Windows 10: Fix You've been signed in with a temporary profile in Windows 10

Do you think this means I have a corrupted user account? I've already tried to do a system restore but there is only one very recent restore point- which is extremely frustrating as I've set the space allowed for storing these reference points to the highest possible.

 

Could be. If you like, you could try creating a new account, and sign in to it to see how it works.

If it works properly, then sign back in to the old account, back up anything you want to keep from it, make the new account an administrator, sign in to the new account, delete the old account, and switch the new account to your Microsoft account.

 

Okay yeah. I think that would be the best option from here. I'll let you know if I figure out anything else.

 

Thank you SO MUCH Brink. This forum- you, has been more helpful than anything *Smile

 

You're most welcome. I'm glad we could help. *Smile

 

Hey Brink,

So this happens to my parents computer. I followed your directions, and used step 9 as the file path was correct.

On reboot, I was able to login, and it looked like it was setting the account up again. Once it goes through the "Please wait, setting up your account" I get a black screen with my cursor. I see notifications (Windows is installing OneDrive) and I can Ctrl+Alt+Del.

When I restart using Ctrl+Alt+Del, I am again prompted with a temp user, but now I follow step 8 because the file path is incorrect. On reboot I am signed into the temp account again and I am back at step 9 where the file paths are correct.

Is this account just toast? Any recommendations other than setting up a new account?

Thanks for the reply and all your hard work!

 

Hello CheckPleaseTY, and welcome to Ten Forums. *Smile

If this has just recently happened, then you could see if doing a system restore using a restore point dated before this started may be able to fix it.

System Restore Windows 10

If not, then you could try doing a repair install to fix it without having to create new accounts and deleting the old ones.

Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade

 

I came home today and had to log in to my desktop. When I did it said it was preparing Windows and I was taken to the temporary profile. I followed the tutorial to delete the profile folder path (step 9). At some point in the process, I confirmed that I could see my old files in C: \Users\BriggsDesktop. When I restarted, it went through the "We're glad you're here" screens. However it took me back to the desktop that looks just like the temporary profile one. I can no longer find all of my files. I tried doing a restore, but it did not complete successfully. Suggestions?

 

Hello Justin, and welcome to Ten Forums. *Smile

The actual user folder should still be there. The entry in the registry is just to reference it.

As a test, manually change the path in the registry to make sure it's the correct path to see if it may help. If not, then you may need to create a new account to use instead.

 

Hi Brink, hoping you can help.

I have an issue similar to MaxandMillie, but kinda the opposite way around!

I worked through the solution, and went with step 9 as the ProfileImagePath was correct. The profile image path did look wierd though:

My user name is 'Render Monster', but both my Users folder AND ProfileImagePath were 'C:\Users\Render Monster.RENDER-MONSTER' (hence why I went with step 9). To be clear, 'Render Monster' is my user name, 'RENDER-MONSTER' is my PC's name.

When I'd completed the steps, I restarted my PC, and was hit with the 'Welcome to Windows10' stuff etc etc as if it was a new install. Looking at my Users folder now, I have a fresh folder called 'Render Monster', which was created upon the restart. I also have a user folder called 'Render Monster.RENDER-MONSTER', which by my understanding is the one I'm wanting to be reading as that has all of my historical user prefs etc in it.

My Registry Editor now has one long SID key, without the .bak at the end. The ProfileImagePath inside that folder is pointing to the newly created 'Render Monster' Users folder, whereas I want it to point to the older 'Render Monster.RENDER-MONSTER' folder.

I understand that if I change the PIP to 'Render Monster.RENDER-MONSTER', that it should in theory hook me back up to the correct/required set of existing user prefs etc etc, but the naming of that path is concerning me slightly based on what was discussed with Maxandmillie...

Ideally, I'd want to delete the newly created Users folder, 'Render Monster', then rename the correct folder with the longer path (I won't type it again!) name to 'Render Monster', and confirm that the PIP in Registry Editor is still pointing to the right place...

Can you outline what you'd suggest as the best way to do this without losing whatever is in the current 'Render Monster.RENDER-MONSTER' Users folder?

Apologies for the number of times I had to write Render Monster there..!!
Chris

 

Hello Chris, and welcome to Ten Forums. *Smile

You could delete the incorrect profile folders in File Explorer, then give step 8 a try to let Windows complete recreate the registry entries for your profile to see if that may work better.

 

Thanks Brink, as per the screenshot attached, I don't have an SID key with a .bak at the end currently, so I wouldn't know which parts of step 8 to do?




The bottom of the 2 Users folders is the one I want to keep. If I was to delete the 'Render Monster' folder from Users, then rename the other one to anything such as 'MyNewUser' (ie to get rid of the current username.PCNAME format), do you think I could then update the PIP to C:\Users\MyNewUser ?

Thanks again,
Chris

 

That's ok. *Smile

You could delete the incorrect "Render Monster" and "TEMP" folders in File Explorer, and leave the others as is.

In the registry, modify the "ProfileImagePath" value for the "....-1001" key to have the correct path of "'C:\Users\Render Monster.RENDER-MONSTER".

If this still doesn't help after restarting the computer, then you could see if doing a system restore using a restore point dated before you first got this temp profile message may.

 

Mate, you're a life saver!

Works like a charm now I had to change the PIP first, then restart, before I could delete the other Users folder (as I presume it couldn't delete as it was in use), but it works perfectly now, and no prefs lost which was the important thing!

Many thanks!
Chris

 

Great news Chris. You're most welcome. *Smile