Intricate and difficul;t problem in vista...

[Monsieur]

...for me anyway

I have been using the computor via my wife's logon as she normally has it on and I couldn't be bothered to logof and then logon mine.
My account is the administrator account and password protected. I know for definite that my password for this account is correct.

I haven't used the admin account for a few months now (for the reasons above) - when I got to the admin account to logon I get this message:

user profile service failed the logon. user profile cannot be loaded

I googled this and found that when I got onto regedit via the start programme there are two HKE(?) files under my name - one ends with .bak and the other doesn't.
Apparently the non .bak file is a duplicate and this is where the problem is.
The advice I found was to rename the files.
However, when I try to do this I get another message saying:

registry editor cannot rename

I'm stuck

Any advice on how I can access the admin account - I've got loads of files I need and also loads of websites via the favourites I really need

 

[Monsieur]

....also, some advice was to use system restore but the restore points only go back to last week - is there a way to manually select a restore point several months back

 

[Deleted account 190920001]

do you mean registry keys or actual files. Either way if it is you wife's account and she doesn't have admin rights then you wont be able to rename anything. is there another admin account on the PC as Vista requires the first two accounts to be admin? If not you will have to get a boot disk that will let you edit the registry of the PC. If it is files then any boot disk with file access will work for you or fire the disk into another PC if you have one available.
As for system restore you most likely wont be able to see much under a none admin account.

 

[Monsieur]

By boot disk do you mean the discs I was prompted to make when I first got the PC?

 

[Deleted account 190920001]

They might work but I was meaning something like http://www.hirensbootcd.org/download/ or something similar.

 

[Monsieur]

Thanks for the link

Once downloaded how do I use it?

 

[Deleted account 190920001]

Burn the ISO to a disk if you dont have software to do it then use this http://www.imgburn.com/ . Once on disk put in CD tray and reboot, do whatever you have to do to boot from CD (press F12 or something like that, its usually on the boot screen). Once booted on the CD you will get a menu, you want to choose mini XP. It will boot into windows XP (no changes are being made to your PC) when you are at the familiar XP green hills screen you will see a Hiren icon. Click that and find registry editors, start one of them and edit the keys you mentioned. I would probably backup the registry first just to be sure. I cant remember what editors are on the disk so I cant give you the best one to use but if you get stuck I will have a look tomorrow for you.

 

[repomanbe]

This possibly won't work but worth a try as it's not destructive.

boot the PC into safe mode (press F8 as PC starts)
see if your usual administrator account lets you log in as PC is started with minimal files and drivers
If so go to control panel and create a new user profile with admin privileges
Control Panel
Admin Tools
Computer Management
Local Users groups
select "New User" from Action menu.

Restart PC and back in using the new Admin user, now you can access everything to copy off your old data or whatever you want to do.

good idea to have a couple of Admin accounts with details in an envelope stashed somewhere safe in case you need them

 

[Deleted account 190920001]

Thinking about this it might be as simple as booting from the boot disk as per earlier and going to your pc hard drive in explorer then users and rename the folder with the name of your account. You could delete it but if you have anything saved in there you will loose it. Chances are when you boot the PC normally it will just think your new and recreate a working profile for you. If it doesnt work then nothing is lost but I think it is a more serious problem. The safe mode idea might work as well but its a long shot. Depends what is broken really whether it can load in safe mode or not.

 

[Rasher]

As above I would go with trying safe mode first as it is quick and easy and takes least skill.

then renaming the Admin profile folder under c:\users - either with disk in another machine or some sort of boot disk.

Lastly try a boot disk with registry editor.

I always create a adminbackup account on my own PC's as well as the original Admin Account.

 

[Monsieur]

Thanks for all the advice

Tried all but to no avail
Couldn't find the hirens icon when I went to boot disc way

All I want is access to the admin account to get at the documents and favourites but its as though the computer doesn't recognise the account anymore - I know its there as I can see the files but just can't get past the password stage to see them (password is correct)

 

[repomanbe]

Thanks for all the advice
Tried all but to no avail

Did you boot the PC into SAFE mode successfully? If it booted to windows in Safe Mode
(resolution is low and "Safe Mode" is in each corner of the window)
then I think you are in an administrator account.
If not try using the username administrator with no password when you login.

Alternatively have a look at these two URLs
First one
Second one

These may help