I had to fix yet another customers corrupted profile today.
While there is plenty of advice on a fix, I cannot find any clue as to what causes it in the first place.
Is it just Microsoft "being helpful" or is there some underlying issue that could be addressed.
All the machines I have had to fix over the last year or so, run Windows Security and Malwarebytes Premium. All had the latest Windows version at the time.
When it happens, I would look at the Event Logs for clues.
What latest version did they have? Have any of them updated to 2004?All the machines I have had to fix over the last year or so, run Windows Security and Malwarebytes Premium. All had the latest Windows version at the time.
Good luck with that.
I have a half dozen machines, plus at least the same again as VMs. I have never yet seen a corrupt profile. My longest serving machine has a profile that was migrated from Windows 7 back in 2015 and has survived every version upgrade since then, up to and including 2004.
While I have yet to experience a corrupt profile, I could suggest looking for a common factor. For example, were they all Microsoft Accounts? Perhaps an error in syncing corrupted them? All my accounts are local accounts, if that's any help.
I think "corrupted" was the wrong word. It was a case of not finding the correct profile, so Windows logs on with a TEMP profile.
Eventvwr only shows when the user attempted log on with ID 1511 "Windows cannot find local profile, so...etc"
2 previous cases were about a year ago, so not version 2004.
All cases use local accounts.
The fix in all cases was to re-instate the .bak profile in the registry.
Some methods that could cause corruption:
1) Power outage
2) Power outage during a Windows update
3) Power outage during a Windows upgrade
4) Manual power offs for hangs and freezes
etc.
User deletes something they shouldn't.
The only factor I ever saw suggested was that the computers concerned had been repeatedly turned off without going through the proper close-down procedure [i.e. closing the NTUSER.DAT file].
This might have been because the computer repeatedly crashed or the user repeatedly forced the computer off using the power button
- as a convenient method, or
- the computer locked up so the user had no choice.
I don't think I ever saw any proper analysis of this as a cause of profile corruption. It was just the 'received wisdom' in some places for many years [Win7-era].
Denis
Another method has been registry cleaning (works well initially but over time end users had developed corruption).
I've been fortunate enough to have never had this grief myself although I've heard from others who have.
I've hunted around and collected a few directions that include;
reboot 4 or 5 times,
removing .bak from a user profile with regedit,
changing DWORD values on a couple of keys (state & RefCount),
copying the default folder from another user or another PC and
replacing ntuser.dat file located in C:\users\default using Windows Explorer, among other solutions.
I thought these potential fixes might help someone and I'm curious to know if others have been successful using these methods. Has anyone had success in correcting a corrupt user profile with using SFC or DISM?
Start with the tutorial here at Ten Forums. Thanks zbook, I missed this link when I first posted this list.
Fix User Profile Service Failed the Sign-in Error in Windows 10
Rename profile that has .bak
Corrupt User Profile: Fix for Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, 10
Changing DWORD values;
How to Fix Corrupt User Profile In Windows 10
Copying the default folder & other approaches.
[Solved] The User Profile Service Failed The Logon Windows 10 Error
Replace ntuser.dat
Windows 10: Fix "User profile cannot be loaded" Error - Technipages
Windows update kb4532693 corrupts user profiles for 1903 & 1909.
Windows 10: Update KB4532693 kills user data/profile | Born's Tech and Windows World
Windows update kb4532693 corrupts user profiles for 1903 & 1909.
Warning: New Windows 10 Update Bug Is Deleting User Data And Preventing Login
Last edited by W10 Tweaker; 04 Aug 2020 at 21:28.
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