nothing but temp accounts & systemprofile\desktop unavailable message

Did you see this MS article: Fix a corrupted user profile

Here is another possibility. It was written for XP but still applies to Vista and Windows 7.

Before doing any of the following, make a backup of your registry. I suggest you install ERUNT to do this.

Your files are still there. Sounds like your user profile has lost it's connection with where it's data is stored. If you are comfortable with using regedit, try this by booting to Safe Mode by pressing F8 during boot. Login as Administrator, no password.

Note: For Windows 7 you may have to enable the hidden Administrator account first. To do this:

Open an Elevated Command Prompt
Type net user Administrator /active:yes and press Enter.

The key is a registry hack that redirects Windows back to the ProfileImagePath of the original profile.

Click on Start then Run. type <font color=red]regedit</font] and press Enter or click OK.

Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList

Once there, you will see the SID's listed for all of the profiles on the machine. Within the Key for each SID there is an entry called "ProfileImagePath" that will look like

C:\Users\UserName...

Scroll through the SID's until you find the one with the screwy name, like

C:\Users\youruserid.2

The .2 is just an example, could be something else weird.

Just edit the Key to remove the ".2", and it will point the user back to their old profile...

Got this from TechRepublic.com post by CGraham7 near bottom of thread.

Also some excellent information here: Get IT Done: Recover A Damaged Windows XP User Profile

Hi all!
And thanks Ztrunker once again!

I still didn´t succeed with my problem.
I´ve been trying things all weekend long and found a variety of advices on the net. So far nothing helped. At some point I got so frustrated from the endless puzzle that I decided to recover my system from a 3 month old backup instead.

THIS I DO NOT RECOMMEND! Against all expectations I learned that despite the recovery itlelf succeeded I ended up having the same problem in this older system state as well! The malfunction must have "survived" the recovery because three months ago my system was fine and this horrible error had just appeared three days ago.

The difference is: instead of the message AFTER login "the user profile was not loaded correctly - logged on with a temporary profile" I get this one right ON THE LOGON SCREEN: "user Profile Service failed the logon. User profile cannot be loaded."

Now I´m bringing my system back to it´s most recent state and during that I want to quickly share my collected notes of what other people found helpful:


i m p o r t a n t :
this incomplete list here is meant as nothing but an overview or inspiration! If you decide to go for any of these advices please follow the links for detailed descriptions!

general note:
- in most cases you should set your folder options to "Show hidden files and folders" and uncheck "Hide protected operating system files"
- if you have no administrator account on your login screen run command prompt as administrator and type
net user administrator /active:yes
to switch the built-in administrator account on (off is same command toggled to \active:no)


1.)
Many people can fix their temporal account problem by a system restore. Switch off your security programs. Be aware that in doubt older restore points might provide better chances!


2.)
If you still can create new accounts (that means: create their directories & registry keys by successfully logging into them!) you can move your old account into a new one
- as admin or in safe mode (or both) create new profile
- reboot (some say)
- login admin
- replace all content exept all files starting with "ntuser." of the new account with your corrupt account´s data


3.)
There are several variations of regedit fixes out there. Very often SevenForums´Shawn alias Brink is linked with his really detailed descriptions (also recommended by Ztrunker):

A)
message: "user profile not loaded correctly - logged on with a temporary profile."
cause: accidentally deleted profile
- (if still existant: manually delete corrupt account in C:\users ->after backing up!)
- as admin or in safe mode (or both) go to Registry ProfileList
- remove the whole Key of the according profile (most likely with .bak extension)
- reboot

B)
message: "user Profile Service failed the logon. User profile cannot be loaded."
cause: probably manually deleted or renamed profile OR the result of a recovered system backup
- as admin or in safe mode (or both) go to Registry ProfileList:

-> if one profile (with .bak ending):
- remove the .bak ending
- set it´s RefCount and State Subkeys to zero
- reboot

-> if two profiles (with and without .bak):
- delete or rename the profile without .bak
- reactivate the other profile by taking away it´s .bak ending
- also set it´s RefCount and State Subkeys to zero and reboot


- - - - -


In my case none of the above methods worked. I was very happy to finally find Rob Brook-Bilson´s page, since my problem resembles his descriptions very much:

+ his corrupt user account used to be on a different partition than the C:\ drive
+ his admin account still worked
+ newly created accounts will load with error messages as temporal accounts and therefore won´t create user directories or registry keys.

In the replies different scenarios are described - but generally I experienced this thread as a great source for methods I had not come across elsewhere.

One basic understanding discussed here is that new accounts get created during the first login by using c:\users\default as a template. Many people here spotted their problem´s origin within this directory.
(find detailes descriptions under the given message numbers - the structure I made overlaps sometimes a bit)


4.)
RobBrooks-Bilson(Owner) Mark(#4) Jeff(#13) Bernd(#37) Anon(#49) jack(#52) JeffBoyd(#56) Dave(#64) Ed(#65)
#######################################################################

Have a close look at the event log!
event logs might state that filenames within c:\users\default are too long to copy or don´t have sufficient permissions set

RobBB:
in two directories he found several instances of the 'folder within the folder' (as I understood)
eg. c:\users\default\AppData\local\ApplicationData
or c:\users\default\localsettings\ApplicationData
deleting these additional subfolders made it possible to create new accounts again

other people found write protected files or folders within c:\users\default
#37 found a protected folder with useless temporary files and deleted it
#49 moved a protected folder from c:\users\default\AppData\ to
C:\Users\Default User\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Exchange Server\v14
#4 #13 #52 #56 & #65 found microsoft´s own copy protected .sqm files in Windows Live subdirectories such as
C:\users\default\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Live\SqmApi\
C:\Users\Default\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Live\Bici\
#64 found a hint in the event log that his firewall prevented creations of new accounts


5.)
Brock Sampson(#9)
#######################################################################

turn off
- all security (anti virus)
- firewall
- UAC
creating new accounts worked


6.)
MartinStrasser(#54)
#######################################################################

Check the event viewer under applications and look for a 1509 event (warning) like
"Windows cannot copy file C:\Users\Default\AppData\Local\....... "

Check out that this folder has sufficient permissions:
- Everyone Read& execute
- Users (local) Read& execute
- Administrators full control
- System full control


7.)
Charles(#21) Charles(#26) Julio(#34) Steven(#35) warwick(#40) jebise(#41) pheeek(#53) bobby(#60)
#######################################################################

generally increase permissions of C:\Users\Default as inheritable!
- (explorer Options: show hidden files, folders and drives)
- as admin or even better as admin in safe mode (according to pheeek)
- C:\Users\Default > properties > security tab > advanced > change permissions
- highlight problematic account
- check both radio boxes below "add"
"include inheritable..." &
"Replace all child object permission with inheritable permissions from this object"
- apply & ok
check if folders and subfolders have read/execute permission for everyone
also check if the Everyone Group still exists


8.)
Scott(#5) Steve(#61) Eng.Mr(#66)
#######################################################################

copy a Default user profile from another computer to replace the local one


9.)
Amanda(#2)
#######################################################################

disable UAC (User Account Control) and DEP (Data Execution Prevention)
as they might prevent new accounts from creation
- disable UAC
- disable DEP by command prompt:

bcdedit.exe/set {current} nx AlwaysOff

- (optionally delete corrupted account)
- create new account
- restart system
[comment: to return back into original DEP state same shell command toggled to "AlwaysOn"]


10.)
Biggles(#10)
#######################################################################

if you have no profile key to your needed account in your registry
but find one pointing to an unused or manually deleted account
- in safe mode edit registry
- point ProfileImagePath of unused account to needed account
- set it´s RefCount and State Subkeys to zero
- (optionally delete corrupt Key ending with .bak)
- reboot


11.)
Kloepfer1(#39)
#######################################################################

if the account data is on a different disk check Disk Manager!
Possibly the disk has a wrong status