Blank Screen or Operating System Cannot Load Profile at Logon

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This article was previously published under Q162031

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SYMPTOMS

When you log on, you receive the following error message:

The operating system was unable to load your profile. Please contact your Network Administrator.(5)

Additionally, the logon dialog box may go away, leaving a blank screen, or wallpaper only, without any taskbar or desktop icons.

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The %SystemRoot% folder, and possibly its subfolders, has had READ permission for the Everyone group removed. If the permission has been removed from the %SystemRoot% folder only, you will get the blank screen symptom. If the subfolders do not have the READ permission, you receive the "Cannot load profile" error message.

This error may also occur if "Read" permission has been removed for the root of the system partition.

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