How to Fix User Profile Service Failed the Sign in on Windows?

Have you experienced the annoying “The User Profile Service failed the sign in. User profile cannot be loaded” error when logging in to your Windows computer?

When this happens, you can’t log in to your profile and are seemingly locked out of your computer. How can you access your files if you can’t even log in?

And if Windows lets you log in to the desktop, you may encounter this error instead. In this case, you are logged in with a temporary profile. Any files you create or change during this session will be lost.

So what can you do? Don’t worry; this post will guide you through the most common causes and fixes to the User Profile Cannot Be Loaded Error.

Possible Causes of the User Profile Cannot Be Loaded Error

Among the most common causes of the User Profile Service error are:

• Corrupted user profile files on disk.
• Antivirus software scans the device and blocks some files in the user profile folder when a user tries to sign in.
• Incorrect user profile mapping in the Windows registry file or errors on the device’s file system;
• Incorrect default profile folder NTFS permissions.

If There’s Only One User Account on the PC

The “User profile cannot be loaded” error prevents users from logging in to the computer. In this case, you can only troubleshoot this problem effectively if another user account on the computer has administrative access.

In most cases, the built-in administrator account is disabled by default. But it can be enabled with the right steps and tools.

This section will use a third-party utility called Hiren’s BootCD PE. Make sure to create a bootable CD or USB first. Once you have the Hiren’s Boot CD, use it to boot your computer.

Disable BitLocker on the System Drive (Optional)

If your computer’s system drive is encrypted, disabling the BitLocker encryption first during troubleshooting is a good idea. This way, you won’t have to enter the BitLocker recovery key between reboots. But if you’re ok with unlocking the drive every time, this step is optional.

1. Once booted in Hiren’s, open “This PC“.
2. Double-click on the BitLocker-encrypted drive and enter the recovery key to unlock it.
   
3. Open the Command Prompt and run the following command to check the encryption status:

   manage-bde -status C:

   As you can see below, drive C is encrypted.
   

4. Turn off the BitLocker encryption by running this command:

   manage-bde -off C:

   

5. Wait until the decryption is finished. By then, the status should say “Fully Decrypted” and “Protection Off”.

   manage-bde -status C:

   The drive is not decrypted, and BitLocker is turned off.

Enable the Built-in Administrator Account

Let’s now enable the built-in administrator account. This step ensures that you have another administrative account to use for troubleshooting.

1. Click Start > All Programs > Security > Passwords > Windows Login Unlocker.
   
2. Right-click on the Administrator account and click Enable.
   
3. Once enabled, right-click on the Administrator account again and click Change password.
   
4. Enter the new password and click OK.
   

Restart the Computer and Log in as Administrator

After enabling the built-in administrator account, restart the computer in Safe Mode and log in. If the “User Profile Cannot be Loaded” is localized to the affected user account, then the administrator account should be able to log in with no errors.

Solution 1: Correct the User Profile in the Registry

Every user on the computer has a profile mapping in the registry. These entries can be found in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList. And these mappings can sometimes become corrupted.

1. First, let’s find out the SID of the affected user. Open the command prompt and run this command:

   wmic useraccount get domain,name,sid

   Look for the user account on the list and note its SID value. In this example, the SID for Alpha is
   S-1-5-21-3197091325-2131292189-11347583-1001.
   

2. Open the registry editor and Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList.
3. Locate the key matching the user’s SID. In this example, you can see there are two, and the other one has a .bak extension.
   The profile corruption may have caused Windows to create a temporary/duplicate profile mapping in the registry.
4. Rename the key without the .bak extension and append the .old extension.
5. Rename the key with the .bak extension to remove .bak.Once renamed, the keys will look like the one below.
   
6. Click the SID folder without the extension and confirm that the ProfileImagePath value is correct or not malformed. This value should contain the user’s home directory. As you can see below, the ProfileImagePath value is mangled.
   Also, set the State and RefCount values to 0.
   The corrected values should look similar to the image below.
   
7. Close the registry editor, restart the computer, and log in as the affected user.

Solution 2: Replace the Affected User Profile’s NTUSER.DAT File

The NTUSER.DAT file can also become corrupted like any other file. And this corruption can cause the User Profile Cannot be Loaded error. If you suspect this to be the case, then you can replace the NTUSER.DAT with the default.

1. Log in to the computer as another user (administrator).
2. Open Windows PowerShell and run the below command to rename the existing NTUSER.DAT file of the user. Replace C:\Users\USERNAME with the user’s profile directory:

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

3. Now, copy the default NTUSER.DAT file from C:\Users\Default. Replace C:\Users\USERNAME with the user’s profile directory:

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

   

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

Solution 3: Reset the Default User Profile Folder Permissions

Windows can auto-correct issues with missing user profile files by copying them from the Default User Profile folder (C:). This folder is also the source for new user accounts. But if the ACL is somehow incorrect, that could also cause the User Profile Cannot be Loaded error.

Note. Check our tutorial iCACLS: List and Manage Folder and File Permissions on Windows.

Confirm that the C: has the following permissions.

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

If not, you can re-add those required permissions.

Note. Check our guide on how to use Get-Acl and Set-Acl cmdlets when managing NTFS permissions for a file or folder with PowerShell.

Solution 4: Create a New Profile and Copy Data

You can create a new profile and copy old data. This method will create a new user account and profile folder. Once created, you can copy the data from the older profile to the new one.

1. Open PowerShell as admin and run the below command to create a new local user account:

   $password = Read-Host -AsSecureString 
   
   $user = @{ 
   
   password = $password 
   
   name = 'alpha2' 
   
   fullname = 'Alpha 2' 
   
   description = "Alpha's 2nd user profile" 
   
   } 
   
   New-LocalUser @user

   

2. Next, add the new account as a member of the local Administrators group:

   Add-LocalGroupMember -Group Administrators -Member alpha2

   

3. Log out as administrator and log in as the new local user account.
   The profile will be created during the first login.
   
4. After the login is completed, the user can copy the old data from C:\Users\<OLD PROFILE> to C:\Users\<NEW PROFILE>.
   
5. When you no longer need the old corrupted profile, you can remove it from the computer and free up some disk space.
   1. Open the Advanced System Settings by running this command:

      SystemPropertiesAdvanced

   2. Navigate to “Advanced” and click “Settings” under the User Profiles section.
   3. Select the old profile from the list and click “Delete”.
   4. Confirm the deletion by clicking Yes.
      
   5. Finally, remove the old user account by running the below command in PowerShell. Replace <OLD USERNAME> with the old username to delete it from the computer.

      Remove-LocalUser -Name <OLD USERNAME>

Solution 5: Run a System Restore

If you suspect that a recent change or software installation may have caused the error, you can run a system restore to an earlier point. This method is applicable only if system protection is enabled prior.

1. Open the “System Properties” window by running the SystemPropertiesAdvanced command.
2. Click the System Protection tab and System Restore.
   
3. Choose a restore point and click Next.
   
4. Click Finish to confirm.
   
5. Click Yes to confirm once again.
   Important. Any changes made to the system after the restore point creation will be lost.

Solution 6: Check the File System for Errors

An unhealthy disk can also cause the User Profile Cannot be Loaded error in Windows. Fortunately, you can run the CHKDSK utility.

Note. This method can take hours to complete depending on your disk capacity and content.

1. In the command prompt or PowerShell, run this command. The /F switch means to fix errors automatically, and the /R switch locates bad sectors and recovers readable information:

   chkdsk /F /R

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

Conclusion

In conclusion, encountering the “User Profile Cannot be Loaded” error message on Windows 10 can be frustrating and worrisome, but several methods exist to fix the problem. These include using the built-in administrator account to create a new user profile, restoring your system to a previous point, or modifying the registry entries.

It is important to carefully follow the steps outlined in this guide to avoid any further issues or data loss. Additionally, it is recommended to keep your system updated and regularly backed up to prevent any future errors or problems. With these solutions, you can fix the “User Profile Cannot be Loaded” error and access your user account again.