the hidden Administrator account, as enabled in Step 1, or another account on your computer that has admin access.
STEP 3 - CREATE NEW ACCOUNT
Open Control Panel from the Start Menu and select User Account and Family Safety, then click User Accounts. Click Manage another account, then click Create another account. Enter a name for your new user (it must be different to the old one, although you can rename later). Make your new account an Administrator, and click Create Account.
STEP 4 - COPY OLD DATA
You now need to copy all of your old data to your new account. First, click Start and choose Switch account. On the Login screen, click your new account to log in to it for the first time (if you don't do this, the user folder won't be created). When you're at the Desktop, log off and log into the Administrator account you used in Step 2.
Use Windows Explorer to go to your old user's folder, which is most likely c:Users
. Press Alt, click Tools and select Folder Options. Click View and make sure you've selected 'Show hidden files, folders, and drives'. Deselect 'Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)'. Click OK.
Select all files in this folder, except the ones that start Ntuser.dat, Ntuser.dat.log,Ntuser.ini. Press Control-C or select Copy from the Edit menu (if you don't see the menu press Alt first).
Browse to your new user's folder (most likely c:Users). Press Control-V or select Paste, or select Paste from the Edit menu (press Alt if you don't see this menu).
Log off and then back on as your new user. All of your files and application settings should have come across, although some email applications may have to have messages re-downloaded or their data exported separately (see the manufacturer's help). When you're sure that you've got everything, you can delete your old user and their files, and rename your new user account. Don't forget to go back into Safe mode and disable the Administrator account, using the following command:
Net user administrator /active:no
METHOD 2 - EDIT THE REGISTRY
This method has the potential to cause more harm, so it's best followed only by more advanced users. Remember to backup your Registry following the instructions at the start of this article.
STEP 1 LAUNCH REGEDIT
Restart your computer and boot into Safe Mode, following the instructions at the start of the article. Click on the Start menu, type Regedit and hit Enter to start the Registry Editor.
Using the left-hand panel, browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Windows NT/CurrentVersion/ProfileList. You'll see some folders with the name starting S-1-5 followed by a long number. Click on each one in turn, then in the Main Window look at the ProfileImagePath and make sure it's the account with the problem. This is the name of the user folder and contains the name of the username it relates to.
If you have two folders for your username, and one ends in .bak, you need to do this: right-click the folder that doesn't have .bak in it, select rename and add '.ba' to the end of the name. Rename the folder with .bak in it, deleting the .bak part of the name. If you have one folder with a .bak at the end, rename to remove the .bak part.
STEP 2 - CHANGE REFCOUNT
Select the folder with the .bak in the name, then in the main Window double-click RefCount. Change the Value data to 0, then click OK. Close the Registry Editor and Restart your computer, and you can now login to your existing account. If you have further problems, you can restore your original Registry settings following the instructions at the start of this article, then follow Method 1 to repair your corrupted user profile.
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