User Profile Error on VIsta - Logged on with a Temporary Profile

Ever experienced logging to Vista only to find out that your wallpaper is changed and your files are missing too? Your first reaction? --PANIC!

As an admin slash technical support slash developer slash slash slash,
I have encountered this problem many times. And since data is very important to users, I don't do reformat. I ask Mr. Google what to do with this case and as always, he has his answers.


So here's how to correct a login profile error in vista in case you encounter one:

1. Log in as an administrator.

2. Run the registry editor. Click on Start -> Run then type regedit and press Enter.

3. Look for the profiles located at this path:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList

Notice that there exists 2 profiles with the same SID. Click on each profile. AT the right side, check the profile path. You'll see that the active profile points to a C:/Users/temp directory.

(This is the reason that users can't see their files and desktop wallpaper)


4. Rename the profile pointing to the temp folder. Append .bak at the profile name

5. Rename the profile with .bak extension. This is the original user profile. (Remove ".bak")


6. Log off then login again.



Congratulations! Your back to your old desktop profile :-)