Fix 'The User Profile Service Failed the Logon' in Windows 7 and Vista — Historical Guide

Historical support note: Windows 7 and Vista are out of support.

The message “The User Profile Service failed the logon. User profile cannot be loaded.” usually means Windows cannot load the affected user’s profile. The profile may be damaged, or Windows may have created a duplicate ProfileList entry after a failed sign-in.

1. Try System Restore first

If the error started recently and a suitable restore point exists, System Restore is the least invasive recovery option.

2. Use another administrator account if available

If another administrator account works, back up the affected user’s files before editing the registry. Do not delete the user’s profile folder as a first step.

3. Advanced: inspect the ProfileList entries

On Windows 7/Vista, the legacy Microsoft fix for some cases involved:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList

Look for the SID whose ProfileImagePath points to the affected account. If duplicate SID entries exist and one ends in .bak, the entries may need to be renamed so the valid profile becomes the active SID. Back up the registry first and verify ProfileImagePath carefully before changing anything.

Because a wrong SID edit can affect another user’s profile, do not apply a .bak rename unless the duplicate-profile pattern is actually present.

4. Create a fresh profile if repair is unreliable

If the account remains unusable, create a new administrator account and copy the user’s personal files from the old profile into the new one. Avoid copying hidden profile databases wholesale, because they may contain the corruption.