"Windows cannot find '*.exe'. Make sure you typed the name correctly"

It is available as a download and it receives updates, they are sha2 signed



Your problem is something else, but I don't know what.

Do you have any backup images, or is there a shadow copy from before the problem started ?

you can borrow my boot media from which you can run various tools ( including mse ) and shadowcopyview to check irf there is a useful shadowcopy

17514x64v30.iso

if you have a useful shadowcopy, it is possible to create a wim image of it which can then be restored

C:\Windows\system32\config\systemprofile\Desktop refers to a location that is unavailable.

that suggests the userprofile is set like this:

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



should be pointing at Users\yourusername like this:

SIW2 said:

that suggests the userprofile is set like this:

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



should be pointing at Users\yourusername like this:

Screenshots below. I probably made too many, but that's just in case. They look similar to yours. Except for that .bak termination on the left panel. Is that normal ?

- - - Updated - - -

All right, I restored from an old Macrium Reflect image, and the problem disappeared. I can now escalate to admin rights normally, and my two user accounts are normally visible again.

I only restored the C: disk (system partition + Windows reserved partition). The D: disk I left untouched. It has my documents, plus the User folders as per Kari's tutorial for unorthodox install here : Windows 7 Image - Customize in Audit Mode with Sysprep

Everything I've checked up to now works correctly, except my Cinta Notes database, which has gone back to the date of the image I have restored from. I have multiple backups, so I'm not worried about this.

For the sake of auditing the problem, it seems SIW2's advice about HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList\ was spot on.

There was an extra profile for my admin account in registry, apparently the result of Windows making a backup, with a name ending in .bak. The other, duplicate profile for my admin account did not seem to have the correct information inside. The .bak profile had different information from the present, restored one which works.

Screenshots of the relevant places below, for those interested. Thank you to all who helped.

EDIT : I'm sorry, but the mechanics of that forum are the devil incarnate. I cannot post this at the end of the thread as it should be. I don't have any more time to attempt this again. The screenshots I intended to post are the last two. They reflect the situation after restoration, with the PC working correctly.

Hi, I'm starting a new thread because :

• This is the continuation of the incident discussed here : Windows cannot find '*.exe'. Make sure you typed the name correctly
• I was unable to add a new post to that thread. Anything I wrote was published as an update to the last post.

Unfortunately, I had to switch that former thread back to "unsolved".

After restoring my system drive from a reasonably old backup (April 14 th), I enjoyed a few hours of normal operation. Today, however, launching my computer, I found myself in an even worse predicament.

Entering my Windows user account identifiers, I got the following error message :

The user profile service failed the logon. The logon user profile cannot be loaded.

Clicking OK briefly displays a "Logging off" message, then it's back to log in page. The same thing happens with both my accounts, the admin and the non-admin one.

I managed to start the PC in safe mode with network access, using my admin account. That's the only way I could make this post. Even in safe mode, I cannot log into my non-admin account.

After logging in with my admin account, I get the same error message that I had before I restored from a backup :

C:\Windows [...] \Desktop refers to a location that is unavailable.

At the same time, a tooltip appears on the bottom of the screen :

User profile Service. You have been logged on with the default profile for the system. Contact your administrator, etc.

I would really be grateful for any suggestions. If restoring from a backup does not work, what might ?

I have other, older and newer backups. I make an image everyday.

For the time being, I only restored C: (system), not D: (data). My Windows user folders are installed on D: per Kari's tutorial and sys-prepping (which Kari insists is a "legal" way to install from a Microsoft point of view).

Thank you in advance !