Logon screen stuck on corrupt profile

[Jammie Dodger]

The available space on my C (system) drive was low, so I moved the Users folder to my D drive and edited the registry accordingly.

After rebooting, I logged in to my work account and checked everything was okay. So far, so good.

Then I rebooted and tried to log in to my personal account and got the error message:

The User Profile Service service failed to start.
User profile cannot be loaded.

I am stuck on this login screen, with no option to switch to my work account, even after a reboot.

Unfortunately, I don't have any System Restore points or any kind of backup to rely on.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

 

[RogerOver]

Hi,

I think the easiest way is to crete a new user account:

• either reboot your computer while holding down the shift key
• or shut it down and hold the F8 key while booting

You will reach the advanced startup options screen

Find and click Command prompt. (Maybe you need to find "Troubleshoot" first, or click on "Change settings and then F6) to get to the "Command prompt". The screens have changed a bit from WIn 7 to Win 10 and WIN 11).

The "Command prompt" will open at X:\>
Switch to C:\ by simply typing C: (without backslash)

(If you arrive at "C:\Users\System32" it's fine also, just switch back to "C:\" by typing "cd\C:" behind "C:\Users\System 32". What is important is that you arrive at a black screen instead of the blue one).

Then create a new user account as explained here: https://www.windows-commandline.com/add-user-from-command-line/

Chose a simple name (4 letters) you could easily retain, but different from your old one. If your old account was "Tony" for instance, chose "Ynot" for instance. You do not need a password (you can leave out the option and the line at cmd prompt). You just created a local account, not a Microsoft account.

Please pay attention on what you are typing: DOS does not forgive typos ! (Respect the spaces and verify twice or thrice before hitting enter).

Then type exit; you will leave the advanced startup and reboot. You should now be offered the possibilty to log into your new account and from there you could move all your files from the old user account to the new one. (Hidden files hidden: then they are not copied, which could create problems).

If you don't see your old user account in your new user account (different subfolders under C:\Users), make your new user account an administrator account (it's also explained in the above link). Then you should be able to copy your files to the new account.

If everything works fine, ... boot several times ..., you can delete your old user account and then rename your new account to the old name (also in the above link).

If you want, you can then log in again into your Mircosoft account.