In Windows, when a user is created, a profile is generated. This profile acts as an identity and placeholder where all information for the user can be stored and used to identify him or her again. Because of unusual events like Windows Crash, permission issues, Transfer of Windows Account, etc, the user profile gets corrupted, leaving the existing user account completely unusable. Windows sometimes creates a fresh account. The user will lose all its settings, like desktop backgrounds, screen savers, pointer preferences, sound settings, and other features.
Before we start learning how to fix any corrupt user profile, make sure you have an account that is either admin or admin-privileged. Here is how to rebuild Windows profile.
How to Fix Corrupt Windows User Profile
All the Windows User Profiles are under C:\Users\UserName, which contains all our settings. Now go to your account, unhide hidden folders, and uncheck Hide Protected operating system files. You would see three files NTUSER.DAT, NTUSER.dat.log and ntuser.ini which you will need to be careful about.
Find the NTUSER.DAT, NTUSER.dat.log and ntuser.ini files
- Login with your admin account and create a new account.
- Now identify which corrupt Windows profile which is corrupted and go to that folder, which will be like C:\Users\UserName
- Unhide Folders / Files and display system files
- Copy everything from this folder except the three files NTUSER.DAT, NTUSER.dat.log, and ntuser.ini. Sometimes, you may only see the NTUSER.DAT file.
- Go to the new account folder under C:\users and paste all the files you copied in the above step.
- Log off and login to the new account to confirm.
- Delete the old account.
This should fix your problems. Remember that many times, because of some bug, you might see Windows giving you a brand new profile, but if you log off and try logging in again, you will see the issues getting fixed.
Delete WPCacheLock & WPCache Files
You can also delete these files to fix the user profile issue on a Windows PC.
- Log in as a local administrator.
- Enable “Show hidden files” in File Explorer.
- Navigate to the affected user’s profile folder and delete these items:
- File:
C:\Users\<affectedUserFolder>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\WebCacheLock.dat - Folder:
C:\Users\<affectedUserFolder>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\WebCache
- File:
If this resolves the corrupted user profile issue, you may also need to delete the same items in the Default User profile to prevent the problem from affecting any new users who log in.
Reprofiler
Another alternative is Reprofiler, software that can help you fix these issues by remapping users to their profiles and fixing registry settings and permissions, which are required to fix any corrupt Windows account.
It displays all the user accounts above and all the Windows users’ folders below. To fix or map it to any other account, select a username above and a folder below and then hit Assign. This will ensure it copies and assigns proper settings. You can also remove/detach folders, which helps erase the data. Download Reprofiler from here.
Hi Ashish,
Nice little writeup on profile fixes. I’ve lost my ability to open ANY of the listed users on startup. I’d like to try using Reprofiler, but do not know how I can install/run it. Can it be done using a command prompt at bootup, or do I need to try opening Windows in safe mode and install/run it from there? I visited the ReProfiler website,but saw no information there. Thanks for any advice you can provide!
Bob J.
Hi Bob, There is no command prompt option and you can use it in safe mode but thats really not necessary. All you might need is Admin privilage for your account.
Not sure what you mean by install/runn but if you mean how to use it, then all you need is just select user on top and map it to the folder path below and you will be done.
Regards
Thanks, Ashish. I can’t open windows using any of the existing profiles, that is why I mentioned using safe mode as that at least got me into windows (as admin, I believe). And that was what I meant by install/run – it is an executable, correct? I had hoped I could do it via command prompt but wasn’t sure. So I need to get windows open and then run the executable file…thanks again, I will try that! This whole mess began when I somehow got some windows 7 files on the same partition as Vista, so that it shows a double boot option, both on the C: drive. I was following instructions from MS regarding reverting to Vista, and one step involved renaming and moving the user profiles around. I tried simply reversing the steps I’d performed, but my profiles did not become usable. Will try getting in as admin and see what happens. Thanks again!
Bob J.
Hi Bob,
You are right. Let me know how it goes and if you got it solved.
Ashish
Hi Ashish,
I did manage to get Vista working again – half the problem was in how I’d moved my user files folder back to the original location – apparently I moved it as a folder within a folder. Once I got ME working right, I was able to run the ReProfiler and get the rest of the family back up and running. Now, my next challenge will be to remove my small Win7 partition and convert the whole thing to Win7 64bit with the help of PCmover (I hope!)
Thanks again for your help!
Bob
Hi,
I upgrade my vista system to windows 7, my user “michael”,after the upgrade in windows 7 i found new user “michael.000”.
when i install new software it use the new user, it is mismatch using two users (in user account list the “michael.000” not appear).
How do i rid off the new user name?
Thanks for your assistance
Michael