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

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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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
    2013-12-16T17:12:20+00:00

    It seems there are many reasons for this bug. Perhaps instead of creating a temporary profile it might have been more appropriate for Windows not to start at all if there is a registry problem. Or perhaps to display a DOS box instead. In my case, the issue seems to be when Windows or one of its service apps schedules a task for the next start-up which obtains an exclusive handle on the user.dat file. Windows attempts to open the file, times out and creates a temporary user. I think the conflict is always potentially present, but sorts itself out unless an extra event changes the timing.  If I shut down, restart in safe mode and then restart normally, the task that was causing the conflict is allowed to complete and everything works normally. It is a bit of a faff though, and means I can't expect someone else to use my computer. I can sympathise with those who have given up on microsoft.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-12-16T15:37:45+00:00

    Thanks TDossey

    Tried the methods you suggested and this fixed the problem but it came back

    Also, there is only 1 user logging in to this computer, so the suggestion that user switching could be at the root of the problem doesn't really explain this, at least in the scenario I described

    I have the first recreated profile re-functioning (completely by chance) but I do not think this will last

    What I did do was actively register the user account as system admin as opposed to a user with admin rights, then prevented auto-login by making password and ctrl&alt&del necessary

    After  10 restarts, still no temporary profile, but I'm expecting the bad-news call every day since

    Any news on a fix rather than a work-around would be appreciated

    Keith

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-12-16T14:00:54+00:00

    As an IT tech with my own company I am fed up with this temp profile and Win 8 mess.  Maybe I have been lucky but I have never seen this problem on other MS o/s's only on 8 and always only on HP laptops.

    I have now  bought four HP laptops for clients and all have had the same problem....I have got round it by a variety of means including a reformat and rebuild, but it always returns eventually.

    I will try the suggestion by TDossey above and see if that resolves it.

    I am disgusted that this has not been dealt with either by MS or by HP, as there clearly is a major flaw somewhere.

    I have just read that it might apply to PC's with AVG installed only....

    Do many of you with this problem have AVG Antivirus, as I do put it on all my builds?

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-12-16T13:34:56+00:00

    TDossey

    I followed your directions - still no resolution.

    I received the message - the specified account name is already a member of the group.

    I have tried everything but copy the files to a new user or mess with the registry - scan disk via hp, via command prompt, via a reboot, repair all to naught.  System restore doesn't happen because supposedly I have an error that was supposedly fixed but still can't do a system restore.

    Any further suggestions

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