Fix NTE_TEMPORARY_PROFILE 0x80090024 Temp Profile Error

Windows loads a temp profile after a failed login or corrupt user profile. This error means the real profile can't be accessed. Fix is registry edits or deleting the problematic profile.

You see this error right after logging into Windows 10 or 11. The desktop looks different. Your files are gone. A popup says something like "Your profile wasn't loaded correctly. You've been signed in with a temporary profile." The exact code is 0X80090024. This happens often after a forced shutdown, a failed Windows update, or if you ran out of disk space and the user profile got corrupted mid-write. I've seen it on Lenovo ThinkPads and Dell XPS machines — doesn't matter the brand, the root cause is the same.

What's actually happening here

The temporary profile error means Windows can't load your real user profile from C:\Users\YourName. Instead, it creates a temp folder like C:\Users\TEMP and loads that. Why? The profile's registry keys under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList are messed up. Either the State value says the profile is corrupted (value 0 instead of 0x0), or the RefCount is wrong. Windows uses these keys to check if a profile is safe to load. If the check fails, it falls back to a temporary one.

The error code 0X80090024 specifically points to a cryptographic issue — it's the NTE_TEMPORARY_PROFILE status from the Windows Profile Service. In plain English: Windows tried to validate your profile's security tokens but couldn't, so it gave you a throwaway profile. This doesn't mean your data is gone. It's still in the old folder. You just need to fix the registry to point Windows back to it.

The fix — step by step

Before you start: you need admin rights. If you're already in the temp profile, you can still do this — Windows keeps your admin privileges even in temp mode. Also, back up your profile folder just in case. Copy C:\Users\YourName to an external drive or another location. This step saved me once when I messed up a key and had to restore.

Open Registry Editor — Press Win + R, type regedit, hit Enter. Say Yes to the UAC prompt.
Navigate to the ProfileList key — Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList. This is where all user profile SIDs live. Each SID is a long string like S-1-5-21-....
Find your problematic SID — Look for SIDs with a .bak extension at the end. Windows sometimes renames the original key to YourSID.bak when it detects corruption. You'll see two entries: one without .bak (the temp one) and one with .bak (your original). Also check the State value — if it's 0, that's the broken one.
Delete or rename the temp key — Right-click the SID entry that has State = 0 or the one without .bak if both exist. Delete it. Don't worry — this only removes the registry reference, not your actual profile folder.
Rename the .bak key back — Right-click the SID with .bak, rename it to remove the .bak. So YourSID.bak becomes YourSID.
Fix State and RefCount — Click that renamed SID. In the right pane, double-click State and set it to 0 (or 0x0 in hex). Double-click RefCount and set it to 0. This tells Windows the profile is clean and ready to load.
Reboot — Close regedit, restart your PC. Log in with your normal account. Your desktop, files, and settings should be back.

Why step 3 works

The .bak extension is Windows' way of saying "I saved your old profile just in case." When the profile service detects a corruption, it creates a new temp SID and renames the old one to .bak. By deleting the temp SID and restoring the .bak one, you're telling Windows: "Use the original profile, it's fine now." The State = 0 means the profile is ready for first-time load. RefCount = 0 means no other service is using it. This is the same method Microsoft support uses, but they usually walk you through it over phone.

What to check if it still fails

Check disk space — If your system drive is below 1GB free, Windows can't write profile changes. Free up space by running Disk Cleanup or removing old Windows Update files. I've seen this on machines with 200MB free — the profile load just fails silently.
Run System File Checker — Open Command Prompt as admin, type sfc /scannow. This fixes system files that might be corrupt. It takes 10-15 minutes. Don't interrupt it. If it finds errors, run DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth after.
Check if the profile folder exists — Go to C:\Users. If your original folder (e.g., C:\Users\John) is missing, someone renamed or deleted it. You can create a new folder with the same name, but it's better to restore from backup. Without the folder, the registry fix alone won't bring back your files.
Look at Event Viewer — Open Event Viewer, go to Windows Logs > Application. Filter for source "User Profiles Service" or Event ID 1500, 1501, 1502. These logs tell you exactly which file or registry key failed. For example, Event 1501 might say "The profile could not be loaded because of a corrupt registry key." That confirms you need to fix the SID.
Try a new user account — Create a temporary admin user via Settings > Accounts > Family & other users. Log into that account. If it works fine, the problem is isolated to your original profile. If it also fails, the issue is broader — maybe a corrupted profile service itself. In that case, run chkdsk C: /f from an admin Command Prompt, reboot, and let it fix disk errors.

Most people I've helped with this error fix it with steps 3-5. The rest are edge cases. Don't panic if you see the temp profile again after rebooting — just redo the steps. Sometimes Windows regenerates the .bak key if you didn't delete the temp SID completely. Be thorough.