Failed profile load

Mista_C

Most times I've had to deal with this problem for others I've usually sorted it by increasing the size of the Page File...

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows-vista/Change-the-size-of-virtual-memory

Assuming that let's you back in you might want to see what's causing the need to increase the page file. Once in it might be a good idea to follow the instructions in Closed's clean up sticky thread.

Miró

scheming_gypsy wrote: »

Been a while since i used vista so i can't remember the profile location.

If it's the same as XP then it'll be C:\documents and settings.
If it's the same as Windows 7 it's c:\users

in there you'll see a list of all profile folders. If you're still logging on as a temporary profile you'll see one called temp and the other will be your old one. Rename your old one - just add .old onto the end of the folder name.

Then click start > run > (type in) regedit and click ok.
Then you want HKEY_LOCALMACHINE > Software > Microsoft > Windows NT > CurrentVersion > ProfileList.

Expand Profile list and you should see some folders, two will have similar names but one will end with .bak. If you click on each of these in the window on the right you'll see that the one with .bak on the end has a ProfileImagePath that points to your old folder and the other points to c:\temp

When you're logging on with your account it's loading your SID, but as it's created a back up it's pointing to temporary one.. Delete both of the SID folders and reboot.
When you log back on again it'll load another clean profile. Go back into c:\users and you should see that the temp one has disappeared, your old one is there and you have a new one with your username.
All your old stuff is in the one you renamed, the PC is using the new one and you can copy everything you need from the old one to the new one.

Many thanks......not too happy about mucking about in the registry but will have a bash when I get everything transferred to a new external hdd. Got to get it sorted somehow....

Thanks again

scheming_gypsy

As long as you only delete the two folders that relate to your SID you'll be fine, literally takes a minute and then there's just copying the data across from one profile to the other.
I do far too many of these at work, whether it's because a profile is corrupt and they're getting a temporary profile, or because a group policy has changed but not being updated on the machine (usually laptop users).. but as long as you follow the instructions you won't go wrong.

Miró

scheming_gypsy wrote: »

Been a while since i used vista so i can't remember the profile location.

If it's the same as XP then it'll be C:\documents and settings.
If it's the same as Windows 7 it's c:\users Its this

in there you'll see a list of all profile folders. If you're still logging on as a temporary profile you'll see one called temp and the other will be your old one.

Just had a little look and I have an old one, (created 2008), and 2 temp ones, (created 8/11/2013). Why is nothing ever straightforward!!!!

Rename your old one - just add .old onto the end of the folder name.

Then click start > run > (type in) regedit and click ok.
Then you want HKEY_LOCALMACHINE > Software > Microsoft > Windows NT > CurrentVersion > ProfileList.

Expand Profile list and you should see some folders, two will have similar names but one will end with .bak. If you click on each of these in the window on the right you'll see that the one with .bak on the end has a ProfileImagePath that points to your old folder and the other points to c:\temp

When you're logging on with your account it's loading your SID, but as it's created a back up it's pointing to temporary one.. Delete both of the SID folders and reboot.
When you log back on again it'll load another clean profile. Go back into c:\users and you should see that the temp one has disappeared, your old one is there and you have a new one with your username.
All your old stuff is in the one you renamed, the PC is using the new one and you can copy everything you need from the old one to the new one.

..............

scheming_gypsy

created or last modified?

just have a look in the one that's got the same name as your log in ID and you should see all your files.

Miró

Just popped back to say that in the end I did a factory restore as it seemed a good opportunity to get rid of loads of rubbish at the same time. Seemed to solve the problem and wasn't too difficult to do.

Many thanks for the tip about....

http://www.voidtools.com/

I saved all the stuff I needed to thanks to this... now dealing with the gazillions of updates.

Thanks to everyone for their help and input.

NiftyDigits

Brand name and model number of said machine?