Win 7: Recreate Corrupted Administrator Account Using Safe Mode

Hi,  

1) What is the exact error message you get while trying to login to Administrator account?

2) Were there any changes made to the computer, lately?  

Method 1: Log in to your Administrator Account Using Safe Mode

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Start-your-computer-in-safe-mode    

Method 2: Try the steps mentioned in the following article and check it helps.   http://support.microsoft.com/kb/947215  

Important: This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

How to back up and restore the registry in Windows

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322756/  

Hello, Vishwanath V.

1) The error message is "User Profile Service failed the logon. User Profile cannot be loaded."

2) I think I may have started this over a month ago by monkeying with my Adm. User Profile. When I recently tried to log on, I got the "temporary account" error message and tried to reset the account, which resulted in the above message.

I had tried all the procedures in Method 2 to no avail. However, by following links from the first link you sent me, I found the right instructions for repair in the Win7 Forum Tutorial under "User Profile Error - Logged on with a Temporary Profile" and "User Profile Service failed the logon. User profile cannot be loaded" with links to further instructions.

I went through this entire process correctly using my built-in Administrator Account and in Safe Mode. I've established that even using this method I still can't create a new account that works, either Adm. or User. I'm down to only the built-in account and my User account, which I was able to change to Administrator early on, thank goodness, but which I assume is not as good as the built-in. There never was but one registry key for the bad account, the first time with .bak, which I removed as instructed. It didn't help to delete the key entirely, either. I was not allowed to delete the file in Users because it said it was shared even when I tried to remove the sharing.

Something is blocking the whole account deletion and creation process. Could it have anything to do with File Sharing or file security properties (permissions)? I know very little about these areas. I'm getting sort of desperate; I have work to do online and need another account of either type. What else can I do?

APRIL 17

Now I can clarify the problem for you. I have finally managed to delete the problem user account, but I still can't create another account that works even when logged onto my built-in computer Administrator account. What happens is the new account looks just fine in the Control Panel\User Accounts window and the logon screen, but there is no registry key for it nor any file in C:\\Users. So of course when I try to log onto it, I get the error message, "User Profile Service failed the logon. User Profile cannot be loaded." How can I fix this malfunction?

Original title: What are the best settings for Win7 User Account folder properties

One home desktop with Win7 Home Premium, sp1, connected to broadband cable ISP modem. No other network involved. Just me, myself, and I.

I'm trying to understand what settings are best for personal folder and file Properties Permissions just among my Administrator, User, and SYSTEM Accounts in C:\Users. I'm having some trouble with error message "User Profile Service failed the logon. User Profile cannot be loaded." What settings will make my computer logon run smoothly? What are the accounts listed in Permissions but not in Account Profiles? Also, does File Sharing effect a lone computer or only a Network? (Windows classifies my PC and my ISP as a network. Very confusing.) Can you clear some of this up for me? I've run out of procedures for fixing the logon problem. 

Hello Jessen P (Sorry I mangled your name before):

There were no major changes before the problem, but I didn't discover the problem until at least a month after it started, so I'm not sure. MS Security finds nothing.

I have already run all of these procedures using my built-in Administrator account in Safe Mode. I still cannot delete the faulty account nor create any new account.

Please tell me about account file Sharing and Properties. I may have made wrong settings there, and I need a better understanding of what they should be, anyway. I want to eliminate a cause in that area.

Also, what is the account that always appears in Account Profiles but never at startup? It is called "ASP.Net Machine Account" and is a standard user. If listed in a folder's properties under Security Permissions, what is it called there? There are often accounts listed there which I can't identify.

I know these are vague questions, but I'm self-taught and these are a big gap in my knowledge.

LATER TODAY

Now I can clarify the problem for you. I have finally managed to delete the problem user account, but I still can't create another account that works even when logged onto my built-in computer Administrator account. What happens is the new account looks just fine in the Control Panel\User Accounts window and the logon screen, but there is no registry key for it nor any file in C:\\Users. So of course when I try to log onto it, I get the error message,  "User Profile Service failed the logon. User Profile cannot be loaded." How can I fix this malfunction?

Click on Start and type netplwiz and press enter and try to delete/create a New admin user account and see if it works.

Thanks for this helpful program, but it didn't work. Creating any account in Control Panel/User Accounts/Create an Account still fails to create a registry key. I have learned that I did bad when I monkeyed around a couple of times with the Permissions in my User Account files. (The instructions made this seem like no big deal. Windows should warn you not to try it unless you're expert.) Of course dummy me didn't make any record of my changes. The last time I did this must have been one too many and is the probable cause and origin of this problem.

Well, I think I've improved the User folders' Sharing, Permissions, and Owner settings, but that hasn't helped. The problem account's Security window shows full permission for "?Unknown Account" with a registry key number not shown in the registry.

Another account shows 2 other unknown registry keys with identical long numbers except for the last 4 digits. One of these had the digits for the bad account, but I don't know what the other is. However this account works fine.

Previous versions of the User files don't go back far enough. System Restore goes back farther, but I have no idea when the problem happened. Am I even on the right track? I hope it's not the registry because my most recent backup for it is from 9/1/11. My other backups are about that old, too.

a)      Click Start

b)      Collapse this imageExpaIn Start Search (Windows Vista) or Search programs and files (Windows 7) area, type in regedit, and press Enter.

c)      If prompted by UAC, click Continue (Windows Vista) or Yes (Windows 7).

d)      In Registry Editor, go to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList

e)      In the left pane, look for the folder name starting with S-1-5 (SID key) followed by a long number

f)       Right click the folder without .bak and choose Rename. Then add .ba at the end of the folder name.

g)      Now, Right click the folder with .bak and choose Rename. Then remove .bak at the end of the folder name.

h)     Right click the folder with .ba and choose Rename. Then change the .ba to .bak at the end of the folder name

Note: If you have only one folder starting with S-1-5 followed by a long numbers and ended with .bak. Right click the folder and choose Rename. Then remove .bak at the end of the folder name

i)       Choose the folder without .bak, in the right pane, double click RefCount and type 0 and then click OK.

j)        Choose the folder without .bak, in the right pane, double click State and type 0 and then click OK.

k)     Close Registry Editor.

l)       Restart the computer.

m)   Log on again with your account

Important: This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

How to back up and restore the registry in Windows

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322756/  

Hope this helps

This was one of the first fixes I tried (but first I determined which key was for the problem account as there was also one for my user account). The account had only one key, which ended in .bak, which I removed. This fix had no effect, so I went on as instructed to remove and replace the account including removing this key altogether along with removing the account via Control Panel. As I stated above, now I cannot recreate this account or create any other account because doing so doesn't create a SID key. Also, there is no SID key for my Guest account, either, only one for my built-in Administrator account and one for my own User (now Administrator) account.

I have just remembered that around the time this problem began, I uninstalled Apple's QuickTime Player. Does Windows need this for User Accounts? Should I reinstall it?

Is it possible to restore either the single SID key or the single account file in C:Users from my 9/2011 backups? It would be way too disruptive to restore the whole registry or C drive back that far.

Having said that it is not possible to restore a single SID key unless we have a back of it. System restore would be a better option to restore the computer to a previous working state.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/products/features/system-restore

Note: System Restore does not affect personal files, such as e-mail, documents, or photos. You can only restore files that you have deleted if you have made backups of those files. However you may lose the applications that were installed after that restore point (Date).