How to fix a corrupted user profile in Windows♥

Not a good way to start the week... One of those stressful Mondays.  When I got to the office my staff told me that she cannot access her computer.  She is getting this error message when she tried to log in: "The user profile service failed to logon and the user profile cannot be loaded".  I remember getting the same message last year.  And I was able to open the profile again, by following the step by step procedure. (The main reason for this is that you have a corrupted file). 

First of all I am an accountant: but I really try my best to learn simple troubleshooting techniques, so every time, I encounter software or hardware problem/s I consult my IT friend.  I always have my "handy-dandy notebook" with me: to take note of the things I need to remember.  I can proudly say that I can do simple PC troubleshooting.  (not that super "galing" but good enough to save the company from the cost of repair service or wait for our IT personnel to go to our office which is most of the time busy and they need to schedule their office visit)  Actually I can already set-up a network, control WIFI security access, install software or additional hardware (memory card, LAN card and etc.).

Last year I almost panicked when this happened to me, since all of my important files are on my desktop.  Yes, I do back up my files on DVD's and on one of the PC's in our network.  But the main problem is you cannot open your PC (and this was very new to me that time)  So I tried searching online on how to troubleshoot this kind of problem.  So if you have encountered this also or may be in the future you may find yourself on the same situation, here are the steps you need to do:

Before proceeding to the steps, try to restart again your computer, if the problem still persists you can start doing the following:

I. Fix the user corrupted profile file:

• Start your computer on SAFE MODE (to do so restart it and press F8)
• Click Start, type regedit in the Search box, and then press ENTER.
• In Registry Editor, locate and then click the following registry subkey:
  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList
• In the navigation pane, locate the folder that begins with S-1-5 (SID key) followed by a long number.
• Click each S-1-5 folder, locate the ProfileImagePath entry in the details pane, and then double-click to make sure that this is the user account profile that has the error. (look for the folders names  ending with .ba or .bak and follow Microsoft's instruction to rename them)
• Close Registry Editor.
• Restart the computer. (Please remember you should be able to log in already on the corrupted user profile)

II. Log on to Windows and copy your data to a new account.

•  Create new user account account and follow Microsoft's instructions in creating a new account and copying data to your new account.

This solved my problem... and hopefully this will be helpful to all of you also.  But if you are not really sure and is afraid to trying this, it is still better to ask the help of an IT expert.