UserEnv Returns Corrupted Profile for All Failures Including RSL Exceeded

ID: Q189119

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Windows NT Workstation version 4.0
Microsoft Windows NT Server version 4.0
Microsoft Windows NT Server version 4.0, Terminal Server Edition

SYMPTOMS

When you log on to a Windows NT 4.0 computer, you may receive the following error in the User Environment dialog box:

The operating system was unable to load the locally stored profile. A
new local profile will be created (1009).

The following message may be displayed as well:

Your profile was not successfully loaded, but you have been logged on
with the default system profile. Please correct the problem and log off
(18).

Your profile settings (desktop icons, application settings, and so on) are reset to the default. If you look in the %SystemRoot%\Profiles folder, you should see your profile directory has been renamed to %SystemRoot%\Profiles\Username.bak, and a new default profile has been stored in %SystemRoot%\Profiles\Username. This is done to allow a user to log on successfully if the profile has been corrupted or does not load for some other reason.

If the registry size limit has been exceeded, a system pop-up message indicating this will be presented to the user during the first logon attempt when this occurs. The following message will be displayed:

System Process - Low on Registry Quota: Your system is running low on
registry quota. Start the System option in the Control Panel and choose
the Virtual Memory button to increase the registry quota.

During subsequent logon attempts, profile load errors will occur and the following application events will be logged:


   Event ID 1000 userenv RegLoadKey failed with error 1009 for
   C:\WINNT\Profiles\username\ntuser.dat

   Event ID 1000 userenv The operating system was unable to load the
   locally stored profile.  A new local profile will be created. (1009)

NOTE: If a user commonly locks the workstation instead of logging off, the original Registry Size Limit error may have been forgotten or lost from the event log by the time a subsequent logon attempt occurs and the profile fails to load.

CAUSE

Although the user profile registry keys may fail to load for a number of reasons, one status code is always returned indicating that the profile is corrupted. The Registry Size Limit (RSL) may have been exceeded. The RSL is a user-defined quota that places a maximum upper limit on how large the registry can grow. When this limit is approached, a message stating this in the Application Popup dialog box will be presented to the user. Because the loading of a user profile (stored in Ntuser.dat) consumes Registry Quota, this may contribute to the exhaustion of this resource.

RESOLUTION

A User Profile does not load if the RSL has been exceeded. This is by design. To work around this problem, the RSL can be increased to avoid the restriction. To do this, follow these steps:

In Control Panel, double-click System.

On the Performance tab, click Change in the Virtual Memory section.

In the Virtual Memory dialog box, in the Registry Size section, the current registry size and the maximum registry size are displayed. Modify the current RSL in this section.

Microsoft recommends increasing the RSL only enough to accommodate the current Registry and a small amount of growth. For additional information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q176083
System Is Running Low on Registry Quota

In Windows NT 4.0, Terminal Server Edition, the RSL is based on paged pool. The maximum size of paged pool is 192 MB. RSL can consume a maximum of 80 percent of paged pool, for a maximum of 153.6 MB. For additional information, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q124594 Understanding and Configuring Registry Size Limit (RSL)

Windows NT 4.0

If the profile has been renamed to Username.bak as a result of the RSL being exceeded, it is possible to restore the original profile settings.

Log on to the computer as Administrator.

Rename or delete the %SystemRoot%\Profiles\Username profile folder.

Rename the %SystemRoot%\Profiles\Username.bak profile folder to Username.

Log off as Administrator and log on as Username.

Windows 2000

Windows 2000 includes a UserEnv enhancement so that the user profile is not deleted if or when the profile is not corrupt. A pop-up message is provided indicating insufficient resources. The user is then logged off if the user does not have local administrative priviledges or the user is logged on when administrative priviledges are identified. The administrator can then increase the registry size limit and log on again. The user profile used prior to the problem is still being saved on the local computer unless it has just been copied.

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Windows NT 4.0 or Windows NT Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition. For additional information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q152734 How to Obtain the Latest Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Windows NT 4.0 and Windows NT Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition. This problem was first corrected in Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 4.0 and Windows NT Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition Service Pack 4.

MORE INFORMATION

Error code 1009 is always returned as the NtStatus code for the Windows API MyRegLoadkey. This code maps to the configuration registry database as corrupted: ERROR_BADDB or STATUS_REGISTRY_CORRUPT. This is misleading if the loading of the registry hive failed because of other causes. If the RSL is exceeded, the correct NtStatus code is 1450, insufficient system resources exist to complete the requested: ERROR_NO_SYSTEM_RESOURCES or STATUS_INSUFFICIENT_RESOURCES.

For additional information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

ARTICLE-ID: Q185198
TITLE : Error 1009 and User Profiles

Additional query words:

Keywords : NT4SP4Fix kbbug4.00 kbfix4.00.sp4
Version : winnt:4.0
Platform : winnt
Issue type : kbbug