Remote Desktop Services user logged on with temporary profile

A user logging on to a Remote Desktop Services (RDS) server was shown a dialogue soon after logon indicating that they are using a temporary profile and any changes would be lost when logging out.

A temporary profile can be created when Windows cannot load the user's actual profile, often due to corruption, locked files, or issues with User Profile Disks (UPDs). In this state, files are not saved upon logging off, and the session is "temporary."

The simplest thing to check is in the Registry to see if there has been a failed, locked, or uncleared previous session. This is identifiable by a .bak entry for the user in the ProfileList:

Log off the affected user from the RDS.
Log into the RDS server as an Administrator.
Open regedit and navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList

For each user that has a profile on the system you will find a Key with a unique ID. Look for folders starting with S-1-5-... and there will be a value, 'ProfileImagePath', that will indicate the username associated with it.

Locate the Key relating to the problematic user, and see if it ends in .bak.

NOTE: If you see two folders with the same SID (one with .bak, one without):
1. Delete the folder without the .bak extension.
2. Rename the .bak folder by removing the .bak extension.

If you only see one folder with .bak, just rename it to remove .bak. [NOTE: You may also be able to just delete the Key[

Reboot the RD Session Host (can be optional, try the user logging in without reboot first).
Have the user log in again.

Other potential fixes for specific RDS scenarios if the above :

• UPD Locked (Multiple Sessions): If you use User Profile Disks (UPD), a user will get a temporary profile if they are already logged into another session host. A UPD can only be attached to one server at a time. Ensure the user logs off all other RDS sessions.
• Rogue Registry Keys: If the issue persists, use wmic useraccount get name,sid to find the user's SID, then delete the corresponding SID key under ProfileList and the corresponding key under ProfileGuid.
• Delete/Recreate Profile: If the profile is corrupted, log in as admin, rename C:\Users\<username> to C:\Users\<username>.old, delete the registry SID key, and allow a new profile to be created upon login.
• Check Disk Space: Ensure the drive holding the user profiles (or UPD share) is not full.