Admin account on Windows 7 says User Profile Service failed

beast8812

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Feb 22, 2012
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So I only have one account on my computer and its my admin account and when I log on it say user profile service failed to log on. I've read a bunch of stuff online and so far nothing has worked for me. I really need to solve this problem so I can get back to using my computer. I don't have any system backups so I need to be able to solve this without one. When I open my computer in safe mode I get an error that says c:windows\system32\config\systemprofile\desktop refers to a file that is unavailable. I cant get into cmd mode in regular safe mode but I opened safe mode with cmd and put in a few different things online I found, one was net user administrator /active:yes and the other was something similiar but with no at the end. Both cmd's were accepted but they did nothing. Thanks for any help

 

beast8812

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Feb 22, 2012
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I also tried reinstalling windows and that didnt work. It just took me back to the same screen with the failed log in after it reinstalled. I tried setting it up with the system booting to windows after I installed it and then tried it again with it booting to the disk and neither time it worked.

The most recent time I tried reinstalling windows it got to the last step and said there is a problem with the boot config and it could not complete the installation.

Thanks for any help
 

beast8812

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Feb 22, 2012
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Any suggestions? I considered just wiping the hard drive but I dont really want to have to guy buy another windows 7 product key. Plus i've never wiped a hard drive so I have no idea where to begin and if I have to leave any files on it.
 

sindawi

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May 3, 2012
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you need to boot into a CMD Prompt.
Delete your profile key and remove the .bak from the backup of your profile.
reboot and your good to go.

Registry key :“HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList
 

beast8812

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Feb 22, 2012
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Thanks for the help. How do I do the first step and how do I get into the registry afterwards. When I go into safe mode in windows I can't get to the registry. Can I do everything from the cmd? If so what cmd's do I need. This is all really new to me so if there's a step by step somewhere that will definitely be helpful. The biggest problem with all of the answers I found online so far are it tell me to go to the search box and type in regedit. Everytime I do this it comes up with nothing. Im not sure if this because i'm in safe mode or not, but I haven't figured out how to get into the registry yet.
 

djscribbles

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Apr 6, 2012
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I have to start by saying that it would help immensely to know what happened just before you saw this error.

I was seeing this error a few weeks ago while attempting to move my C:\Users directory to another drive in my system (via robocopy + mklink). I was getting the error because my user profile wasn't being copied correctly, and was getting messed up, so when I would try to boot, windows didn't see a valid user profile. I even saw the same error message when booting into safe mode.

Now, you can pretty easily recover this by wiping your hard disk, and you don't need to purchase a new windows product key (as long as you have your product key still, and it's legit, if you've got a prebuilt pc, usually theres a sticker with the key somewhere). The difficult part is backing up all of your files on that drive before you wipe it, if you know where you keep your data it can be pretty painless, but be cautious and aware that if you miss something it will be gone for good.

I'll give some brief backup instructions here, if you know what to do, you can skip this bit. Start out by getting an external hard drive, or a sizeable thumb drive. The two biggest folders to get are C:\Users and C:\ProgramData (program data is pretty well hidden, you'll need to make it visible), if you use steam for games, C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps is another good one to backup (so you don't have to re-download games). You should look around for anything else, typically most of your data for programs is stored under users and program data though. Copy all these files onto your backup drive (do this from safemode so you have a UI), double and triple check that you get all of your data, as wiping the drive isn't easily reversible (no recycle bin). Once you get your new windows install, you will want to go through the backups you made, and hand copy your data from the backup into the new folders windows created for you. Go through each folder under Users/admin, and in program data look for applications you care about the settings for such as firefox, and copy that data from your backup to the new directory (some programs may not like this, so be careful with overwriting existing stuff).

So. Basically what you'll need to do is boot from your windows disk and select custom install (or advanced or whatever), early in the process it will bring up a menu showing you all of the hard drives in your system (be extra sure you select the correct drive) select your current windows drive, and below the drives, there should be an option labeled format (it will have an eraser icon if I remember right), when you select that option, it will erase everything on your drive. Then, you can just click next, and go through the rest of the windows install just like you have been doing.

Once you get back to your fresh desktop follow the instructions above for restoring your data and you should be all set.
 
We can't provide any further support since, Anything along the lines of "Cracking a user account" isn't supported on this forums. I am sorry if you are a legit user, but because we have had so many account come in trying to get help on a stolen laptop that they stole and making it theirs.
 

Soda-88

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Jun 8, 2011
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Neither should you need to do that if you already have a licence. It's reusable infinite times, as long as it's installed on 1 single PC.

As for the recovery attempt try this:

Boot to Safe Mode with Command Prompt, type in 'C:\Windows\System32\Sysprep\sysprep.exe /audit /reboot' and press enter. Your PC should reboot shortly in audit mode on a highest level administrator account with a tool called 'sysprep' opened on your desktop. Don't close it, you'll need it to get back to normal. Once there, go to Control Panel>User Accounts>Manage another account then click on your old, corrupted account, click delete account>keep files (so you won't lose anything you had on Desktop and My Documents, etc...)>delete account. Now close control panel, in sysprep that booted with Windows select Out-of-box experience (OOBE) and Reboot options. Don't check 'Generalize' because that option wipes OS clean of drivers and all the current PC specific data. Pressing OK will reboot the PC and on the next boot you will get the same screen as if you just reinstalled Windows. All that is left for you to do now is to choose all the settings and type in new user name.

To access your old user specific files go to C:\Users, click Organize>Folder and search options, go to View tab, select 'Show hidden files, folders and drives' option and confirm by clicking OK. Now you can open your old account's folder and access all the files that were placed on account specific locations such as Desktop and My Documents.
 

sindawi

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May 3, 2012
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Just restore the profile from the backup. All this other nonsense does not address your issue. This is a very common error . It has nothing to do with hacking admin accounts or trying to move user folders. Essentially there are some corrupted keys in your profile and they need a refresh all of that info is store in the registry and reinstalling windows or running any type of recovery to restore the user is like taking a sledgehammer to a window because a bird crapped on it rather than just wiping it off with some windex and a paper towel.
 

beast8812

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Feb 22, 2012
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This all happened when I was trying to change a drive name. I have a (c) drive and a (d) drive. I wanted to change the (d) drive to another letter. I changed it to another letter and when the computer restarted I got all of these errors. I have the windows disk but I can't find my registry key. That's why I worry about just wiping the hard drives, and having to buy another copy of windows.
 

beast8812

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Feb 22, 2012
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If I could restore it I would. I go into system restore and it says I need to set up system restore. It sends me to the control panel where your suppose to be able to set it up, and the option it says to use isnt even listed. I tried this numerous times last night with no luck. I tried using my disk and it brought up a restore method and it still all brought me back to the same errors after I performed the restore. I did this with 3 different files it had listed and they all brought me back to the original errors.
 

djscribbles

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It's likely that changing your drive letter back to D would also resolve your problem.

edit: Also, when I started my response, nobody had responded to you yet. Sindawi's method is probably a much better approach than reformatting.
 

beast8812

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Feb 22, 2012
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I tried to change it back and I still had the issue. I will try Sindawi's method and report back. Thanks.
 

sindawi

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May 3, 2012
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It can't hurt that you did change it back when the back up of the old profile is loaded everything should be linked the way it was prior to the failure.

 

djscribbles

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As a general tip to help with losing windows keys. If you put windows disks and drivers disks inside the case (if you have a desktop), you don't need to worry about loosing them. I do this with alot of PC's I build for friends and family (and me) who are likely to lose the stuff in some drawer somewhere.
Just make sure it's secure (like with tape) where you put it and not blocking airflow.

Also, writing CD-keys on the disks they belong to is helpful :)

(I lose stuff alllllll the time, so I've designed safeguards against me)
 

beast8812

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Feb 22, 2012
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Ok everything did not go as planned but I do have working windows 7 again. I used the document you gave me sindawi and I was able to get into the main admin account. Once I got in it though I wasnt able to do much. I was still getting errors. I was able to copy all the info I wanted to save onto an external hd and I was able to reinstall windows. I also found my windows 7 key and its a good thing I did because I needed it for the re install. Now everything is all good and working again. Thank you for all the help