Can't Login - User Profile Service Failed

Steve C · 26 Dec 2015

I just tried to log in to my Admin account and got the error "The user profile service failed the sign-in. User profile service cannot be loaded"

I can log in to my user account and do admin tasks when prompted by UAC. SFC /SCANNOW shows no errors and CHKDSK shows no errors.

I did a system restore at boot and can now enter the admin account but it has several access errors. I changed another user account to an admin account and that works. However, if I create a new admin account, I get the same error "The user profile service failed the sign-in. User profile service cannot be loaded".

I'm unsure how to proceed from here. Should I do an in place repair install or is there another fix? The fundamental problem is I can't create a new working admin account.

Brink · 26 Dec 2015

Hello Steve, :)

You might see if the tutorial below may be able to help with this "User Profile Service failed the sign-in" error.

User Profile Service failed the sign-in - Fix in Windows 8

Steve C · 26 Dec 2015

My basic problem is I can't create a new admin account and log in without getting the error. This doesn't seem to be covered by the above link. Someone mentioned the default user profile being corrupted which may be the problem. Can this be fixed. Else I can do an in place repair install - would that work? I also have a Macrium backup I could recover from. Do I need to restore all partitions or just the system files on the C: drive?

Brink · 26 Dec 2015

The blue note box under step 1 covers how to enable the built-in Administrator account at boot to be able to use to do the tutorial with. :)

A repair install won't work since you have to do it while signed in to Windows.

If all else fails, restoring your Macrium image would be a good option.

Steve C · 26 Dec 2015

I do have another working admin account by changing a standard account to an admin account. I just can't create a new admin account without getting the login error. Won't a repair install work since I do have a working admin account from which I can run setup.exe to install Windows?

Brink · 26 Dec 2015

You could do a repair install while signed in to an administrator account, but you might lose the user account giving you the error.

Since you are able to sign in to another administrator account, are you able to do the steps in the tutorial below to fix the other account's profile?

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials...ndows-8-a.html

Steve C · 26 Dec 2015

I don't have any user profiles with a .bak extension as shown in the link. I currently have the following accounts & status:

Account A - main local user account, working fine.
Account B - originally a local user account, now changed to an admin account and working fine
Account C - original admin account which gave the user profile service log in error today. I did a system restore and can now log in to this account but it has some errors i.e. I can't personalise the desktop background

I've tried creating a new admin account from Account B and Account A (via the UAC prompt). The new admin account is created but I get the user profile log in error. I need to get back to a position where I can create a new working admin account. My options are:

1. Fix the error which I suspect is something to do with a corrupted default user profile which would explain why all accounts can no longer create a working admin account. What is the fix?

2. Do an in place repair install from Account B - but would this correct the error?

3. Restore my Macrium backup. Do I need to restore all partitions or just drive C: containing Windows?

4. Something else I haven't thought of.

Brink · 26 Dec 2015

A repair install should fix it for you, but you may lose the account you have the error with.

Steve C · 26 Dec 2015

I'm unsure what you mean by "you may lose the account you have the error with". No account is currently able to generate a new admin account without generating the user profile log in error. Does that mean the repair install is unlikely to work and I'll lose all accounts?

If I then have to recover from my Macrium Reflect backup, do I need to restore just the C: drive containing Windows or all system partitions?

I have no idea why this error occurred and it has sapped my confidence in Windows 10.

Brink · 26 Dec 2015

Sorry, I was still thinking about the account that originally had the error.

I would restore the full image backup with all partitions if you needed to.