What are user profiles?

Your user profile is a collection of settings that make the computer look and work the way you want it to. It contains your settings for desktop backgrounds, screen savers, pointer preferences, sound settings, and other features. User profiles ensure that your personal preferences are used whenever you log on to Windows.

A user profile is different from a user account, which you use to log on to Windows. Each user account has at least one user profile associated with it.