C:\WINDOWS\system32\config\systemprofile\Desktop is not accessible?

Question

I am getting errors on my computer (Windows 7, 32-bit) after a improper shutdown.

At first my user profile was corrupted in the registry and had to use the .bak file in Userprofiles list. But since then same problem has been cropping up and this time it has got worse :(

I see the following two entries in my event log and I get the error message when I log in.

Error message:

c:\WINDOWS\system32\config\systemprofile\Desktop is not accessible.
Access is denied

Event log entry 1:

Windows cannot load classes registry file.
 DETAIL - The process cannot access the file because it is being used by
 another process.

Event log entry 2:

Windows was unable to load the registry. This problem is often caused by
insufficient memory or insufficient security rights. 

 DETAIL - The process cannot access the file because it is being used by
 another process.
 for C:\Users\Gowtham\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\\UsrClass.dat

How do I recover my user profile, and the files associated with it?

Answer 1

Used System Restore to fish out my desktop if I remember correctly.

Answer 2

This is caused by the desktop reverting to a mandatory login profile, being caused by a new file in your user directory labelled ntuser.man, and has happened to me twice while doing Windows updates. Simply rename this file to something else and login. The trick is getting access to this file to rename it. The best way is to do it is from another administrator account.

The file is:

c:\users\<profilename>\ntuser.man

Change it to:

c:\users\<profilename>\ntuser.m.a.n.safe    (or anything else)

Answer 3

This is an old thread but this just happened to me on Windows 7 Pro 32 bit. Same error message, and the only thing on my desktop was the Recycle Bin. The first thing I did was try to remember if I had changed anything the last time I was logged in. I had done 2 things, one of which was change my 'User Account Control' settings from 'Never notify' to the default 'Notify me only when programs try to make changes'. So I changed it back to 'Never notify'. I was able to click the windows button to view programs, including Control Panel and from there -> User Accounts -> Change user account control settings. Restarted my computer, logged in and everything was back to normal. Hope this helps without having to re-create a new user, etc etc. I'm thinking if this happened to you after a Windows update, the update may reset the User Account Control settings to the default. Good luck !