I received this PC as a hand-me-down from my uncle. He originally created a Windows account for me, but I already had my own Microsoft account, so I tried to remove his account. The removal process took several months. Later, the PC became very slow, so I used the built-in reset option. Now Windows keeps trying to sign me into the old account, but the PIN no longer works. It displays: "The User Profile Service service failed the sign-in. User profile cannot be loaded." Is there a way to repair this, or should I reinstall Windows completely?
2 Answers
The most reliable fix is a completely clean Windows installation rather than using the built-in reset feature. Create a bootable Windows installation USB on another computer, boot the problem PC from it, delete the existing Windows partitions during setup, and install Windows from scratch. This removes the broken user profile and leftover account data. Make sure anything important is backed up first, because deleting the partitions erases the drive.
A clean reinstall is preferable here, especially since the computer was already running slowly. Download the official Windows installation media, use it to create a bootable USB, start the PC from that USB, and follow the custom installation steps. Afterward, install the drivers and updates, then sign in with the Microsoft account you actually want to use.
So I need to make a Windows installer on a USB drive and boot the PC from that instead of choosing Reset this PC?