Windows 7 Temporary Profile Help

[user25745]

My mother has a Windows 7 Home Premium laptop that booted up into something called a temporary profile. She said everything was fine and nothing abnormal until it just started doing that. Multiple attempts at booting have not worked to fix it.

Any chance anyone can provide some hope that she can expect to be able to fix this some how and it will be able to boot up to her normal desktop? She does not have any current backup and would lose everything.

I have no experience with Windows 7 but if anyone can provide some baby step by step instructions on what I need to do to fix it would be most appreciated. My hope is to get it back so she can access all her files, sticky notes, saved games, bookmarks and such. Is that going to be possible?

Thank you so much.

 

[ViRGE]

The fact that Windows is booting up into a temporary profile means that her primary profile is corrupt, forcing Windows to temporarily create a new profile.

The easiest solution is to create a new user, and then copy the contents of her old profile into the profile of the new user. Do not under any circumstances copy profile data to the temporary profile; that is deleted once you reboot.

 

[saratoga172]

There is a good chance her profile is too large to load with her current system specs. Instead of rebooting try logging off then back on when this happens.

Also for clearing her profile try moving some of the items out of her documents and desktop and out if the users folder. Map them to the c drive or another place.

 

[user25745]

The easiest solution is to create a new user, and then copy the contents of her old profile into the profile of the new user. Do not under any circumstances copy profile data to the temporary profile; that is deleted once you reboot.

Apologies for being ignorant and slow. Can you walk me through what I'd need to do step by step? I want to make sure I am able to save absolutely everything of hers but have never done this before.

Create a new account. It would have to at least temporarily be named differently from her original one, her name, correct? Can it be renamed back to her name once everything is completed?

How would I then copy the contents of her original profile? Located where? Is everything easily then found at that location or do I have to specifically locate everything she can remember she wants (I only know of her My Files folder, she had numerous sticky notes but I don't know where Windows 7 saves those, router log in settings, desktop background images, taskbar quick start icons to her programs, mouse pointer settings, other files she may have saved and then everything related to Firefox such as bookmarks, cookies, browser settings.

Once I have copied everything to the new profile, how do I restore all of her information? For example, do I need to re-enter the router settings, re-select the background image, re-create taskbar short cuts, mouse pointer settings, browser settings, bookmarks and put cookies in a folder for Firefox to see?

There is a good chance her profile is too large to load with her current system specs. Instead of rebooting try logging off then back on when this happens.

Also for clearing her profile try moving some of the items out of her documents and desktop and out if the users folder. Map them to the c drive or another place.

It is a new computer, few months, and she doesn't really have much saved. I have tried rebooting multiple times over a couple of days to no avail. Can I log off without it rebooting when it has just the one account? I haven't tried that yet.

 

[ViRGE]

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/Windows7/Fix-a-corrupted-user-profile

Or http://www.sysprobs.com/fix-temporary-profile-windows-7 (just ignore item #2)

 

[user25745]

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/Windows7/Fix-a-corrupted-user-profile

Or http://www.sysprobs.com/fix-temporary-profile-windows-7 (just ignore item #2)

Couple of questions.

- Any chance item #2 is worth a shot? That is much easier if it worked. As long is if it didn't work it wouldn't then preclude me from being able to back everything up manually after.

- Do I try the check disk option before going the manual backup route? Or any chance that might cause the loss of files before backing them up?

- The MS link says "You must have at least three user accounts on the computer to complete these steps, including the new account you just created." So that means I'd need to create two new admin accounts or it is counting the original corrupted profile and temp profile as one and two and the third is the one I create?

- Finally, so absolutely everything she would need to save from the corrupted profile is located in C:\Users\Username? No need to try and specifically save things related to Firefox, sticky notes individually as everything is in that one folder?

Thank you. I really appreciate the help.

 

[ViRGE]

Do not do #2. It is beyond your skillset and almost always fails.

Checkdisk won't hurt anything.

You can't copy from the corrupted user account while you're logged into that (even though it uses the temp profile), and you can't copy to the new user account while logged into that one either. Hence you need a 3rd account, which means creating two accounts.

All of your Firefox settings, etc would be in subfolders under the user folder. So yes, everything you need to save is in C:\Users\Username

 

[user25745]

Do not do #2. It is beyond your skillset and almost always fails.

Shockingly, registry editing is the one part of this I have done numerous times over the years. 😀

If it did fail, what I be no worse off and could still proceed from there or might it cause issues gaining access to backing up her files?

Checkdisk won't hurt anything.

You can't copy from the corrupted user account while you're logged into that (even though it uses the temp profile), and you can't copy to the new user account while logged into that one either. Hence you need a 3rd account, which means creating two accounts.

All of your Firefox settings, etc would be in subfolders under the user folder. So yes, everything you need to save is in C:\Users\Username

Got it. Thank you.

I tried sending you a PM to say thank you again but it will have to wait for a couple more posts.

 

[user25745]

I did a walk through on my XP computer (won't have access to hers until probably tomorrow). This is really a whole lot easier than I was thinking isn't it?

I now see how everything functions pretty much exactly the same between XP and Windows 7 as it relates to this procedure (even the registry fix). I might just copy over her users folder to a flash drive first to be safe and then proceed from there.

I never noticed how all the Firefox info is stored in that same Application Data folder but remains hidden even when show system folders, hidden files and protected OS files are allowed. Only can be seen via a run command? Sneaky. As long as copying that whole user folder saves them.

I was thinking all of that, and everything else, was going to be difficult to try to find (and that things like programs and what not would need to be saved also) and might already have been lost.

I can report back in a couple of days if that is helpful for closure. Presuming everything ends well.

Thank you so much, again.

 

[user25745]

Need help.

I am following the instructions on http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/Windows7/Fix-a-corrupted-user-profile.

I created two new admin accounts. Logged in to the third as requested in order to copy the corrupted user folder minus those three files to the second but I can not see the second account to copy them to as it is not listed (I'm guessing since it has never been logged in to which it said not to).

So, how do I copy the folder of the corrupted user to the newly created second user?

 

[user25745]

I'm confused and embarrassed. I believe I followed the instructions but something isn't working exactly as expected.

- Logged into the sole user account which gives me the temporary profile error. Since we have already tried restarting many times over the past 3-4 days, I decided to go ahead and follow the MS link instructions (showing all files etc.) and copy her whole user folder minus those 3 files (4 actually as the Ntuser.dat.log file had a Ntuser.dat.log1 and Ntuser.dat.log2 file rather than just Ntuser.dat.log).

- Pasted those copied files to a USB Flash Drive with no problems.

- Then created two new admin accounts named second and third (until the process was over so I could rename the final one as she wished).

- Then restarted and logged in to the third (second had not been logged in to at this point).

- At this point I noticed I could only see her original corrupted profile and the third. No second (and Show hidden files, folders, and drives was checked and Hide protected operating system files unchecked). I tried everything I could think of but didn't see anything that might allow me to get that newly created second profile to be viewable.

- Not knowing how to proceed, as I was under the impression I was not to log in to that second account before pasting her files from the first to it, I did the only thing I could think of to make it viewable and restarted and logged in to the second account. Let it completely load and immediately restarted.

- Upon restart, logged back in to the third account and the second was then viewable since it created the profile when I logged in so it could be seen.

- Then proceeded to pick back up on the MS instructions. Copied all but the 4 files from the original corrupted profile.

- Still in the third account, opened up the second profile and attempted to paste them in to that. No go. Tried multiple times but it just didn't seem to want to paste. Acted like it was going to. Told me I needed to press continue to access that second folder, etc. Said some of the folders already existed, presuming because it created them when I had to log in to it in order to make it visible so I could paste the files to it, and I said to go ahead and overwrite them. Then.. nothing. At first I thought maybe it was an instantaneous process but none of the files were listed in the second account.

- Frustrated I just went ahead and restarted and logged in the second account to confirm. Nothing. Just a generic unused profile blank slate.

- Restarted and logged in to third. Same as above. Tried copy and paste again with the same results. No go.

- Restarted and logged in to original corrupted account. Everything back to normal. Huh? Like it was never corrupted. She confirmed everything was as it should be.

- Restarted. Temporary profile error again.

- Restarted. Original account all fine. No error.

- At this point I have no idea what caused the error, what "fixed" it to get back in, why every restart or log off is a complete unknown on whether it will work or not. I have no idea how to proceed since the only instructions on how to fix it wasn't working. I'd keep trying but creating two new brand new admin accounts doesn't make one viewable until logged in to it. So I am not sure how to paste the profile of the first account into the profile of the second account whilst logged in to the third without first logging in to that second account in order to have it create the profile so I can see it to paste to.

- It seems likely that whatever is causing the temporary profile to load is not fixed since I performed no action that could have fixed it so it will probably just continue.

- I then ran a checkdisc. Unfortunately, it must have finished when I walked away because it was done when I got back. No idea if that means nothing negative was found or not as I don't recall ever using that program before.

- I looked around all her settings and files and everything looked as it should. The only anomaly was that I noticed add/remove programs listed both Firefox 15 and Firefox 15.0.1. It was dated just before she experienced this issue. I have no idea if this is possible or not but I wondered if something might have gone wonky in the install, though FF loaded and displayed 15.0.1 in help like it were successful, but I went ahead and re-installed that and then add/remove only listed 15.0.1 with the separate 15 listing no longer present.

- I ended up just leaving it on so she can at least use it normally. Not knowing if the next restart just might be the temp profile again.

- What comes next? Virus scan (though I am confident that is unlikely)? Keep trying the create two new accounts and copy and paste? Just save files individually, rather than the whole user folder, and recreate in a new profile manually? Save files individually, rather than the whole user folder, and do a factory reset and then recreate manually?

I'm stumped.

Out of curiosity. If Microsoft' instructions to fix this error is to copy and paste the whole user folder minus those 3 (or 4) files, why can't it just delete those on a reboot and then they get recreated when one logs back in?

Why go through all of the hassle of creating two new accounts, with one that can't even be viewable to perform the paste action as written unless it has already been logged in to, only to just copy and paste the whole folder minus those files and then log in to it which just creates those missing files then?

 

[ViRGE]

Sorry man, but I'm equally stumped. The copy should have worked in the first place, never mind the weirdness you've been seeing with the original profile becoming magically uncorrupted. Maybe it is a disk issue after all?

 

[user25745]

As long as the copy and paste is supposed to work, I'll keep trying that. The likeliest explanation for why it didn't would be my error. I just needed to eliminate that my logging in to that second account, in order to make it viewable from the third, wasn't the error.

To confirm. I create two new admin accounts from the temporary profile (presuming it happens again.. been left on since the other day until I can play around with it some more). Then briefly log in to the second in order to make it viewable to the third. Then log in to the third account and try copying the user profile from the first and pasting in to the second. Correct?

But I do have to log in to that second account to make it viewable in order to paste in to it right? At first I read the instructions like I wasn't supposed to but I also couldn't figure out any other way.

Thanks.

 

[user25745]

- I looked around all her settings and files and everything looked as it should. The only anomaly was that I noticed add/remove programs listed both Firefox 15 and Firefox 15.0.1. It was dated just before she experienced this issue. I have no idea if this is possible or not but I wondered if something might have gone wonky in the install, though FF loaded and displayed 15.0.1 in help like it were successful, but I went ahead and re-installed that and then add/remove only listed 15.0.1 with the separate 15 listing no longer present.

Just to update this. It turns out that is what it was. It never experienced another issue once I re-installed FF 15.0.1 and it removed that second instance of Firefox 15. Even though it showed the initial install was a success, via checking the manifest and about FF when ran, something must have gone wrong.

Guess we just got lucky it let us back in to the account as I still have no idea why it went to the temporary profile dozens of attempts over days and multiple restarts/reboots.

Good thing too as I never was able to get the copy and paste her user folder over to a new account to work as MS advertised. The best it would do is copy the whole folder as expected but it didn't retain the expected settings like background image, location of desktop icons, pinned taskbar icons, pointer settings, sticky notes, etc.

I still have no idea why MS couldn't just delete those 3 Ntuser files during a reboot like any other update and recreate them when it starts again. It seems like that is all copy and pasting that whole folder to a new account is meant to accomplish. Just a means to transfer everything while retaining everything as is minus those 3 files which get recreated upon logging in.

Thanks again for the hand holding.

 

[user25745]

Just to update this. It turns out that is what it was. It never experienced another issue once I re-installed FF 15.0.1 and it removed that second instance of Firefox 15. Even though it showed the initial install was a success, via checking the manifest and about FF when ran, something must have gone wrong.

Guess we just got lucky it let us back in to the account as I still have no idea why it went to the temporary profile dozens of attempts over days and multiple restarts/reboots.

Upgraded to 16.0.1. Same thing. Still no idea how we got back in to the original profile, as it took many hours and attempts until it randomly did this time also.

Same thing with two instances of Firefox listed in Control Panel remove programs again this time. Downloaded and installed 16.0.1 from their site and that fixed it again.

Time to abandon Firefox after years of use it seems. Never happened before 15.0.1.