Windows 7 - "The User Profile Service failed the logon" error

[Phology]

 

I got this error message yesterday after my laptop had installed new updates overnight. It would not let me login and there seemed to be no way to access my computer.

 

A Google search brought up a few solutions, but none seemed to work for me. A lot of the tips include editing your system registry, which can damage your computer further if not done correctly.

 

https://www.google.co.uk/search?site=&source=hp&q=user+profile+service+failed+the+logon&oq=USER+PRO&gs_l=hp.3.0.0l10.1681.6687.0.7791.21.15.6.0.0.0.68.702.15.15.0.chm_lang...0...1.1.62.hp..2.19.650.0.JKqQP0vReSU

 

 

I finally managed to get it working again by doing a simple System Restore -

 

1. Restart computer and hit F8 to enter 'Advanced Boot Options' screen. Then select and enter 'Repair Your Computer'

 

2. A login screen might appear so just login as normal.

 

3. A window should appear with different system recovery tools. Select 'System Restore'.

 

4. Now you should see a list of recovery points. Luckily I believe Windows creates a restore point before every critical system update, so there was a restore point just before the login error was created.

 

5. Select the appropriate restore point, and click Next.

 

6. Restart your computer, and fingers crossed you should now be able to login as normal.

 

 

 

 

If you come across this error I hope this quick guide helps. After doing this I changed my automatic updates to manual, so I can decided what is installed - it's likely that the latest Windows update corrupted my user profile.

[Frost]

Good idea with the manual update. I have Office 2013 Pro installed so every so often I have a 1.5GB of updates to do, I can't have that sneaking me over my download limit.