XP Will Not Log In

Well it started off as fixing my boot.ini file because it wasnt loading windows. i successfully did that and was able to boot and log in. I remembered i had 31MB of free space so i thought id make the windows partition a little bigger...every MB counts to me. The enlargement finished and it seemed to have worked perfectly so i booted up, perfectly, and then went into the log in screen. something was different. the login screen wasnt the graphical one anymore, it was the text one. I didnt really make a big deal out of it so i entered my username and password and it logged me in....or so i thought. After the windows logging on message dissappeared nothing happened, another window popped up and said windows is logging out. Ive tryed logging in in all safe modes and on all accounts NOTHING works. I also did some research, about ad aware and how it deletes wsaupdater.exe and how the virus changes registry settings to login from userinit.exe to wsaupdater.exe. So i booted into the recovery console and copied userinit.exe and i copied it again but named it wsaupdater.exe. Still no luck. I think their is no hope. Oh by the way, my windows XP Install disk is fried. I use the boot diskettes and what works on my install disk.

 

Go to the User Accounts in the control panel and open it go to Change the Way users Log on or off and make sure that both Use the Welcome Screen and the Use Fast User Switching are Checked

 

No its not that its text. its the fact that when i log in it immediatly logs me out. i cant get to my desktop.

 

Some XP versions, if you hold down F5 on boot up you will find a hidden administrator account that you can not see from the control panel/user accounts, see if that will let you in

 

no ive tryed ALL the accounts including admin. the problem is whenever i log in itll flash my windows background, saying loggin in, and then itll dissappear, no desktop icons and no taskbar, and the screen will come up saying windows is logging out.

 

That sounds like a GINA dll problem. What software did you use to resize the partition?

 

Gparted live CD. it has never done me anyharm before..is it possible to copy gina.dll into the system form my cd again? gina.dll is in system32 am i right?

 

and for the record to boot to safe mode xp, its f8

 

I would try this first.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545

 

uhm wow. that doesent sound the least bit safe. ill give it a shot but i gotta look over it more make sure i dont screw up. is there any other way to do it besides that? cant i just copy msgina.dll to the system32?

 

well, more often than not, the problem is that a third party gina is being used, which is set in the registry. So in that case, no, copying the file over doesnt help.

As for the procedure beng safe--its windows. Its broken, and it needs to be fixed. You left the realm of 'safe' long ago

 

rofl i left the realm of safe the day i turned this thing on hehehe. so its corrupted registry..hmm...alright well ill give it a shot and post back results

 

I dont know for sure, but this is worth a shot!

 

how could it be a corrupted registry may i ask?windows still boots perfectly and all my files are on there still intact, so are my accounts. lol im confused. so should i just do the delete the registry then restore it thing?

 

No, follow the article.

The registry is enormous. It doesnt simply control booting, and accounts, and it doesnt touch files, so Im at a loss where you are going with this?

While the article is a blunt tool for what probably needs fine tuning, I dont see you getting into the registry to edit manually, unless you want to parallel install windows to work on the broken install.
Or spend your precious time trying to use a remote registry editor, or find one you can run off of CD.

Regsitry problems arent that big of a deal--when you can edit it.

 

Rofl sorry for being so edgy like that. i just dont want to screw the computer up more than i have. im gonna go do it now. id like to print the instructions tho but i dont have a .ppd file for my Lexmark 3300 series. would it be on windows or on my lex disk?

 

actually nvm about the ppd. but does it matter that i am using OEM XP?i bought from dell and it came preinstalled.

 

From the article Adrynalyne linked you too:

Warning Do not use the procedure that is described in this article if your computer has an OEM-installed operating system. The system hive on OEM installations creates passwords and user accounts that did not exist previously. If you use the procedure that is described in this article, you may not be able to log back into the recovery console to restore the original registry hives.

 

There is that risk, but I've run this procedure on well over 50 OEM machines, and only a few had that issue. This particular warning has been changed, modified, and reworded for the past 6 years. So, its up in the air. Microsoft doesnt write a lot of the Knowledge base articles, did you know that?

I think its cute that they say the system hive is different, when the SAM hive is the one dealing with passwords and what not.

The hive in the repair folder for OEM machines is not named system, but actually system.bak.

Something to note, as well. With it being OEM, its at your own risk. At the end of the day you gotta ask yourself, however:

What other choice do you have?

If its a registry problem, and you do a repair, you are making the problem more permanent.

If its not, a repair might work, but then your OS gets returned to the service pack level it shipped with, which holds its own dangers if your CD doesnt contain SP2 and you have it currently installed.

You can do a parallel installation to manually edit the registry, but then you have to load a specific hive, then save it, then export it. Its a messy process.

 

He seemed hesitant about trying it out so I was just prodding him to re-read the article.

Does Dell have the option to move the existing install to a seperate folder on C drive and then do a clean install?

He will lose all the updates as you said but it might be safer in the long run to start over with the fresh install.

He can take whatever files he wants from the old install folder and bring them over to the fresh copy.

 

Re: the install, not so far as I know. I know the reason why you posted, I wasnt arguing it. I was just explaining that there may not be a better alternative, and that article has been a WIP since XP came out.

 

Cool.

 

ok monday morning. im doing it. i have nothing to lose the computers messed up enough. ive looked it over 20 times now and i seem to understand it. i think i can do it. if not ill go out and buy another XP CD from this XP book at the library for 50$. ive scraped up the cash but itll be the last resort.

ill let you guys know if i have any issues and ill let you know how the procedure went..thank you so very much for the help!

Sincerely,
Nick