Local user profile is missing or corrupt.

Local user profile is missing or corrupt.

Document number: 29028

The User Profile contains the settings that customize the Windows desktop work environment for the individual user. It stores user-specific settings such as desktop layout, icons, cursors, backgrounds, etc. on the user's hard disk. When the user logs into the workstation, Windows accesses the profile associated with that user name and configures the desktop according to the information it contains. There are several circumstances in which the user profile may fail to load correctly. If the profile does not load correctly you may either see a message, a generic desktop profile, or a desktop profile belonging to another user of the machine. In most cases restoring a profile is a convenience, not a necessity. The exception would be if data files or similar documents were being stored on the desktop. Typical messages associated with profile problems include:

The operating system was unable to load the locally stored profile. A new local profile will be created (1009).
Your profile was not successfully loaded, but you have been logged on with the default system profile. Please correct the problem and log off (18).
Win 3.x migration. You have installed Windows NT into an existing Windows 3.x directory. You have the option of migrating portions of your windows 3x environment into the Windows NT environment Please select below the parts you wish to migrate into the windows NT environment. Migrate Windows 3.x WIN.INI and CONTROL.INI. Migrate Windows 3.x Program Manager group files..

The above messages can also be normal. For example, when a user logs onto another person's machine for the first time they will get the Win 3.1 migration message shown above.

If the above messages were caused by a registry size problem you may be able to recover by first increasing the size of the registry, then manually restoring the profile. See Eureka! document 69027 — How to change registry size limit

If you only want to try to recover some portions of the profile e.g. "desktop" or "favorites", click here for instructions.

Manually restoring the original profile: Restoring the entire original user profile requires logging in from an account other than the account with the profile problem. That account must have administrator privileges. See 69064 — How to determine if you are an administrator on a machine and Eureka! document 69068 — How to add someone as an administrator on a machine. If you can log in with a different account that has administrator privileges click here for the process of restoring the user profile.

Choose the task you would like to do

Restore the entire profile.

Restore portions of the profile.

Copy an entire profile.

The user logging into the machine to apply the fix must have administrative rights on the machine and must be a different user from the one with the corrupt profile. See 69064 — How to determine if you are an administrator on a machine see Eureka! document 69068 — How to add someone as an administrator on a machine.

Go to the Profiles directory C:\Documents and Settings
You may see your original profile directory has been renamed to c:\Documents and Settings \ Username.bak, and a new profile has been stored in c:\Documents and Settings \ Username.

If you are unsure of your user name press Ctrl + Alt + Del and the dialog box will tell you.
Exactly what you will see will depend upon the cause of your problem.
If you don't see these two profiles with your username then you have nothing to restore so you cannot repair a corrupt profile. If there is only one profile with your username and the problem is a corrupt profile you can delete that one profile and start with the generic default profile.
You can look at the profile contents to try to determine which is the correct profile. Look for shortcuts that you had on your desktop originally, or look in the favorites folder for familiar "favorites".
If you are uncertain do nothing and open a NorthStar ticket to make an appointment for service. Be sure to include your contact number. Describe the problem in detail, especially the steps you took to try to correct the problem. You will be contacted by the appropriate party. For more information on creating the NorthStar ticket, see Eureka! document 39068 — How to submit a computer or peripheral for repair.

Rename the new profile to Old Profile.
Rename the Default User profile to Default Old. (If there is no "Default User" profile you can skip this step).
Rename the original user profile (the one you are trying to restore), Default User.
Log out.
Log on to the computer with your regular username and password. The Default profile will be assigned to your current log in.
If everything is working correctly you can delete Old Profile.

The above process will restore the original user profile if it is not actually corrupt. NOTE: Manual copying of the profile will be successful for many parts of the profile, but will not copy modifications to the registry. For that reason some applications may not run properly and will need to be uninstalled then reinstalled.

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Copy portions of a profile.

As long as the user is logged in as administrator of the machine portions of other profiles can be copied over just as with any other folder or file copy. It is a process to be used with great care simply because it is easy to get confused and overwrite the wrong thing. To manually copy over portions of a profile:

Open Windows Explorer.
Navigate to c:\Documents and Settings\(your username)\favorites\.
Find the folder or file you want to share. Right click, then select Copy.
Navigate to the location you want to save, select Paste.

NOTE: Manual copying portions of the profile will be successful for many parts of the profile, but will not copy modifications to the registry. For that reason if you want an exact copy of an existing profile you should use the " Copy an entire profile" process.

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Logging in from another account

You cannot delete a profile when you are logged in using that profile.

You cannot delete a profile unless you are an administrator on the machine.

In most cases a user is administrator on their own machine. If you are trying to delete your own profile the login must be a different user also with administrator privileges.

Administrators can add other users, including giving them administrative privileges. So if there is a willing user see Eureka! document 69068 — How to add someone as an administrator on a machine can be used to add a new user as administrator, that person then logs onto the machine. If you don't have another user you can add as administrator then open a NorthStar ticket to make an appointment for service. Be sure to include your contact number. Describe the problem in detail, especially the steps you took to try to correct the problem. You will be contacted by the appropriate party. For more information on creating the NorthStar ticket, see Eureka! document 39068 — How to submit a computer or peripheral for repair.

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