The ”The User Profile Service service failed the sign-in. User profile cannot be loaded” error occurs when your Windows user profile becomes corrupted. This prevents you from logging into your account normally. The good news is there are a few things you can try to resolve this issue and regain access to your account.
1. Fix your corrupt user profile by correcting its registry value:
First, you’ll need to boot into Safe Mode:
1) On the Windows sign-in screen, press and hold the Shift key while you select Power > Restart.
2) After your PC restarts to the Choose an option screen, select Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Startup Settings > Restart.
3) After your PC restarts, you’ll see a list of options. Select 5 or F5 for Safe Mode with Networking.
Then follow the instructions below to modify the registry value:
1) In safe mode, open the Run box by pressing the Windows logo key + R key together.
2) Then type regedit in the box and hit Enter to open the Registry Editor.
When prompted by User Account Control, click Yes.
3) Now Registry Editor window pops up. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SOFTWARE > Microsoft > Windows NT > CurrentVersion > ProfileList
4) Check ProfileImagePath in each folder with the name beginning with S-1-5 in ProfileList.
Find out the one with your user account data.
NOTICE:
Case 1: If you have two folders starting with S-1-5 related to your account and one of them ends with .bak, you have to rename the .bak folder. To do this, follow these steps:
a) Right-click the folder without .bak.
Then click Rename to add .ba at the end.
b) Right-click the folder that is named .bak.
Then click Rename to remove .bak.
c) Right-click the folder that is named .ba.
Then click Rename to change the .ba to .bak.
Case 2: If you have only one folder starting with S-1-5 relates to your account and ends with .bak. Right-click the folder, and then click Rename to remove .bak.
5) Double-click on RefCount in the folder your account relates to and end without .bak.
Then change its value into 0 and click OK.
Note: If you don’t see a RefCount file, please create a new DWORD named RefCount first and set its value to 0.
6) Double-click on State in the same folder.
Then change its value into 0, too.
Note: If you don’t see a State file, please create a new DWORD named State first and set its value to 0.
7) Close the Registry Editor window and restart your computer to log in with your account to check if the error still occurs.
2. Repair corrupt profile in DISM
As mentioned above, the data that was on your user profile is likely lost or corrupted, and you should repair your Windows profile using the DISM. Below are the steps you can take:
1) Boot into Safe Mode.
2) On your keyboard, press the Windows logo key to open the Start menu, type Command Prompt, then right-click on the Command Prompt result and select Run as administrator.
Click Yes on the UAC prompt to confirm.
3) Type or paste DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth, then hit Enter.
4) Type or paste DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth to scan for errors.
Then restart your PC and check if your user profile loads properly.
Hope this post helped! If you manage to fix your issue using one of the methods mentioned above, let us know in the comment section below. If you find other solutions, do not hesitate to share them with us!
