If you get a message you have been logged into a temporary profile in Windows 7 computer, then it’s not your correct profile. You may miss your icons on desktop, any customized settings in Windows 7 by this temp profile issue. This post explains how easily you can fix temporary profile in Windows 7 issue.
By restarting or re logging to Windows 7 computer will not help you in this case. This temp profile issue rises because of a registry key.
Fix Temporary Profile in Windows 7 Issue
1) Log in with temp profile.
2) Start registry editor by typing regedit in find box in Windows 7.
3) Navigate the following location in Windows 7.
4) You can see similar keys under profile list with .bak difference, as shown below.
5) You correct profile key is marked as bak. Currently your Windows 7 computer logged in with fresh profile with same key. So, rename the new profile key ( which is not having.bak) and remove .bak from correct profile key. See below.
6) That’s it. Log off and log in with your user name and password. You must get your icons and profile settings back in Windows 7. This is very simple and easy method to fix temp profile in Windows 7 issue.
Did exactly this, however the system simply created a third profile at logon and renamed the correct one to .bak again, now I have a *.new, a *.bak, and the new temporary one. I have tried everything, still cant get out of this temporary logon. Strange thing is, here is no apparent reason for it, computer has been fine till I switched it on this Morning, and Ive been in a temporary profile ever since…aaaaarggghh!!!!
Gary, same thing is happening to me. What was your solution?
Johnathan, I eventually bit the bullet, and accessed all the information from the original profile through the temp one, backed it all up to an external drive, then formatted and did a full clean install. At least I didnt lose anything, but it was a royal pain in the ass.
I was able to fix this problem recently with a domain joined computer. I simply deleted that registry entry (had his documents backed up to an external drive). Logged off from the admin account, logged in as his user, voila no temp profile message. For verification I saved a few files, ran some stuff and shutdown the machine. Logged back in and everything was fine.
Reformatting should be a last resort to these issues, sorry you had to go through it
My problem is a little differnet, now when you logon as some users we get a temp profile issue, but when we get to the registry there is no .bak profile, has someone there encountered this issue? Do you have a solution?
Tks for your help!
This does not permanently solve the problem. My system continues to log into temporary profile. This occurs regularly when switching users.
The user name should be the same with your user folder. In “non .bak” one, you should correct the “ProfileImagePath”.
For example if your username is “Jack”, “ProfileImagePath” Should be “C:\Users\Jack”.
Add Step
7) There is a “State” and “RefCount” value set both to “0″ (zero).
dont work
I belive I figured this out. I wish Microsoft would add this info the their KB about this issue. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/947215
The fix is:
1. Login using another local administrator account. (Make one if there isnt another).
2. Remove the corrupted user from Users in control panel.
3. Move the corresponding folder from the Documents and Settings (XP) or Users folder (Vista and Windows7) to the desktop of the newly created admin user’s desktop.
4. Open regedit and navigate to HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList Find the key on the left that corresponds to the corrupted profile. Note the value of the string on the right called GUID. Delete all keys that list the corrupt user profile (.bak versions and regular).
5. THIS IS THE STEP THAT NEEDS TO BE ADDED TO KB:
Go up a few lines in regedit to HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileGuid.
6. Delete the key (keys?) within this ProfileGuid folder that match the value of the GUID string that you noted above.
7. Restart PC
8. Login as the temporarily created admin profile. Go to control panel and recreate the corrupted profile. (Make it an administrator at least temporarily so you’ll be able to access the files we moved to the other admin’s desktop if needed).
9. Logout and login as fixed user.
10. Copy any files from the temp admin’s desktop where we copied the corrupted profiles data, into the appropriate places in the fixed profile. This includes My Documents,Favorites, Outlook data, and any other user data you need.
11. Once everything is working properly, you can remove the temp admin from control panel> Users and delete its folder.
MAKE SURE YOU HAVE ALL OF THE DATA YOU NEED BEFORE REMOVING THE TEMP ADMIN.
GL!
9. Logout and login as recreated user.
10.
@Michael Belsky,
Thanks for the good information.
ProfileGuid is new to me and I think it will fix the issue permanently since several users reported this method did not work for them. I will check your steps and update this post accordingly. Thanks again for your valuable information. I don’t think Microsoft will change their KB, but I will.
Thank you for this tutorial.
I just would like to know why my regedit doesnt have this HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileGuid folder… and same way GUID string in …..\CurrentVersion\ProfileList folder is missing.. so I cant complete all the procedure in this guide.
I attach a image where you can see it: http://i55.tinypic.com/8zifr8.jpg
Thank you so much in advance.
Joe
Thanks Michael,
Your tutorial helps fixing the issue. This is much simplier under the client/domain user since i do not have to save my client doc. All I have to do is to delete the client’s profile and then go to the registry keys and follow your tutorial.
Regards,
Glad to share!
I have this issue but i cannot delete the registry keys. It just says cannot delete them, unable to do this is safe mode either.
Any ideas? I think i may just reinstall from scratch….
@Stuart,
Can you log in with other administrative user account and delete?
It should work.
When logged in with the temporary profile it will not let you create another profile. So while MBs fix may work I can’t get there from here.
This does work.
If you create a new account with admin rights you should be able to then use that account to delete the one that has the temporary profile. On this website you can find an image of the full error message to see if it matches your error message – http://www.mypchealth.co.uk/Win7Profile.php
Thanks a lot! This does the trick.
My PC created a Locked Temp folder in the Users Folder. I went to the registry to try some of your suggestions. What solve the problem for me is…. Navigate to HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList and change the profileimagepath in your profile key to the desired folder.
Worked for me – thank you!
This only worked for me when I removed all references to the GUID from the registry, but thanks for this information as it pointed me in the right direction.
,-) Lovely Thank you for the information beautifully made! Just do not reveal ones own hassles to your collegues…20% tend not to care at all plus the additional 80% are generally glad you suffer from them.
Thank you Michael Belsky!
You saved my machine… I was just about to re-image the machine, because I was getting frustrated with the temporary profile thingy.
I seem to not have profile list because owner is the only one on my computer
Simply detele the profile keys from the registry and then re login
How do I create a new .bak key. I deleted .bak from the key name and deleted the corrupt key. However, now there is no .bak key. I would be in serious trouble if this happens again.
Thank you for this tutorial.
I just would like to know why my regedit doesnt have this HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileGuid folder… and same way GUID string in …..\CurrentVersion\ProfileList folder is missing.. so I cant complete all the procedure in this guide.
I attach a image where you can see it: http://i55.tinypic.com/8zifr8.jpg
Thank you so much in advance.
Joe
Like Joe, I also do not have the ProfileGuid folder
This does’nt work at all.
As u dont have the permission to change ur own profile, and gives some error.
It is better to take the backup of the profile and then login through admin and delete the profile form the path given and then login.
this will create a new profile.
(BUT DATA BACKUP IS COMPALSORY.)
Thank you!! When I first turned on and found all my icons and most of my programs were gone, I almost went insane. But it’s fixed now and I don’t have to reload all my iTunes music.
Thanks again
This won’t work for me. An error message pops up that says “Error renaming key.” How can I fix that?
Fantastic fix, thank you. I had the temp account problem for a domain account for our company’s MD who couldnt get into his laptop. I logged in as domain admin account, ignored step 2 with it being a domain and not a local account. The regedit bits worked a treat,really saved the day for me, much appreciated.
Fix at top worked for me first time. Didn’t have to create another admin profile. Thanks a million!
Thought I should also add that this solution worked me right off the bat. +1
its not working and I don’t have a *.new, a *.bak, and the new temporary one. I have tried everything, still cant get out of this temporary log on.
FRUSTRATING Bad News when half a dozen people furnished how-to repairs are and there are problems in the repairs. Of course the biggest mess is listed first
I have found that creating a profile.V2 folder in the profile share fixes the problem.
Windows XP Profile: \\servername\profile
Windows 7 Profile: \\servername\profile.V2
Now you can leave the old Profile folder there in case the user needs to log on to an XP machine as well, but this is how I fixed the problem. I tried all the other suggestions here and it didn’t work unfortunately.
Also note, you DON’T have to update the Profile path in Active Directory.
Thanks from Michael Belsky, this solution worked fine. I want everybody to use Michael Belsky procedure which has positive result.
Thanks
Wahid
Just like every other forum on the web where this problem is discussed, we get people saying “here is the fix”, as if it is actually going to work, and then you get a handful of people saying it worked for them, and others who say it doesn’t. How useless.
I tried Michael Belsky’s fix. Created a new account and deleted the other one, bu the files did not go to the desktop and have now been lost – permanently I guess! Dont have a profile list or anything saying .bak?
Unfortunately you must backup the files you need in step 3 manually. This does not happen automatically. Did you check the location mentioned in step 3? Those files should still be there until you delete them manually. If you are asked while removing the user from Users in Control Panel if you want to delete the files, you should have answered “no”. Then you back them up to the desktop of the newly created temp profile, then delete the folder from the corrupted profile.
I would edit my original post to make it more clear if I was able to.
Tnks a lot, simple straight foward and it wks.
Thanks a lot about the information…..
It’s really working^^
Thank very much^^
Thank you so much for this guide! Worked perfectly! What would I have done without this..