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Article Number: 000134012

Windows 10 Reports That You Are On a Temporary Profile

Summary: The following article provides information about various methods to resolve an issue with Windows 10 reporting that you are signed in with a temporary profile on your Dell computer.

This article may have been automatically translated. If you have any feedback regarding its quality, please let us know using the form at the bottom of this page.

Article Content

Symptoms

Have you been signed in with a temporary profile in Windows 10?

The You’ve been signed in with a temporary profile or We can't sign in to your account message can appear for various reasons in Windows 10 and will keep you out of your user account.

Windows 10 keeps all of your preferences and settings in a user profile. Your user profile is located in the folder C:\Users\(user name). It includes all account settings like the desktop background, your screen saver, File Explorer options and any other options.

Note: If you've been signed in with a temporary profile, you can't access your files, and any files created while in this profile will be deleted when you sign out.

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Cause

The most common reason for this happening is some type of corruption. This can occur in any number of ways, anything from a bad update, to forcing the system to power off.

Note: Best practice recommends that before you do any work on your OS, you complete a full backup in case of any problems.

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Resolution

Solution Methods:

Note: If you are using Windows Hello, please try logging in using the various methods available. Sometimes this issue has been because of a delay in your sign-on method.

The following methods have all been reported to resolve this issue at one time or another. They all deal with resolving corrupted data of one type or another.

Note: To use some of the following methods you may need either access to an existing Administrative account on your PC or to enable the built-in Administrator account. You may need to contact your IT department if you work for a company that doesn't give you Administrator access privileges on your PC.

However, you can use the following steps to enable the built-in Administrator account on your PC:

  1. Open the Command Prompt/PowerShell application as an administrator, by right-clicking on the start menu or by pressing the windows and X keys together and selecting the appropriate option from the menu that appears

  2. Type in the following command and press the Enter key:

    net user administrator /active:yes

  3. Once you restart your PC you should now get a new account named Administrator. Log into that account

Once you have finished the troubleshooting you have the option of removing this account from the login screen by using the following steps:

  1. Open a Command Prompt/PowerShell window as before

  2. Type in the following command and press the Enter key:

    net user administrator /active:no

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Use the Check Disk (CHKDSK) tool to look for any corruption and run a repair if at all possible.

The following article provides a guide to using this tool on your PC:

SFC (System File Check) compares your operating system files against the install cab file to check for any missing or corrupted files. It will also attempt to replace any damaged or missing files it detects.

You can find a guide to take you through this scan on the following link:

Ensure you have run the Windows Update tool and your PC is fully up to date with Microsofts updates.

The following Microsoft guide takes you through any question you might have about the Windows 10 update process:

You can follow these steps to refresh the location of your documents for the operating system:

  1. Open Windows Explorer and right-click on your Documents folder

SLN320683_en_US__6Refresh_Documents_01_BK

(Figure.1 Windows Explorer)

  1. Select Properties and click on the Location tab

SLN320683_en_US__7Refresh_Documents_02_BK

(Figure.2 Explorer Right-Click menu)

  1. Click Find Target

SLN320683_en_US__8Refresh_Documents_03_BK

(Figure.3 Properties Location tab)

  1. Another Windows Explorer window opens, click on Copy Path from the menu at the top of the window

  2. Paste the location into the field right above the buttons on location tab (remove any extra characters like quotation marks) and click the Apply button

  3. Restart your PC.

To rule out your AntiVirus, disable it through the next boot or remove it. You will need to reference your AntiVirus manufacturer for the steps to do this.

If the issue persists through a reboot of the PC, then you can rule out the AntiVirus.

Another method has been entering Safe Mode (any version) and rebooting your PC after using Safe Mode for a few minutes.

The following article takes you through the various methods of booting to Safe Mode in Windows 10:

Starting Windows 10 in Safe Mode (Official Dell Tech Support)

Duration: 01:16
Closed captions: English only

Microsoft support has posted a potential solution to your situation and while it has not been validated by Dell it is from a trusted source. If you choose to attempt this solution, Dell recommends that you back-up your data before proceeding. Dell takes no responsibility for this fix as you run it at your own choice.

You can find out more on the following Microsoft support article:

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Article Properties

Affected Product

Desktops & All-in-Ones, Laptops, Workstations

Last Published Date

12 Oct 2021

Version

6

Article Type

Solution

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