Windows 7 The User Profile Service failed the logon?

MikeHawthorne

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Hi

A friend of mine called and said she can't log into her computer.
When she enters her password she get a message that says....

The User Profile Service failed the logon

I got her as far as logging in in safe mode which works, but after that I'm stuck.
She apparently doesn't have a second account, can't access Create a New Account etc.

It will let here access change password which she did but still the same message.
She can log into safe mode using the new password but not her regular account.

She can't access System Restore, it says that it is corrupted or something to that effect.

She can't access her pictures etc, that she needs to get to, because they are in her default pictures folder and only accessible from her account etc.

Anyone have any idea what's going on, or how to get around this.

She's looking to see if she has a Windows disk but I'm guessing not.
And if she restores from the recovery partition she will loose everything on the drive which is her entire ebay business with all her product photos etc.

She lives a long distance away so I can't get access to the computer myself so it's hard for me to figure out what's going on.

Mike
 
Solution
............It will let here access change password which she did but still the same message......

Does that mean her account in safe mode still retain the admin rights?
If so, tell her to go to Safe Mode with Command Prompt, and enable the Built-in Admin Account.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/507-built-administrator-account-enable-disable.html
I'd use Option Two > elevated command prompt > net user administrator /active:yes

Logon to that Built-in Admin and create a new admin account.
See if she can logon to that new admin account ( not the Built-in ) in Normal mode.


By the way, her error message (The User Profile Service failed the logon) is incomplete.

Should it be.......The User Profile...
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............It will let here access change password which she did but still the same message......

Does that mean her account in safe mode still retain the admin rights?
If so, tell her to go to Safe Mode with Command Prompt, and enable the Built-in Admin Account.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/507-built-administrator-account-enable-disable.html
I'd use Option Two > elevated command prompt > net user administrator /active:yes

Logon to that Built-in Admin and create a new admin account.
See if she can logon to that new admin account ( not the Built-in ) in Normal mode.


By the way, her error message (The User Profile Service failed the logon) is incomplete.

Should it be.......The User Profile Service failed the logon. User profile cannot be loaded ?

If yes, have a look at this tutorial........*** it is applicable to both Vista and Win 7 ***

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/1...-failed-logon-user-profile-cannot-loaded.html
 
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Solution
.............
And if she restores from the recovery partition she will loose everything on the drive which is her entire ebay business with all her product photos etc.

She lives a long distance away so I can't get access to the computer myself so it's hard for me to figure out what's going on.

The tutorial I posted is quite comprehensive. You might have to take a trip if she cannot follow the instructions.
 
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Hi

I think she is going to bring the computer here tomorrow, I'll see what I can do, and get back here if I have questions.
If I can create a new user that should fix it.

When I searched I found a lot of people who have had this happen, but no simple answers but I may be able to access her computer from my Ubuntu disk and move here photos out of her default photos file so that they will be available to all users.

Then she can just log into the new user, I can probably restore here favorites list so she will be pretty much up and running.

Mike
 
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One more suggestion...............
There should always be 2 (two ) admin accounts, one of which would be the "plan B " admin, an emergency backup admin.
That way, if one admin account is corrupted, one will always have a backup to carry on the daily chores.
 
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Hi

You don't have to tell me that. LOL
I'm the biggest backup freak you will ever see!

I have 3 external hard drives and everything I have is backed up on at least 2 of them.
Really important stuff is on all 3.

I never store data on my C:\ drive, I have a second internal drive for that.

It came in handy earlier this year when lightning fried my computer.
That's why I have a new one after only a couple of years.

I have Bonnies computer here and right now I'm in Safe Mode, and I'm copying all of here ebay photos for 2013 to a DVD.
After that I'm going to back up her favorites and anything else that I can think of and then I'll try and fix it.

At least once I have everything backed up I can just use the recovery partition if I can't get it fixed any other way.

If anyone is looking and thinks of anything that I should back up let me know, I'm sitting right here.

Mike
 
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If you are able to backup all her files to external media, then no need to fix the old account.
Create a new admin account by using Built-in Admin. ( I would recommend 2 new admin accounts. )
Once it is certain that the new admin account is working fine, delete the old admin account that she could not login.
 
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The problem is that I can't seem to access the create a new user window.
When I go to the Users Window the only thing that opened was the create a new password interface.

When I look at Users in C:\Users\, there appear to be multiple user accounts, but I'm not sure how to switch it to boot to a different one?

Any suggestions?

Mike
 
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I'm trying to do that right now, I'll let you know how it goes.
I'm waiting for it to boot.

It worked it's logging in.

Boy is this thing slooooooooow.

I'll let you know if it will let me set up a new account.
 
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Ok I created a new account and deleted the old one.
Now I'm waiting for it to boot again and see if it will let me in.

I told it to retain the files when I deleted the account so we'll see what's there.
 
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Hi

The new account logged in I just used the command prompt to remove the Admin account and I'm waiting for it to boot again.
Ok it did load, I removed the password so it just boots to the desktop and it worked.

Now I'm seeing that it's not trying to connect to the WiFi (there isn't even a WiFi icon on the task bar) and the sound is off, I'll tackle the WiFi first.

I'll let you know how it's going.

Mike
 
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Once in I recreated her original account and I'm waiting to see if it will give here access to the files etc from the first account.
Now there are 2 admin accounts at least and it will boot to either of them.

Don't know why there is no network setup, I'll check that next.
I'm getting a lot of Services won't start messages, for Windows Security etc. and for the sound and WiFi.

Mike
 
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.............I'm getting a lot of Services won't start messages, for Windows Security etc. and for the sound and WiFi.

I would suggest running a full virus scan. You know the drill.

Makes me wonder a) how old is the machine, b) is the owner proficient in maintaining the computer, i.e. installing updates, disk cleanup , running quick virus scan once awhile, etc.
 
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Hi

The owner is not proficient in maintaining the computer!!!
Probably never defragged or run and malware scans.

I just talked to her on the phone and since a lot of stuff isn't working we decided that now that the data is all backed up I'm going to reset the computer to factory state.

I just started the process.

The good new is that she has virtually nothing installed on the computer.
All she really uses is Internet Explorer and I have all her favorites etc, saved.
She doesn't even have an e-mail client.

She does everything on the web.

This is going pretty fast it's already 50% of the way through the restore process.
There going to be a lot of updating once she gets it connected.

The computer is a 2011 model Acer Aspire.

Mike
 
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Would it not be better to try a an inplace install first to keep all the programs?

Sorry did not notice you had already started.
 
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She really doesn't have anything installed, the only thing I see is Skype and she says she doesn't use it.
She doesn't even have CCleaner installed.

It's rebooting right now we'll see what it does next.
I'm expecting it to ask for my network password here some time.

It now says Setup is Starting Services.

Now it's loading Devices, maybe the sound will and stuff will work.

Remember the good old days when they gave you a real Windows disk?
Actually my computer did come with a real disk but that's rare anymore.

Well it booted and we have a startup sound.
 
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MikeHawthorne