How to fix The User Profile Service service failed the logon error message on a Windows PC



the User Profile Service failed the logon

Not too many people encounter Windows logon problems but when they do occur, they could be really frustrating. In my previous article on how to fix Windows saying password is incorrect , I explained what could cause you to get locked out of your own PC without anybody having changed the password. In this guide, I’ll be explaining a situation in which Windows can’t even verify if the logon credentials you supplied are correct or not, locking you out still.

What does this error mean?

Simply put, Windows is unable to read your user profile. Your user profile contains your logon username and password so you’ll stay locked out as verification of the credentials you supply (when trying to login) would fail.

What could cause this error to occur?

This often happens when a software (like an antivirus or registry optimizer) is scanning your PC on startup.

How do I fix this error?

We’ll consider two methods:

A. Create a new user account

1. Shutdown the PC
2. Press the Power button
3. On Pressing the Power button, keep tapping F8
4. On the list that appears, highlight Safe Mode and tap Enter
5. Wait while the PC boots into Safe Mode (supply your logon credentials if prompted)
6. In Safe Mode, press the Windows button or launch the Start Menu
7. In the Search bar, type User Accounts and click it in the Result
8. Under User Accounts, click Manage Another Account
9. Under Manage Accounts, click Add a new user in PC settings

how to create a new user account in windows

10. Create a new user account and ensure to set is as Administrator
11. Logoff then Logon to the newly created account
12. You can move your files from the old account into the new account under My Computer > C: > Users in the new account
13. You can delete the old account under User Accounts once done

B. Registry Edit

1. Shutdown the PC
2. Press the Power button
3. On Pressing the Power button, keep tapping F8
4. On the list that appears, highlight Safe Mode and tap Enter
5. Wait while the PC boots into Safe Mode (supply your logon credentials if prompted)
6. In Safe Mode, press the Windows button or launch the Start Menu
7. In the Search bar, type regedit and click it in the Result

how to edit registry in Windows

8. In regedit, locate HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList
9. Under ProfileList, you should find folders starting with S-1-5 (these are SID keys)
10. You’re to look out for the S-1-5 folder(s) with a long set of numbers in front

windows regedit

11. If you have two folders with long numbers in front and one has .bak at the end while the other doesn’t, right-click the one without .bak, select Rename and add .ba to the end
12. Right-click the folder with .bak at the end and remove the .bak then press Enter to save
13. Right-click the folder with .ba at the end, select Rename, change .ba to .bak and press Enter to save
13b. If you have just one folder with .bak at the end, right-click it, select Rename, remove the .bak then press Enter to save
14. Click the folder without .bak at the end and go to the right tab (Name Type Data)
15. Double-click RefCount and set Value data to 0 then click OK
16. Double-click State and set Value data to 0 then click OK
17. Close regedit
18. Restart the PC and boot into normal Windows (not Safe Mode)
19. Supply your logon credentials when prompted

Hovatek….just a button away!



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