[jarednbond]

Just before this problem I set a password on the administrator account and set the guest account to automatically log in. On the first reboot I got an error message that said "windows can not log in because your profile can not be loaded"

I logged in as the administrator and went to the user setting in control panel. I clicked the advanced tab, and entered advanced user management. I went to the users folder, right clicked the guest account and enter properties. I unchecked account is disabled and restarted.

On restart I get an infinite error loop. When it reaches the login screen I get this error message, "Windows cannot copy file c:\Documents and settings\Default User\Application Data\SACore\Cache\A\ to location c:\Documents and Settings\Patron.COMP1*\Application Data\SACore\Cache\A\ Contact your network administrator."

*this is the guest account name

There is a 30 sec countdown on the error box, and when you click ok or it runs down a new error message pops up that says, "Windows cannot log on because the profile cannot be loaded. Contact your network administrator. DETAIL - The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable."

When you click ok on the second error it pops up with the first, thus the infinite loop. I restarted in safe mode and get the same error. Is there any way I can shut off auto-login without actually booting in to windows? Is this error fixable without a boot disk? The computer is a public access PC and is about 10 years old so the restore CDs are long gone.

[makethissound]

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315231 outlines how to _enable_ auto-login. You can use the former tool to un-do the steps the latter outlines. I understand you did these changes through the GUI originally.

I suggest disabling auto-login, creating a new account - not a guest, just a limited account - without a password. Log in normally. Log out. Log in as administrator. Reconfigure auto-login to use the new username.

[TheOutcaste]

The forum rules prohibit assisting with bypassing passwords, and providing links to those types of tools.

Since he was able to log in after adding the password that's not the issue anyways.

Press and hold the SHIFT key after the splash screen switches to the blue background, when it shows the Windows is starting up message.

This might not work if you used Tweak UI to setup the Auto Logon

[Triple6]

I've removed the link to the tool you posted as per the reason stated above, don't believe its relevant here anyways.

[makethissound]

I apologize.

That was not the pertinent part of that utility, however. The part of that utility which i was talking about was in relation to offline registry editing, allowing you to accomplish changes to those login settings.

[jarednbond]

Thank you, the shift key on startup did the trick.