The User Profile Service failed the logon. Cannot login, no safe mode

nikos21 · 21 Dec 2013

Hi everyone,

I cannot login to my PC (Windows 7, Home Premium, 32 bit) as I'm receiving the message
'The User Profile Service failed the logon'.

I've already read threads like this

User Profile Service failed the logon. User profile cannot be loaded.

The thing is that my Profile List registry file has no folders with long numbers and no folders with .BAK extensions. I can not enter Safe Mode, but I can have command line.

I have never set a password for my account and this is the first time I am experiencing a problem like this.

Thank you

Brink · 21 Dec 2013

Hello Nikos,

Were you not able to do any of the steps in the "In Preparation" section in the tutorial to log on to an administrator account?

nikos21 · 21 Dec 2013

Hello Brink,

thank you for your reply.

1st 'In preparation method': I cannot logoff because I'm not logged in. There is only a 'OK' button below the 'The User Profile Service failed the logon' message.
When I'm pressing the 'OK' button, it appears a message of 'Logging Off' for a second and I'm coming back to the previous situation.
2nd 'In preparation method': I cannot safe boot with the system repair disk. Although there is a message to press F8 for advanced boot options, when I'm pressing it nothing happens. There is only the Memory Diagnostic Tool, which has shown no problems.

3rd 'In preparation method: The same as the first case, cannot login, cannot download.

Brink · 21 Dec 2013

Were you able to enable the built-in Administrator in the 3rd option at boot?

If so, you are saying that you still cannot login to it?

If so, have you already tried to do a system restore at boot using a restore point dated before you had this issue to see if it may help?

nikos21 · 21 Dec 2013

I downloaded enableadmin through Ubuntu, and I followed the tutorial steps. I had 3 files with long numbers, I changed these with the same filename and I did nothing to the third. I was able to login to my account.
Thanks you very much for your help.

Just two further questions.
1. Do you think it was a virus? Should I ran CCleaner or anything similar to clean my Registry?
2. Why my restore points were not shown by the system repair disk?

Brink · 21 Dec 2013

Great news.

It wouldn't hurt to do a full scan of your system with Windows Defender Offline to help make that your system is clean.

Usually the user profile error is caused by corruption or some mistake made by the user of trying to rename or move the user profile.

No. I would recommend to NOT clean your registry. Usually they end up causing more issues, including a user profile error.