Fix “User Profile Service Failed the Sign-in” Error on Windows

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If a user profile is damaged or missing, a user will get the “User Profile Service failed the sign-in. User profile cannot be loaded” error when trying to sign-in to the computer. This guide explains how to fix the profile loading error and successfully log on Windows.

Common Causes of User Profile Loading Errors

The most common causes of failed User Profile Service sign-in are:

• Missing or corrupted user profile files (including NTUSER.DAT);
• Bad user profile path in the registry;
• Wrong default profile NTFS permissions;
• Corrupted NTUSER.DAT file in the default user profile.

In domain environments, user profile issues may also be caused by:

• Roaming profile sync failures
• Group Policy (GPO) misconfig
• Network connectivity problems to the DC
• Corrupted cached domain profiles
• FSLogix profile container problems (in virtual desktop environments)

In case of these scenarios, you may need to perform different troubleshooting steps than local user profiles.

Quick Fixes to Try First

Before changing the registry or replacing profile files, try these low-risk troubleshooting steps.

Restart the Computer

Restart Windows and try signing in again. A restart can clear temporary profile-service issues and release registry handles or files left open by another process.

Check Recent Windows Updates

If the problem started immediately after a Windows update, check Settings > Windows Update > Update history. If the timing suggests a recent update is responsible, review Microsoft’s guidance for the affected build and consider uninstalling the problematic update if appropriate.

Check Third-Party Security Software

If Event ID 1530 appears, check the event details for the app that kept a registry handle open during logoff. EDR, antivirus, backup, and monitoring software can sometimes keep user profile files/registry hives open. Check the product logs and follow your organization’s approved troubleshooting procedure before disabling security software.

Check User Profile Errors Using Event Viewer

Before making any changes to the system/registry, we recommend you to check the Windows Event Viewer logs to identify the exact cause of the profile loading issue.

1. To open Event Viewer, Press Win + R, type eventvwr.msc and press Enter.
2. Now go to the following logs:
   Windows Logs > Application
   Applications and Services Logs > Microsoft > Windows > User Profile Service > Operational
3. Here you need to look for recent errors related to User Profile Service at the time of the failed sign-in.

Common Event IDs include:

• 1509. Windows cannot copy file (profile corruption/permission issue)
• 1511. Temporary profile loaded
• 1530. An app left a registry handle open during logoff; check the event details to identify the process responsible

These events can help you to determine whether the problem is caused by:

• Corrupted user profile files
• Incorrect NTFS permissions
• Registry problems
• Disk/file system errors

You should use this info to choose the most appropriate fix method described in this article.

Check User Profile Errors Using PowerShell

You can also analyze User Profile Service events using PowerShell console:

Get-WinEvent -LogName "Microsoft-Windows-User Profile Service/Operational"

In order to filter common profile-related errors, you can use the following:

Get-WinEvent -LogName "Microsoft-Windows-User Profile Service/Operational" |
Where-Object { $_.Id -in 1509, 1511, 1530 } |
Select-Object TimeCreated, Id, LevelDisplayName, Message

This method is extremely useful for automation, remote troubleshooting, and quick filtering of relevant events.

How to Logon Windows When User Profile Cannot be Loaded

To fix errors in the user profile, you need to log on to the computer locally using any account that has local administrator permissions.

Using Another Administrator Account

This can be done:

• By using another local administrator account;
• If your user is the only local administrator account in Windows, you can enable the built-in Administrator account and reset its password using any Live CD (for example, Hiren’s BootCD PE). Or boot Windows in Safe mode with your current account (this method is described below).

Booting Windows into Safe Mode

To boot the computer in safe mode:

1. Hold down the Shift key and click the Restart button on the Windows sign-in screen;
   

   

2. After reboot, select Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Startup Settings > Restart;
   

   

3. Press F4 (or Fn+F4 on a laptop) on the Startup Settings screen to boot your computer into Safe Mode;
   

   

4. Enter the password for your affected account. When a user logs on in safe mode, Windows uses minimal drivers/services, and profile may load as temporary or partially.
5. In my case, ctfmon.exe error appeared when booting into Safe Mode. To bypass this error, press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager. In Task Manager, select Run New Task and start the cmd.exe process.
   

   

6. You can now proceed to fix the errors in the user profile.

Even in case you can log in using Safe Mode, you should still check Event Viewer logs to identify the root cause of the problem.

Check the File System and User Profile Service

Note that you should run all following commands in an elevated Command Prompt (Run as Administrator).

Check System File Integrity

You need to verify Windows system integrity before making disk/registry changes. Run the following commands in an elevated Command Prompt:

sfc /scannow

If issues are found and not fixed, run:

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

Free Disk Space and Run Disk Check

Next check that you have free space on your system drive (at least a few GB):

fsutil volume diskfree c:

Fix any file system errors:

chkdsk c: /f

Use /R only if there is evidence of physical disk corruption or bad sectors.

When asked to schedule the disk check on the next restart, press Y and Enter.
Restart the computer and let the disk check run.

Ensure User Profile Service Starts Automatically

Open the services.msc console and check that the User Profile Service is configured to start automatically.

Remove the Corrupted User Profile Using System Properties

If the affected user profile is corrupted and the user’s data has already been backed up, you can remove the profile using the built-in Windows System Properties interface instead of manually editing the registry. This is generally safer than manually modifying the ProfileList registry keys because Windows handles the profile removal through the standard system interface.

To remove the corrupted profile, follow the steps below:

1. Press Win + R, type sysdm.cpl, and press Enter.
2. Open the Advanced tab.
3. Under User Profiles, click Settings.
4. Select the affected user profile.
5. Click Delete and confirm the removal.
6. Restart the machine.
7. Sign in with the affected account again. Windows will create a new user profile.

Important. Deleting a user profile removes the profile’s local data and settings from the machine. Before deleting it, you need to back up the user’s files from C:\Users\<username>, including documents, Desktop files, browser data, and any application-specific data that needs to be preserved. If the Delete option is unavailable/Windows cannot remove the profile, you can proceed with the registry-based ProfileList troubleshooting described below.

Fix the User Profile Path in the Registry

Note that you should proceed to registry fixes only in case system integrity checks (SFC/DISM) did not resolve the problem.

If the user’s profile in the registry points to a non-existent or invalid directory, the User Profile Service will fail to load the user’s profile.

Find User SID with PowerShell

Find out the SID of the affected user using the command:

Get-LocalUser | Select-Object Name, SID

For example:

Get-LocalUser -Name "Cyril" | Select-Object Name, SID

In case you need to list both local and domain accounts, you can use:

Get-CimInstance Win32_UserAccount | Select-Object Name, Domain, SID

For example, my username is Cyril and my SID is S-1-5….-1002.

Repair ProfileList Keys in Registry

Backup the registry before making changes. Before modifying the registry, we strongly recommend you to create a backup of the ProfileList key. Open an elevated Command Prompt and run:

reg export "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList" C:\ProfileList_backup.reg

This will allow you to restore the original settings in case something goes wrong. Alternatively, you can create a System Restore Point before making changes to the registry.

Open the Registry Editor (regedit.exe) and go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\ Windows NT\ CurrentVersion\ ProfileList. Find the key that matches the user’s SID. In this example, you can see that there are two entries, and the other one has a .bak extension. This usually means that the user profile is corrupted, and Windows has had to create a temporary profile for the user;

Follow the steps:

1. Rename the key without the .bak and append the .old extension;
2. Then rename the key with the .bak extension and remove .bak;
   

   

   Once renamed, the keys will look like the one below.
   

   

Correct ProfileImagePath, State, and RefCount

Expand the key without the extension and confirm that the ProfileImagePath value is correct or not malformed. This value should contain the path to user’s profile directory. Check that this folder exists on your computer. If the value points to a non-existent directory, correct the path. Also, set the State and RefCount values to 0.

The corrected values should look similar to the image below.

Close the registry editor, restart the computer, and log in as the affected user.

Replace damaged NTUSER.DAT File in the User Profile

Keep in mind that replacing NTUSER.DAT is an advanced recovery method and should be used only when other profile-repair methods have not resolved the problem. Note that it resets the user’s profile registry hive and can result in the loss of user-specific settings and app config.

If possible, you should use the safer and more reliable recovery options like creating a new user profile and migrating the user’s data. We recommend using the following method only when you specifically need to preserve the existing profile rather than replace it.

Rename Existing NTUSER.DAT

Warning. Note that replacing the NTUSER.DAT file effectively resets the user profile registry hive. This can result in loss of user settings, app preferences, and personalization. We recommend you to back up the original file before continuing.

Open the PowerShell prompt as administrator and rename the existing NTUSER.DAT file in the profile directory of the affected user:

Rename-Item C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\NTUSER.DAT C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\NTUSER.DAT.BAK

Copy NTUSER.DAT from Default Profile

Now replace the NTUSER.DAT file with the file from the C:\Users\Default directory:

Copy-Item C:\Users\Default\NTUSER.DAT -Destination C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\NTUSER.DAT -Force

Restart the computer and try to log in as the affected user.

Reset the Default User Profile Folder Permissions

Windows can auto-correct issues with missing user profile files by copying them from the C:\Users\Default folder. If the NTFS permissions on this folder are somehow incorrect, this could also prevent you from logging into Windows and creating new user account profiles.

Check NTFS Permissions for C:\Users\Default

Confirm that the C:\Users\Default has the following permissions:

• Owner: SYSTEM
• Everyone: Read & execute
• SYSTEM: Full Control
• Administrators: Full Control
• Users: Read & execute

Reset Permissions with Security Properties or icacls

You can use the File Explorer properties tab or the icacls command to view the folder permissions:

icacls C:\Users\Default\

If not, manually set the required permissions on the C:\Users\Default folder.

Right-click on the Default folder, select Properties > Security > Advanced > Change Permissions > check the box “Replace all child object permission entries with inheritable permission entries from this object” > OK. This will reset the permissions on all nested files and folders.

Validate NTUSER.DAT in Default Profile

You can check your default NTUSER.DAT health as follows:

reg load HKU\Default C:\Users\Default\NTUSER.DAT
reg unload HKU\Default

If the NTUSER.DAT in the C:\USERS\DEFAULT folder is corrupt or missing you can manually copy a healthy NTUSER.DAT from another computer with the same Windows build.

Create a New User Profile and Copy Data

As a last resort, you can create a new user account and copy the old data from the old profile if the above methods have not helped.

Create a New Local User in Windows

Open the lusrmgr.msc console and create a new user. Add the user to the local Administrators group.

Sign-in Windows with new user account to create profile folder at first logon.

Copy Old Profile Data to New User

After the login is completed, carefully copy user data from C:\Users\<OLD PROFILE> to C:\Users/<NEW PROFILE> (excluding system and profile-specific files).

Do not copy the following files and folders:

• NTUSER.DAT
• NTUSER.DAT.LOG*
• NTUSER.INI
• AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows
• AppData\Local\Temp

When you copy these items, you can transfer corruption/break the new user profile.

Recommended method (using robocopy)

robocopy C:\Users\<OLD PROFILE> C:\Users\<NEW PROFILE> /E /COPY:DAT /R:1 /W:1 /XF NTUSER.DAT NTUSER.DAT.LOG* NTUSER.INI /XD "AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows" "AppData\Local\Temp"

The method with robocopy ensures only user data (documents, desktop files, etc.) is transferred without copying corrupted profile configuration files.