…How’s that for good grammar?
Anyway, this error popped up for me in Windows 7 the other day. After the computer boots up, you click on your user icon, type in your password, and BAM! “The User Profile Service service failed the logon. User profile cannot be loaded.” And then you are logged off, and stuck back at the user select screen.
If you’re having this problem, hopefully you have another account on the computer that you can sign in to. To fix it…
- Sign into another Windows account.
- Run the registry editor.
- Navigate to HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList.
- Look at the sub-keys here in the form of S-1-5-21-XXXXXXXXXX-XXXXXXXXXX-XXXXXXXXXX-XXXX.
- One of them is probably duplicated with the extension “.bak.” Remove (or backup) the one without the .bak, and then rename the remaining one, removing the .bak extension.
- Log out and try to log in as your troublesome user. Should be fixed now!
Now, why did this happen in the first place? I think it has something to do with Windows Backup creating a backup copy of the profile during the backup procedure, and then being interrupted or something and not restoring things to how they used to be. Maybe there are other scenarios that can cause this problem as well. In any case, I hope this helps someone!
By the way, while this happened to me on Windows 7, I understand that the error can occur on Windows Vista as well.
Update: April 26, 2010
Some commenters have noted that if you only have one account on your computer, you may still be able to use this trick to fix your problem. Try booting in safe mode (press F8 at boot). If you can log in using safe mode, fix the registry as described above, and then reboot into normal mode and you should be all set.
Tags: Windows 7, Windows Vista
You are a star. Was flapping about loosing alot of work info, but not now it worked a treat
Thanks, worked great…..
This worked, thank you! this is what you do, dont delete ytour username! then click F8 again and click “repair”
Thank you so very much for this information, it totally saved my bacon. I thought I was really hosed!! Thanks again.
god bless u
Like the article says, you only care about the one with the .bak extension. Back up, rename, or remove the key that is the same as the one with the .bak extension. Then rename the .bak one, removing the extension. Don’t worry about any of the other subkeys that you see there.
I’m Rather confused.
I have 2 identical subkeys (minus the part with the .bak)
S-1-5-21-XXXXXXXXXX-XXXXXXXXXX-XXXXXXXXXX-XXXX.bak
S-1-5-21-XXXXXXXXXX-XXXXXXXXXX-XXXXXXXXXX-XXXX
and another (making it 3 choices)
S-1-5-21-XXXXXXXXXX-XXXXXXXXXX-XXXXXXXXXX-OOO
(it ends in 3 characters… it’s also identical to the others, but the last three digits are different hence the ‘OOO’s i put)
Which of these do I delete?
and which do i rename?
what do i rename it as?
I had this problem after only 3 days with my new computer and, like RobS, couldn’t edit the registry because I couldn’t log in in administrator mode. Following his comments, I booted up in safe mode and could log in OK to make the change. Thanks very much for your help – I’m sure that it has saved me hours/days of torture talking to “help” desks.
Thanks for this. But how do I get into the registry editor (Windows Vista home ed.)?
Thank you – this was helpful and resolved my problem. At first, I was unable to edit or delete anything in the registry editor (it was my administrator login that had the problem, so I was logging in with a different profile). When I logged in as the administrator in safe mode, though, I was able to make the necessary edits in the registry and now everything is working fine.
Thanks, I remember that oddity about the error message. I’ll update the article.
Cheers!
I was handed my mother-in-laws laptop with this message about 30 minutes ago and thought, why me?
Google led me here and it was fixed within minutes, with nothing lost and everything working.
Dell laptop. Vista Home Premium 32bit.
One user account with no login.
F8 trick (April 26) allowed me to edit the registry and reinstate the *.BAK key
BTW, the actual message begins, The User Profile Service service failed the logon…. An extra ‘service’ I thought you were refering to at the start of your article.
Thank you!!! I thought my dausghter had done something terrible, but this site first helped me turn on the administrator login and then remove the duplicate problem in ProfileList. It is now creating her desktop and we have lost nothing!
Thank you so much for your wonderful, helpful site. Will now go search if I can speed up her little Dell.
Awesome stuff. worked like a charm.
You are a life saver! I “used to be” a desktop support guy, and used to know these kinds of straight forward fixes, but it’s been too long!
I have a machine that I built myself, for home use, but I connected my VPN, and joined it to the domain. All was well for a very long time, but I had a network error with my Netgear, and once I finally had fixed that, with logging in and out and rebooting, some how this error creeped in.
You fix was right on the money.
Thank you!
THANK YOU! I’m was a registry hacking virgin until now. Thanks for being gentle. This worked on the first try.
Sincere Thanks. Works like magic!
Just wanted to say thanks for the help!! That fixed my problem quick and easy!
My computer won’t even let me go to safe mode. When it boots up and I press, hold, or even tap f8 it just takes me right back to the logon screen please help me
I will never again buy another Windows based product! My next computer will be a MAC and I will make darn sure I don’t purchase it at Best Buy. Every electronic item I have prchased there including my new ASUS Windows 7 has had problems.
I have tried these steps successfully completing them three times as i have used three different websites with same process/ Still does the same exact thing/ ANy other suggestions, my pc lost power during windows update and now everything is messed up.
I wouldn’t mind, but I brought the flipping laptop to work on wedding photographs I took last Saturday!
And all day today, I’ve had to download to my over-packed Acer pc and it’s soooo sllloooowww!
Might as well go to bed!
Ah…but you had the Vista CD. As said, I didn’t get as far as download and making a back up of the user manual and files etc.
Thank you anyway Sean. Seems I’m still waiting for a real teckie to bail me out of big do-do, otherwise I’m gonna have to ring the blasted mega expensive tech support!
Thought these gadgets are supposed to make life easier….NOW my new mobile has just lost its capacity to hold the memory card in the side…you know, the tiny door that keeps it in!
Ggggrrr. Really miffed now. Technology – who wants it!
Just wanted to chime in that I was able to fix this while not being able to access safe mode or a second account.
All I had to do is boot from the windows Vista CD, select language and choose repair. From there you go into the command prompt and type ‘regedit’
Once in regedit, go to hkey-Local-Machine and select it, and choose load Hive from the file menu. Navigate to your system drive C:/ in most cases, then drill down to Windows/system32/config and select the software file with no extension. I named this hive ‘Bad System’ when prompted. I swapped the bak and normal sub-keys in question (added .bk to the end of the non .bak one, removed .bak from the other and then changed the .bk to .bak also changed the RefCount and States values to 0. Then just unload the hive (select Bad System and select unload hive from the file menu) Quit regedit and your done!
Oh, and I tried to boot up in safe mode F8? It didn’t happen!
Still crying – help!
This is new laptop with Windows 7, so not upgrade and only one solitary logon account.
Thank You very much. I have this problem after I run windows 7 update. But it’s solved now.
Thanks
Well I’ve read loads of stuff and I’m impressed by all the knowledge out there, but it doesn’t help me I’m afraid as I only just brought the laptop.
This is the problem with having so many passwords for different things. I accidentally used a password which I use for something else, thinking it would be easy to remember. Later when I tried to log in, thinking I’d used something different I couldn’t remember it, so I created a new password. This was fine for the session I was doing (just finding my way around the pc), not having gone back on it for two weeks, the new password, this failed User Profile failed came up.
I only have the one account and I need to find a way around it. I too, am not at all techie, hence making a total mess of things, which is a good reason why I believe ALL pcs should come with the basic manual etc, not like this one, which is needing to make bake-up discs. I didn’t get that far!
So any ‘Idiot Guide’ step-by-step instructions for this as I am using Windows 7 not Vista. Or does it work the same as Vista steps? If so, that’s far too techie for me. Help?
Goodness thank you so much guys this really helped I have a way of breaking things or doing something bad and it just happens i did this to my brothers computer anyway if i could give u all millions of dollars for all your help I would but i hope a simple thanks is enough god bless you all for your help!
[...] The User Profile Service failed the logon. User profile cannot be loaded. – Vista Forums The User Profile Service failed the logon. User profile cannot be loaded. – aaron-kelley.net Reply With Quote + Reply to Thread « SideBySide and system [...]
Thanks, Jeff and Mwansa, for the comments. I’ve added a note to the article about using safe mode.
Thanks a bunch! Woke up this morning with this problem and only have one profile but I took the advice of another respondent who booted in safe mode and it worked perfectly! You’re a life saver!
Thanks a bunch! Phew, win 7 gave me a scare. I didnt have another account too. But I was able to log in in safe mode and change the registry from there. Great, thanks again. I have an assignment due tomo and this win 7 was going to ruin everything.
Apologies, I do not have a solution for you if you only have one account. (I always create at least two accounts because I’ve had similar trouble before, where one became unusable!) Sanjeev below suggests that there may be a solution over at vistax64.com. Good luck in your search!
i only have one user account so i can’t get past anything. Can you help?
What if I only have 1 user account? I dun have an admin account or second user account for me to logon? Help!!!! I can’t use my computer to study my CPA.
It will not allow me to rename or delte any of the files… PLEASE HELP
Thanks Aaron,
It worked for me. Thanks a ton! Although i have to refer the other site vistax64.com and got detail procedure. In my case it was one account only, so was worried more.
Thanks again! it worked like magic.
Worked for me like a charm; THANKS!
This works as a treat. Thank you very much
If none of them has the “.bak,” then the cause of your problem is not the one that I uncovered here. At the moment, I don’t know what else it could be… sorry I can’t be of any help!
This same problem has occured now twice when trying to set up my new computer, transferring the old accounts with easy transfer. After the first time I did a clean install of windows 7, that fixed it temporarily, but now the problem has re-occured! I don’t want to reinstall windows every two days!
Trying out the proposed solution, I have the following comments: My profile list shows 5 entries, none of which has the . bak.The two working user accounts are represented by a long,almost identical series of numbers. The profile image shows which ones they are. The troublesome account is not present. The other three short numbered profiles relate to system profile, local service and network service. Any suggestions what I could try to resolve the problem? Many thanks in advance!
To get to the registry editor, go to Start->Run (or Windows key + R) and type “regedit”.
I don’t know what to tell you if you only have one account…
What if you do not have a different profile to log in with? My wife somehow caused this problem on my daughters laptop and she only had the one profile set up. If I can get logged in, how do I get to the registry editor?
Cool! But it was still happening after a clean reboot for me… (First thing I tried.)
This happened to me too, but rebooting and deleting the stored hibernated session that I had fixed it (if I’m remembering correctly)