[Jonodude]

So I have this infuriating issue with my laptop currently. Generally, when first powering on the machine, I can log in to whichever profile I desire with no problems.

What seems to be a problem is when I want either to "switch users" (keep that first profile active in background but open new one in foreground) or just log out of the first profile and load the new one. At random times, the new profile will not load correctly--Vista's profile selection screen will display "Preparing your desktop...", then the desktop will be just a generic setup with no customizations, and a taskbar balloon will say "Your user profile was not loaded correctly!" and that I'm using a temporary profile where no settings will be saved.

It only seems to happen after some time in the first profile has passed, though. I just tried rebooting the machine, logging into the admin's account, switching out to mine, and then again switching to my mother's. I didn't load any programs once in each account, and everything worked fine. There's some kind of variable here that I'm guessing has to do with what programs or background services are started in the first profile that conflict with opening a second one, but I can't quite figure it out.

I've been researching Google results for similar symptoms but most suggestions imply that the problem is with a corrupted profile and I don't think that's my problem. Does anybody else have any suggestions, or advice for further diagnosing the problem?

[Jonodude]

I'm starting to suspect possible conflict programs as being either Google Chrome (I had it installed via the Google Pack where Chrome is installed for all users, not individually) or Mozilla Thunderbird, both programs we started to use probably around the time this issue started to come up. I've removed both programs and I'm going to see if the issue is resolved... and, if so, I intend to try installing Chrome on a per-user basis as I really did prefer it for browsing, and then see if the problem returns then.

[Ben Toast]

Google Chrome has been known in the past to cause conflicts across multiple user profiles with Vista and 7. You're definitely not alone there. I've had issues identical to yours, and issues where the user profile wouldn't even show on the logon screen. I'd recommend re-installing Google Chrome for each individual user and see if that works, as I see you're planning on doing.

[Jonodude]

Originally Posted by Ben Toast

Google Chrome has been known in the past to cause conflicts across multiple user profiles with Vista and 7. You're definitely not alone there. I've had issues identical to yours, and issues where the user profile wouldn't even show on the logon screen. I'd recommend re-installing Google Chrome for each individual user and see if that works, as I see you're planning on doing.

Ah, that makes much more sense, then. My problem does seem to be resolved now, without running either program. I did wonder why the multiple-user install for Chrome was so relatively obscure to begin with, hah. I guess they don't want as many people using it.

[Ben Toast]

Hey, just checking back. Did that take care of your issue?

[Jonodude]

Yeah. Totally. I reinstalled Chrome per-user and things work just fine now. Nice to have an easy fix for once.