A temporary profile in Windows stands for a profile that is in use by the user when the main account profile is corrupt or inaccessible. The temporary profile doesn’t allow the user modifications to many of the system settings (those require administrative rights) and all the changes are undone the system is restarted. If you are facing this issue on your computer, follow these solutions. This problem is usually caused by the corruption in the system files, registry entries.
Initial Requirement – Create an administrator account
You have to create an administrator account to try out all the fixes mentioned below.
1. Log in to the temporary profile.
2. Then, press the Windows key+Q keys together. Later, type “cmd” in the search box.
3. Now, right-click on the “Command Prompt“. After that, click on “Run as administrator“.
4. Then, this command on your computer to create a new administrator account on your computer.
net localgroup Administrators /active:yes
Close the Command Prompt terminal. Restart your computer and log in to the system using the administrator account.
[
NOTE –
After troubleshooting the issue, open an elevated CMD terminal and run this command to disable this ‘Administrator‘.
net user Administrator /active:no
Restart the system.
]
Fix 1 – Check the system drive
There is a chance that there are some errors in the driver where Windows is installed.
1. Log in to the Administrator account that you have created.
2. Then, open the File Explorer.
3. Next, on the left-hand pane, click on the “This PC“.
4. Then, right-click on the “Local Disk (C:)” drive and click on “Properties“.
5. When the Properties window appears, go to the “Tools” tab.
6. In the ‘Error-checking’ section, click on “Check“.
7. Henceforth, click on the “Scan drive” option to run the disk checking operation.
Let Windows complete the checking process. Once the process is over, log out of the ‘Administrator’ account and then try to log in with the problematic account. Check if this is working or not.
Fix 2 – Alter the registry
If your main account is corrupt, modifying the registry should fix.
Steps to identify the user SID on your computer –
a. At first, press the Windows key+Q keys together. Later, type “cmd” in the search box.
b. Now, right-click on the “Command Prompt“. After that, click on “Run as administrator“.
c. To know the exact user ID on your computer, paste this command and hit Enter.
whoami /user
The SID is the account on your computer.
Close the Command Prompt.
Now, follow these steps –
1. Press the Windows key+R keys together.
2. In the Run panel, write down “regedit” and click on “OK“.
Warning –
Registry Editor is one of the most delicate locations on your system. So, we suggest you create a backup of the registry in two steps.
Once you have opened the Registry Editor, click on “File“. Then click on “Export” to make a new backup on your computer.
If anything goes haywire, just merge this backup with your system registry.
3. Just navigate to this location –
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList
4. In the ProfileList you will notice several long keys on the left-hand section.
One particular key will have the “.bak” at the end of its name.
These are the key folders of the accounts on your computer.
5. Now, you will find several user SIDs. Click on the first SID on the left-hand pane. On the left-hand pane, try to locate the “Refcount” value.
Carry on this checking process for all three keys until you notice the “Refcount” item in the right.
6. Then, on the right-hand pane, double click on the “Refcount” value to modify it.
7. Then, set the value of the key to “0“.
8. Next, click on the “OK“.
After that, close the Registry Editor.
9. Now, open the Settings window.
10. Just click on the “Update & Security” settings to access it.
11. After that, click on “Windows Update“.
12. Click on “Check for updates” to download and install new updates.
Once the updating process is complete, go this way –
1. Open the Registry Editor, again.
2. Then, go to this location –
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList
3. Now, here you may face any one of these four possibilities. We have explained the detailed resolution for each case.
CASE 1 – There IS no “.bak” SID KEY
The best-case scenario is that after running the Windows Update, you have noticed that the USER ID with the “.bak” extension has disappeared.
Just close the Registry Editor and your issue should be solved.
Case 2 – THERE IS ONE SID WITH “.BAK” and another without it
If you see that there is one SID with “.Bak” and another without it, follow these steps.
1. Right-click on the SID without “.bak” extension and click on “Delete“.
2. After that, confirm the removal by tapping on “Yes“.
3. Once you have removed it, right-click on the SID with “.bak” and click on “Rename” to rename it.
4. Simply remove the “.bak” extension from the end of the SID.
(
Example – If the name of the SID is “S-1-5-21-3620773455-1947684263-1023720982-1002.bak“, then after renaming it will be like this –
“S-1-5-21-3620773455-1947684263-1023720982-1002“.
)
After that, close the Registry Editor. Then, restart your computer once.
CASE 3 – THERE IS ONLY ONE SID KEy WITH “.BAK” Extension
If you see that there is only SID with “.BAK“, do this –
1. Open the File Explorer.
2. Then, go here –
C:\Users
3. Here, you will notice several folders.
4. Then, look for the user folder. Generally, it is the folder name with the account name of your computer.
5. Note down the address of the account folder.
(
Example – Sambit is the main account on this computer. So, the address will be –
C:\Users\Sambit
)
Then, go this way –
1. Maximize the Registry Editor screen.
1. Right-click on the SID key with the “.bak” and click on “Rename“.
2. Only remove the “.bak” from the name.
3. Then, on the right-hand side, double click on the “ProfileImagePath“.
4. After that, set the value as the address of the account you have noted before.
5. Then, click on “OK“.
6. After that, on the right-hand pane, double click on the “Start” value.
7. Set the value to “0“.
8. Then, click on “OK” to save the settings.
Close the Registry Editor window.
Restart the computer.
The problem should be fixed.
CASE 4 – SID KEY IS LISTED TWICE and One WITH the “.BAK” Extension
If there are two SID keys without “.bak” keys and one with the “.bak” key, follow these steps –
1. Just right-click on the SID without the “.bak” extension and click on “Delete“.
2. After that, confirm the removal by tapping on “Yes“.
3. Once you have removed it, right-click on the SID with “.bak” and click on “Rename” to rename it.
4. Simply remove the “.bak” extension from the end of the SID value.
5.Then, on the right-hand pane, simply double click on the “ProfileImagePath“.
4. After that, set the value as the address* of the account you have noted before.
5. Then, click on “OK“.
[
*NOTE –
1. Open the File Explorer.
2. Then, go here –
C:\Users
3. In the Users folder, you will notice some folders.
4. Here, look for the user folder that is associated with your main account (the account you can’t access). Generally, it is the folder name with the account name of your computer.
5. Note down the address of the account folder.
(
Example – As ‘Sambit’ is the account we can’t access on this computer, the address will be –
C:\Users\Sambit
)
]
6. After that, on the right-hand pane, double click on the “Start” value.
7. Set the value to “0“.
8. Then, click on “OK” to save the settings.
Close the Registry Editor window.
Restart the computer.
Then, try to sign to the original account. This should fix the problem.
Fix 3 – Run Windows Update
Windows fix these annoying errors with the occasional patches.
1. Open the Windows Settings by pressing the Windows key+I keys together.
2. Tap on the “Update & Security” settings to access it.
3. After that, click on “Windows Update“.
4. Click on “Check for updates” to download and install new updates.
Windows will check for updates and install them on your computer.
NOTE–
Sometimes, you may notice some additional updates for your device. Those are usually listed in the’ Optional update’ section. We suggest you install these updates.
a. You need to click on “View optional updates” to view the list of additional updates.
b. Here you will notice some driver updates are pending. Simply, check all the updates.
c. Finally, click on “Download and install“.
d. After downloading the updates on your device, click on “Restart Now“.
This will restart the computer and complete the installation process.
Fix 4 – Run an SFC scan
Check running a simple System File Checker to check if there is an issue with the system files.
1. First of all, login with the administrator account.
2. Then, press the Windows key+R keys together.
3. After type “cmd” and then click on “OK“.
4. To run the DISM you have to copy and paste this command and press Enter to execute it.
DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth
Wait for a while to finish the process.
5. After running the DISM scan, execute this command to run an SFC scan.
sfc /scannow
Close the Command Prompt terminal.
Alternative fix- Create a new user account
If nothing is working on your computer, try to create a new user account.
1. First of all, log in to the administrator account you have created.
2. Then, press the Windows key+S keys together. Later, write “cmd” in the search box.
3. After that, right-click on the “Command Prompt“. After that, click on “Run as administrator“.
4. Then, this command on your computer to create a new administrator account on your computer.
net localgroup Administrators <username> /add
NOTE–
Here, just replace the “<username>” with any new username you prefer.
Example – The name of our new account is ‘Sambit’. So, the command should look like this –
net localgroup Administrators Sambit /add
Now, sign out from the temporary administrator account and use the new account you created.