Windows failed to load user profile.

Hi all. I'm having a serious "Who the heck designed the computer to
behave like this?!" moment, and I could really use your help. Forgive
me if anything I say here sounds really whiny or impatient - I'm
frustrated.

About half an hour ago, I started playing Battlefield 1942. I know
this makes me way behind the modernity curve - but that's not the
point. I never /actually/ started playing, though, because as soon as
I started the first mission, my computer hung for a few seconds and
then restarted itself. Not a big deal, I thought, since XP machines
have been known to do that occasionally, especially when the find a
game they disagree with. The problem arose when I logged in. I didn't
get the message copied down exactly, but it was something like:
"Windows encountered an error loading your user profile. The file is
either missing or corrupted. Use this temporary one." Temporary
profile = crappy, ugly, useless default that every sane person changes
immediately after an install. So naturally I groaned, muttered a few
things under my breath, and set about fixing it all. About fifteen
minutes later, I decided it was good enough (when I realized that I
had lost all my bookmarks and settings in Firefox, A THIRD PARTY
PROGRAM that shouldn't, be tied into a Windows user profile (although
I admit that I don't know the technicals of what goes on there), I
figured it was either time to take a break or time to punch my
monitor). So I decided to watch a movie to relax. Problem #2: my video
settings and codecs don't appear to be working. I have CCCP installed
and I can't watch an AVI in Windows Media Player? Even though I'd been
doing that for two hours the same morning? What the heck?! Installed
software isn't even part of the user profile...it's part of the file /
system/.

I decided to uninstall CCCP, so that I could reinstall it and
hopefully restore the codec associations. The uninstall asked for a
reboot. I rebooted. Guess what happened when I logged in again?
"Windows encountered an error loading your user profile. The file is
either missing or corrupted. Use this temporary one. P.S. We hate you
and want to kill your firstborn." (I may have ad libbed)

I decided to test it, to make sure that Windows really is hateful and
it wasn't just a coincidence. I changed a few settings, logged out,
logged back in. "Windows encountered an error loading your user
profile. The file is either missing or corrupted. Use this temporary
one. Give us more money."

Can someone please explain to me:
-What happened
-How to fix it
-Why the damage to my user profile should affect the settings on third
party programs
-Why it appears to not just be a loss of data, but damage to the
system by which that data is maintained

?

On Sep 13, 10:14 pm, Kaldrenon <kaldre...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi all. I'm having a serious "Who the heck designed the computer to
> behave like this?!" moment, and I could really use your help. Forgive
> me if anything I say here sounds really whiny or impatient - I'm
> frustrated.
>
> About half an hour ago, I started playing Battlefield 1942. I know
> this makes me way behind the modernity curve - but that's not the
> point. I never /actually/ started playing, though, because as soon as
> I started the first mission, my computer hung for a few seconds and
> then restarted itself. Not a big deal, I thought, since XP machines
> have been known to do that occasionally, especially when the find a
> game they disagree with. The problem arose when I logged in. I didn't
> get the message copied down exactly, but it was something like:
> "Windows encountered an error loading your user profile. The file is
> either missing or corrupted. Use this temporary one." Temporary
> profile = crappy, ugly, useless default that every sane person changes
> immediately after an install. So naturally I groaned, muttered a few
> things under my breath, and set about fixing it all. About fifteen
> minutes later, I decided it was good enough (when I realized that I
> had lost all my bookmarks and settings in Firefox, A THIRD PARTY
> PROGRAM that shouldn't, be tied into a Windows user profile (although
> I admit that I don't know the technicals of what goes on there), I
> figured it was either time to take a break or time to punch my
> monitor). So I decided to watch a movie to relax. Problem #2: my video
> settings and codecs don't appear to be working. I have CCCP installed
> and I can't watch an AVI in Windows Media Player? Even though I'd been
> doing that for two hours the same morning? What the heck?! Installed
> software isn't even part of the user profile...it's part of the file /
> system/.
>
> I decided to uninstall CCCP, so that I could reinstall it and
> hopefully restore the codec associations. The uninstall asked for a
> reboot. I rebooted. Guess what happened when I logged in again?
> "Windows encountered an error loading your user profile. The file is
> either missing or corrupted. Use this temporary one. P.S. We hate you
> and want to kill your firstborn." (I may have ad libbed)
>
> I decided to test it, to make sure that Windows really is hateful and
> it wasn't just a coincidence. I changed a few settings, logged out,
> logged back in. "Windows encountered an error loading your user
> profile. The file is either missing or corrupted. Use this temporary
> one. Give us more money."
>
> Can someone please explain to me:
> -What happened
> -How to fix it
> -Why the damage to my user profile should affect the settings on third
> party programs
> -Why it appears to not just be a loss of data, but damage to the
> system by which that data is maintained
>
> ?

Hello,

Microsoft's answer:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/318011

Check the link on the page about copying data/settings from a corrupt
profile.