Question How do I prevent reccurring "ProfSvc service failed the sign-in" error on Windows 10?

[VentoUK]

Occasionally on startup I receive the following error:

The ProfSvc service failed the sign-in.

User profile cannot be loaded.

I know how to fix via registry editor (in short, removing the temp ID and removing '.bak' from the correct profile), but it happens annoyingly often and while the fix is fairly quick: A. I don't like having to mess around in registry editor due to the risk of irreversibly breaking something in the registry, and B. feels like such a simple change that I am wondering why it happens, and if there is a longer term method of preventing it. For further context, I have tried restarting before resorting to the above, as well as trying to check for updates/failed updates in Windows settings - but this never seems to be the issue in my case.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[Colif]

A long term solution to an error in your user profile is create another one
Create a local user - https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/create-a-local-user-or-administrator-account-in-windows-10-20de74e0-ac7f-3502-a866-32915af2a34d
- make it admin
while logged into user with errors, go to c:/users folder
copy the contents of current users account onto the new user folder**
this gives it the same access as current user. You don't have to reinstall anything
logon to new user and see if it still happens.

** if you have a 2nd hdd, and haven't moved all the library folder contents off C Drive and onto the drive, I would suggest doing that before this stage
Library folders are Music, Documents, Video, Pictures.
See here for instructions - https://www.dummies.com/computers/operating-systems/windows-10/how-to-change-the-location-of-user-folders-in-windows-10/
at step 8, make sure its a folder and not entire hdd or things can get messy,

 

[VentoUK]

Thank you @Colif , I will give this method a try when I have some time and will report back.

 

[Colif]

try this as well in case its not the user profile

right click start button
choose powershell (admin)
type SFC /scannow and press enter
once its completed, copy/paste this command into same window:

Repair-WindowsImage -Online -RestoreHealth
and press enter

SFC fixes system files, second command cleans image files, re run SFC after second command if it failed to fix all files the first time, and restart PC

but often i find those commands don't help with user problems.

I don't normally suggest registry fixes so I am glad you didn't want to go that way