Windows 8 keeps loading with temporary profile

Anonymous
2012-11-22T02:28:10+00:00

I upgraded my Windows 7 to Win 8 Pro. Today my power cable got unplugged and the computer restarted but cannot open my default profile. It keeps logging me to a temporary profile and states that the default profile could not be loaded. I check through the error logs and it states that the Registry may have gotten corrupted. How would a restart of the computer corrupt my registry. The problem is that everytime I restart it keeps taking me to the temporary profile which is new everytime I log in. None of the settings are saved. How do I get back to my original profile. I tried Refreshing the PC and it failed. Is this fixable?

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Performance and system failures

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Anonymous
2012-11-22T16:59:04+00:00

Hi

We are glad to get your query on Windows Community.

As far as your query is concerned, It seem that you are having a tough time logging to your default account.

I will surely help you with issue. But I still require certain information to get the right resolution:

May I know whether the default account is an Admin account or a standard user account?

I would recommend you to follow the methods below to resolve the issue:

Method 1:

Enable Built Admin account.

a) Press Windows and x key together on your desktop screen.

b) Click on Command Prompt (admin).

c) Type: net user administrator /active: yes

Note: Please follow the same steps and type net user administrator /active: no to disable admin account after the troubleshooting is done

After enabling Built-in admin, please try with the steps below:

Step 1:

Perform SFC Scan

Please follow the steps to perform SFC Scan:

a. Press “Windows Key + Q” to open Charms Bar.

b. Type “cmd” without quotes in the search box.

c. On the left pane, right click on the “cmd” option and select “Run as Administrator”.

d. Type ‘sfc /scannow’ without quotes and hit enter.

Note: It may ask for windows installation DVD to fix and to enable SFC to make more than minor repairs. Some files saved on your computer might get deleted when fixing corrupted files.

Step 2:

Please perform Microsoft Safety Scanner to scan your computer for infections.

To download and run the Microsoft Safety Scanner, follow these steps:

a) Go to the Microsoft Safety Scanner site at: Microsoft Safety Scanner

(http://www.microsoft.com/security/scanner/en-us/default.aspx)

b) Click Download Now.

c) If prompted, click Run. Follow the on-screen instructions to download and install the Microsoft Safety Scanner. When prompted, add a shortcut to the Microsoft Safety Scanner to your desktop.

d) From your desktop, double click the Microsoft Safety Scanner icon. When the Microsoft Safety Scanner program launches, click Scan Type, then click Full Scan, then click Next.

e) After the scan is complete, remove all detected malware entries

Note: Any data files that are infected may only be cleaned by deleting the file entirely, which means there is a potential for data loss.

For more information refer:

Microsoft resources and guidance for removal of malware and viruses (Microsoft Safety Scanner).

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2671662

Step 3:

Please restart your PC and check if you are able to log in to your Default Profile.

Method 2:

From Built in administrator account create a new user account and transfer the profile data.

Please follow the steps below to do that:

a) Press Windows and x together and select Windows Explorer.

b) Click on View tab and Click on Options at the top right corner.

c) Click the View tab, and then click Show hidden files, folders, and drives.

d) Uncheck the box which states **Hide protected operating system files.**e) Click Yes to confirm, and then click OK.

f) Locate the C:\Users\Old_Username folder, where C is the drive that Windows is installed on, and Old Username is the name of the profile you want to copy files from.

g) Select all of the files and folders in this folder, except the following files:

•Ntuser.dat•Ntuser.dat.log•Ntuser.ini

h) Right click and Select Copy.

i) Locate the C:\Users\New_Username folder, where C is the drive that Windows is installed on, and New Username is the name of the new user profile you created.

j) Right click inside the folder and select Paste.

k) Restart your PC and check if you are able to log in to default profile.

Please reply us back if the issue still persists.

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-12-11T19:52:43+00:00

    We are experiencing the same issue; did all that and as a last resource entered from another account with admin privileges, removed all user data and were expecting for Windows to re-build it.....did not happen, user is still logging in with a temporary profile.  Then we removed the temporary profile, removed the user, rebooted the computer, added the user again, had her log on....still logging in with a temporary profile.  Also, the apps are broken.  NO APPS, not even READER.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-12-12T16:48:37+00:00

    Thank you for the solution of creating a new user profile - this is NOT a solution, it is a work-around because Microsoft have NOT provided a solution

    I provide support for a number of users and have seen this problem with other version of windows. Normally creating new user profile & transferring data fixes the problem and it does not come back

    However, on a new computer which I upgraded from 8.0 to 8.1 before commissioning the main user, I followed the above workaround and although this worked for about 5 days, exactly the same issue has reproduced itself with the New User Profile I created.

    I have run full disk-check and the SFC /scannow finished normally, there are no viruses, the computer is now 2 weeks old and this has re-occurred 3 times in its short life

    Is there a solution to prevent this happening again, or do I need to refund the customer.

    Recreating a user outlook account and waiting for it to populate is painful, the whole process (3 temp profile logins) has cost 8 hours of my time, once setting up email and printers and transferring xxx GB of photos and files to new profiles

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-12-15T02:47:41+00:00

    Not sure why I need to go through this ****. Windows 8.1 wiped out my files. I really don't have time to deal with hours of trying out how to restore them. Microsoft is dead to me, going to buy a MAC tomorrow. Microsoft has successively run an innovative company in to the ground!

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-12-15T03:07:31+00:00

    Not sure why I need to go through this ****. Windows 8.1 wiped out my files. I really don't have time to deal with hours of trying out how to restore them. Microsoft is dead to me, going to buy a MAC tomorrow. Microsoft has successively run an innovative company in to the ground!

    ToddWhite,

    Would like to direct you to my suggestion on how to clear up the problem.  To me you are correct in that we don't have time to do hours of work around.  It has to be something that gets out of order. I believe that it has a lot to do with switching between users (maybe something not closing or resetting) and when you switch back - the things (program/file) are not closed/ready, therefor not allowing access the profile. 

    Check out my previous entry - TDossey replied on July 18, 2013 ...  (Page 7)

    Temporary Profile Problem (TPP)

    Simple fix without creating temporary account, copying files or modifying registry.

    Hope that helps.

    TDossey

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