How to fix “The User Profile Service service failed the sign-in. User profile cannot be loaded.”

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Surender Kumar

Surender Kumar has more than twelve years of experience in server and network administration. His fields of interest are Windows Servers, Active Directory, PowerShell, web servers, networking, Linux, virtualization, and penetration testing. He loves writing for his blog.

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The User Profile Service service failed the sign in. User profile cannot be loaded

Why the user profile cannot be loaded

The error could be caused by the following reasons:

• Corrupted default profile
• Corrupted or nonexistent NTUSER.DAT file under the default profile
• Inconsistent NTFS permissions on the default profile

A bad Windows update, OS partition resizing, or a system restore could lead to the aforementioned situations. As you can see, this error usually occurs when there is a problem with the default profile. The default profile acts like a template for all new users created on the system. The default profile problems only affect the new user accounts; users who already have their profile directory created inside C:\Users are not affected by this error.

Permissions for the default profile

On a perfectly healthy Windows system, the default profile directory has Read and Execute permissions for BUILTIN\Users and Everyone. You can check the default permissions using the following PowerShell command:

(Get-Acl "C:\Users\Default").Access | Format-Table -Auto

Checking the ACL of the default profile directory using PowerShell

When a new user logs in for the first time, these permissions allow the creation of the profile directory using the default profile template. Without sufficient permissions, Windows will log event ID 1509 in the Application log with the following message:

Windows cannot copy file C:\Users\Default\NTUSER.DAT to location C:\Users\Username\NTUSER.DAT. This error may be caused by network problems or insufficient security rights.

DETAIL - Access is denied.

Windows cannot copy the NTUSER.DAT file from the default profile to the new user profile.

This error may be caused by network problems or insufficient security rights.

Nonexistent NTUSER.DAT file

When permissions are correct but the NTUSER.DAT file doesn't exist inside the default directory, the user profile service will log event ID 1500 with the following message:

Windows cannot log you on because your profile cannot be loaded. Check that you are connected to the network, and that your network is functioning correctly.

DETAIL - The system cannot find the file specified.

Windows cannot log you on because your profile cannot be loaded. Check that you are connected to the network and that your network is functioning correctly

Corrupted NTUSER.DAT file

When the NTUSER.DAT file inside the default profile is corrupt, you will see event ID 1508 with the following message:

Windows was unable to load the registry. This problem is often caused by insufficient memory or insufficient security rights.

DETAIL - The system has attempted to load or restore a file into the registry, but the specified file is not in a registry file format for C:\Users\Username\ntuser.dat

The system has attempted to load or restore a file into the registry but the specified file is not in a registry file format for ntuser.dat

When such events are logged, you will see a User Profile Service failed the sign-in. User profile cannot be loaded on the login screen. Now that you understand why this error occurs, let's discuss how to fix it.

Fixing the default user profile

Try restarting your computer before attempting further repairs, because problems sometimes go away with a simple restart. If the error persists, try the following:

1. Log in with an existing admin user. As mentioned above, users who already have a user profile directory are not affected by this error. If you can't even log in with the current admin account, enable the built-in administrator account. Once enabled, log in using the built-in administrator account, and follow the remaining steps.
2. Open the Event Viewer and try to locate any errors or warning events about the User Profile Service or User Profile General source. The most relevant event IDs to look for are 1500, 1508, and 1509.
3. If the event logs indicate that the NTUSER.DAT file does not exist or is corrupt, you can copy it from C:\Users\Public. If this does not resolve the error, try the next step.
4. Delete the contents of the faulty default profile directory and copy it from a working computer running the same Windows version and language. If the error is still not resolved, try the next step.
5. Verify that the NTFS permissions are correct on the C:\users\default directory. If not, use the following PowerShell code snippet to correct the permissions:
   

   Setting the correct permissions on the default profile directory using PowerShell

Running an in-place upgrade

If the above steps didn't solve your problem with the default user profile, you can run an in-place upgrade to rebuild a new default profile for yourself. Doing so will not affect your files and apps, but to be on the safe side, I recommend backing up your data before you proceed. You might also want to temporarily disable your antivirus program to avoid any interference during the upgrade process. To run the in-place upgrade, follow these steps:

1. First, you need to rename (or delete) the current default profile, which is causing the problem.
2. Next, download the media creation tool for your Windows version: Windows 10,Windows 11
3. If your computer isn't connected to the Internet, you can run setup.exe located in the root of the Windows installation DVD or USB flash drive to initiate the in-place upgrade.
   

   Running an in place upgrade using the Windows installation disk

4. Run the downloaded media creation tool with administrator privileges.
5. Accept the license terms and select Upgrade this PC now option.
   

   Upgrade this PC now option in the Media creation tool

6. Now make sure that the Keep personal files and apps option is selected and click Install.
   

   Keep personal files and apps option in the Media creation tool

7. When the in-place upgrade is finished, you will see a new default profile directory created.
   

   Viewing the newly created default profile

You can now log in with a new user without any errors. That's it; you successfully resolved the User Profile Service failed the sign-in. User profiles cannot be loaded error. Don't forget to disable the built-in administrator account if you enabled it.