ProfileImagePath Names different for same ProfileList IDs

[74scamp]

I encountered a (seemly) popular "The User Profile Service failed the logon. User profile cannot be loaded." error while attempting to login into my laptop.

While there are many, many solutions (several in this forum), my concern is with one of the typical solutions: Altering the Registry.

Most solutions involve renaming the ProfileList (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList) entry with a ".bak". All want you to verify the "ProfileImagePath" is the Profile in question. HOWEVER:

There are two entries with the same (long) number - one typical and one with ".bak" - but they have different ProfileImagePath attributes. The ".bak" has the right one, the other has "TEMP". Is the recommendation to continue the solution (i.e. back up the Registry, swap the affected .bak with the other, and alter the RefCount and State) or do I have another issue? No forum entries or comments seem to indicate one way or the other.

Thanks so much!

 

[RaDiKaL_]

I had the same problem years ago and applied the same solution you just described, I even copied the solution in a txt just in case I'd need it again.

However I can't remember if there was a "TEMP" in one of those keys, the solution I copied doesn't mention anything at all.

You could make a registry backup and then apply this solution to see if it works, otherwise you could restore the registry though if you are unable to find another solution you'll have to reinstall Windows.