Windows 7: The User Profile Service service failed the logon

I was installing Dragon Naturally Speaking V 10 standard. The install stalled at 95% complete and I cancelled it after an hour or so. After that, I noticed my windows and programs (most of them) had stopped, as well. I tried to shutdown, but the PC seemed to "log off" for 15 minutes so I gave up and turned the PC off manually. When I turned it back on, I got the usual login boxes and tried to log in as I normally do as the administrator. To my surprise, I got a refusal...the message, "The User Profile Service service failed the logon. User profile cannot be loaded." So my usual admin password didn't work.

I moved to another user login box and "got in", so to speak, that way. What I now find, (or think I find) is that the user I am now doesn't have access to all of the files that I could access as the administrator. (I can't see files that I was working on and could see before the crash.) Furthermore, I'm uneasy with the double "service" term in the message above. The extra "service" reminds me of careless text that I sometimes see in phishing scams. Maybe it's not a problem; I don't know.

Anyway, I seem to be having trouble following troubleshooting procedures as I am no longer administrating and some procedures seem to require the admin password. My admin password, apparently, has somehow been changed.

What to do?

Thanks in advance.

What I would do in that situation.... Throw in my Windows disc and start over. Could take a lot less time than fixing everything up.

Do you have any backup images? You could have this resolved in 10 minutes that way.

There are alot more knowledgeable people on these boards than me, so lets hang out a bit and get a few recommendations.

Have you tried a System Restore to a previous date?

Etune,

Not sure. I have an external hard drive that backs me up once a week. I saw something that said I could make a restore disc (didn't get one with the PC purchase from HP), but somehow wasn't able to do that. I saw multiple ways to do that, and didn't try all of them, but somehow this PC seems to shun me now that it doesn't see me as an administrator.

Regarding doing a "restore", if it's anything like flattening a hard drive and reinstalling windows, I would rather not, if possible. I fear it would take too long to get back to where I was earlier today.

I see several pages of remedies to the dropped profile thing, but I'm not sure which of those remedies I should try to use.

I'll see if we can get some more help with this. Just hang around a bit. Then when you're all fixed up we'll talk about imaging.

Hi! dubina, welcome to 7F

Sounds like for whatever reason your install of dragonfly corrupted your admin account.

You seem adept at creating user accounts, so create a new Admin to how you like it, and if it works okay, delete the old one.


You will have to enter safe mode to do this.

EDIT:
You can change a regular account to an administrator account:
But be very careful of the warnings!
User Account Type - Change

Hello Dubina, and welcome to Seven Forums.

You could use the tutorial below to try and fix this user profile error.

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

If not, then you could use Option Two in the tutorial below to create a System Repair Disc to be able to use to do a System Restore at boot with using a restore point dated before you got this error.

System Repair Disc - Create

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Hi Shawn,

I tried to create a system repair disc (gave a shot and was somehow defeated). Any chance you have to be an administrator to do that?

Also, what will happen to my files (created or modified just before the crash) if I do make a repair disk and use it?

Dubina,

Yeah, you will need to be logged in as an administrator. You could try step 2 in the STEP ONE section in the tutorial below to be able to log into the built-in Administrator account to do this.

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

Brink, another question:

Once I recover administator status, what will happen if I try to set up Dragon again? In other words, do installs that corrupt user profiles tend to be specific to those installs, or was my problem likely due to some random ghost in my machine? I think you probably don't know for sure (but maybe) but would offer an opinion. No sense going down that road twice if it leads to the same place.

Also wondering how to find the date and time of my last restore point. I have some files that I don't want to lose if I can possibly avoid losing them.