Problem:
Very rarely, Windows will refuse to allow a valid user profile to log in and give the error “The User Profile Service failed the logon. User profile cannot be loaded.”
Solution:
Microsoft Knowledge Base artice 947215 describes three methods for resolving this problem. Methods 2 and 3 involve simply creating a new user profile, thus sidestepping the original problem, and need only be performed if Method 1 fails to resolve it.
In practice, Method 1 usually works, and is detailed in the Procedure section below.
Procedure:
- Click the Start button, type regedit in the Search box, and then press Enter.
- In Registry Editor, locate and then click the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList - In the navigation pane, locate the folder that begins with S-1-5 (SID key) followed by a long number.
- Click each S-1-5 folder, locate the ProfileImagePath entry in the details pane, and then double-click to make sure that this is the user account profile that has the error.
- If you have two folders starting with S-1-5 followed by some long numbers and one of them ended with .bak, you have to rename the .bak folder. The KB article shows changing .bak to simply .ba
- If you have only one folder starting with S-1-5 that is followed by long numbers and ends with .bak, right-click the folder and then click Rename. Remove .bak at the end of the folder name, and then press Enter.
- Click the folder without .bak in the details pane, double-click RefCount, type 0, and then click OK.
- Click the folder without .bak, in the details pane, double-click State, type 0, and then click OK.
- Close Registry Editor, restart the computer, and log on again with your account.
Limitations:
This method may not correct the error in all situations. If it does not, it will be necessary to create a new user profile and copy the files from the old, damaged profile into the new one.