Correcting or Fixing a Corrupt User Profile in Windows 7

  1. Restart your computer. This releases any locks Windows may have on the profile folders.
  2. Log on with an account with administrative priviledges.
  3. Move C:\Users\%username% to a safe location (%username% being the account that has the corrupt profile)
  4. Delete C:\Users\TEMP, if it exists.
  5. Delete the profile registry key from:
    1. “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList”
    2. You can confirm you’re choosing the right registry key by checking the value “ProfileImagePath” to make sure you pick the right profile.
  6. Reboot the computer and log in as the “broken” user to make Windows recreate the profile automatically.
  7. Restore any documents, favorites, desktop, files, etc. from the original profile folder you moved in the third step.