How to Fix “User Profile Service Failed the Sign-in” Error for Windows

Do you get the “User profile service failed to log in. User profile could not be loaded” error during Windows 11/10 startup? This message appears as soon as you type your password on the Windows logon screen, and your default user profile fails to activate. Instead, a corrupted user profile takes over, changing the lock screen and desktop background. Because the appropriate profile is not loaded, you can not log in to your system. If you are facing this frustrating problem, one of our solutions below will resolve it immediately.

Causes of “User profile service failed to login” error.

There are many reasons why you may encounter the error “User profile failed to login”. Variations of this error include: “User profile could not be loaded” and “User profile service failed to login.” If you receive any of these error messages, it means that the default Windows user profile is corrupted, which can be attributed to one or more of the following factors:

• Windows Update not working properly: User Account Control (UAC) is designed to prevent unauthorized changes to your Windows device. Any irregular or unfinished updates or crashes can sometimes corrupt the host files required for UAC to work properly.
• Error resizing partition: When we resize the partition from “Disk Management”, sometimes these parts can be damaged and lead to an incorrect user profile.
• Antivirus softwareIf an antivirus program scans your system while you are trying to log in, it can disable the correct user profile and start an incorrect profile.
• Incorrect shutdown and restart At guest entrancesA: If you did not log out smoothly from a local account created on your PC, you may encounter a user profile error logging in afterwards.

User Profile Service Solutions Failed to Sign In Error in Windows 11/10

The good thing is that none of the above reasons is a major concern. You can easily repair the corrupted user profile using one of the troubleshooting solutions below.

You must first try the easy methods. Go for the complex and time-consuming solutions towards the end only if the easy ones fail to solve the problem.

1. Restart or shut down Windows 11/10 from its lock screen

Sometimes you just need to restart or shut down simply from the lock screen window to fix the problem.

Whether you’re logged in by an administrator or a guest, use Win + To To exit and go to the Windows lock screen. Navigate to the manager profile (if a guest profile was previously used for login), and click on the lock screen on / off options. Be sure to log in as an administrator during the subsequent boot.

2. Delete a local user account in Windows 10/11

If the user profile error is due to an improper shutdown and restart during guest login, you may want to temporarily delete the redundant local account using the activation command netplwiz.

1. After logging on to the computer with the wrong user profile, run the Windows Run command option using Win + R And enter netplwiz.

2. You will encounter the Advanced User Accounts control panel screen. Enter your administrator password to continue.

Sometimes there will be an error, as the system refuses to accept your administrator password. In this case, use Windows Safe Boot to perform these steps. (See this solution in the FAQ below.)

3. Click the “Remove” option next to your guest / local account. Even if you are currently logged in to your computer with the local account, the local profile here will be removed.

4. Use Win + To To exit the local account login window. Restart your computer and be sure to use your regular Microsoft account to log back in.

3. Move the NTUSER.Dat file to the default username folder

User profile consists of custom menu items for the desktop, downloads, documents, music, videos, links saved and stored in a folder within “C: / Users”.

For each of these profiles, a .dat file named NTUSER.dat was created by Windows. It contains custom user settings.

1. Go to the required local account within “C: / Users” and “cut” the NTUSER.dat file for that account.

2. “Paste” the .dat file into the “Default” username folder.
3. Delete the Local Account folder and restart the computer to see if the appropriate user profile is loaded.

4. Fix a Windows user profile using the command prompt

The Evergreen command prompt can fix some hard disk-related issues that may be causing the user profile error. In both Windows 11 and Windows 10, it must be run in Admin mode from the Start menu search.

1. First perform a Deployment Management Tool (DISM) scan, which helps correct the image of Windows and may resolve the error of the user profile services.

DISM.exe /Online /Cleanp-image /scanhealth

2. Also, the System File Checker (SFC) command is the best way to repair corrupted Windows files, including user profile settings. This is a very simple command that can fix many computer problems at once.

5. Use Windows Registry Editor in safe mode

The Windows Registry Editor (Regedit) is one of the best solutions for fixing the “User profile service failed to log in” error. To do this, problem solving is achieved in safe mode.

1. In Windows 11, go to “Advanced Boot” from the search menu (or Start menu search). For Windows 10, the appropriate option is “Change advanced operating options”.
2. Click “Restart Now” to begin an advanced restart.

3. After restarting, a blue screen appears. Select “Troubleshooting”.
4. Go to “Advanced Options -> Boot Settings” and restart the device.
5. After restarting, you will see a number of boot settings that can be accessed using the number keys (1-9) or the function keys (F1-F9). Select “Enable Safe Mode”.
6. After logging in, you will enter Windows 11/10 in safe mode. Very minimal options are visible in this situation.
7. Enable the Windows Run command option using Win + R And enter regedit. This task will be created automatically with administrator privileges.

8. Navigate down to the following path in Registry Editor:

ComputerHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwareMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionProfileList

9. Check the last entries under “ProfileList” to see if there are duplicates, for example entries have similar names, but at least one of them will contain a .bak file.
10. Rename the .bak extension if it exists in the last entry to .ba only. For the other double entry, rename it but add the suffix “.bak”. Delete any excess .bak extensions, if any, for duplicate entries.
11. Delete the suffix “.ba” about the name that has just been renamed.

12. Right-click and change the “Status” of the profile entry from which .bak was removed. Basically, we replace the default user profile with an active registry repair.

13. Change the hexadecimal DWORD value from a numeric array to “0”. Click “OK” to save the settings.

14. Restart the computer in normal mode.

The “User profile service failed to login” error should disappear as soon as you log in again.

6. Reset Windows 11/10 PC to resolve “User profile failed to log in”

If all of the above options fail, you can use the Reset option to return to a clean reset to the factory settings of your Windows 11/10 operating system. You need to be connected to the internet to get this cloud based reset.

The Windows 11 reset method is covered in detail for this tutorial. But the essential steps, common with Windows 10, are summarized below:

1. Go to “System -> Recovery -> Reset This Computer” and click “Reset Computer”.
2. Select “Save Files” or “Remove All.” Select the previous option so that you do not have to save a backup.
3. Select “Download Cloud” to reinstall Windows 11/10. The download will take some time to complete.
4. After you see the “Ready to reset your computer” screen, click “Next” to continue.
5. Sit back and wait for the reset to complete, as the download will take some time. The whole procedure can consume anything from a few hours to a full day, so we recommend the reset method only if the other methods do not solve the problem.

Common questions

1. How can I fix the failed user profile error while logging in for Windows 8 / 8.1 and Windows 7?

If you are using an older version of Windows, such as 8.1 / 8/7, only some of the solutions described above can address the user profile error. You can try restart, use a DISM and SFC scan check At the command prompt, move the NTUSER.Dat file to the default folder. The options to delete a local user account and enable cloud-based reset will not work.

2. How can I resolve the “We can not log in to your account” error when restarting the user profile service?

Sometimes, when restarting a user profile service in guest mode / local account, you can not log in to your administrator account. To resolve this issue, boot into your Windows device in safe mode and follow the same steps. (To access safe mode, see the guide above for more details.)

Maintaining the integrity of the hard disk is one of the best ways to avoid the problem of user profile failure. See the best tips for checking Windows hard disk integrity. Are you still on Windows 10 and looking to upgrade to Windows 11? Here’s everything you need to know to download and install Windows 11.

Is this article useful?
Yes
No

Saik Boral

Sayak Boral is a technology writer with over 11 years of experience working in various industries including semiconductors, IoT, enterprise IT, OSS / BSS telecommunications and network security. He has written for MakeTechEasier on a wide range of technical topics, including Windows, Android, Web, Hardware Manuals, Browsers, Software Tools and Product Reviews.