WinXP Pro logs off instantly after logon

Hello,
I'm cleaning viruses off my friends laptop. After running Ad-Aware SE and trying to restart, the welcome screen says "loading your personnal settings" and then a flash of the desktop and then "logging off" on the welcome screen again.
I've found this site but can't get the Microsoft downloaded startup disk to boot.
Anybody help?

http://www.lavahelp.com/articles/v6/04/06/0901.html

Thanks,
Curt

 

Boot to your XP cd instead, and continue following lava's instructions.

 

Thanks for the reply.
I'm trying to boot with the cd but when it asks for the administrators password I hit enter because the owner says there are no passwords. It comes up incorrect passwords so we tried a bunch of her common passwords to no avail. Is there a factory gateway password?
curt

 

The default Gateway admin password is admin

 

Thanks for "admin".
No luck. I've try caps and first letter caps, all lower case. She must've put a password in and forgot it.

 

Use this to clear the admin password:

Offline NT password & Registry Editor

Create a CD from the ISO Image and boot the computer from the CD. Follow thes instructions:

PASSWORD RESET
=========================================================
Password or registry edit
=========================================================
chntpw version 0.99.2 040105, (c) Petter N Hagen

[.. some file info here ..]

* SAM policy limits:
Failed logins before lockout is: 0
Minimum password length : 0
Password history count : 0

<>========<> chntpw Main Interactive Menu <>========<>

Loaded hives: <sam> <system> <security>

1 - Edit user data and passwords
2 - Syskey status & change
3 - RecoveryConsole settings
- - -
9 - Registry editor, now with full write support!
q - Quit (you will be asked if there is something to save)


What to do? [1] -> 1

===== chntpw Edit User Info & Passwords ====

RID: 01f4, Username: <Administrator>
RID: 01f5, Username: <Guest>, *disabled or locked*
RID: 03e8, Username: <HelpAssistant>, *disabled or locked*
RID: 03eb, Username: <pnh>, *disabled or locked*
RID: 03ea, Username: <SUPPORT_388945a0>, *disabled or locked*

Select: ! - quit, . - list users, 0x<RID> - User with RID (hex)
or simply enter the username to change: [Administrator]
Here you can enter the username you want to reset the password for. NOTE: It is case-sensitive, write it exact as listed (without the < and > of course)

Or if the name uses some characters that cannot be displayed, enter it's ID number (RID), like this: 0x1f4 would select administrator.

We select the default, which is administrator.

RID : 0500 [01f4]
Username: Administrator
fullname:
comment : Built-in account for administering the computer/domain
homedir :

Account bits: 0x0210 =
[ ] Disabled | [ ] Homedir req. | [ ] Passwd not req. |
[ ] Temp. duplicate | [X] Normal account | [ ] NMS account |
[ ] Domain trust ac | [ ] Wks trust act. | [ ] Srv trust act |
[X] Pwd don't expir | [ ] Auto lockout | [ ] (unknown 0x08) |
[ ] (unknown 0x10) | [ ] (unknown 0x20) | [ ] (unknown 0x40) |

Failed login count: 0, while max tries is: 0
Total login count: 3

* = blank the password (This may work better than setting a new password!)
Enter nothing to leave it unchanged
Please enter new password: *
Some information is displayed. Also, if the account is locked, you will be asked if you wish to unlock it (not shown here)

We go for the blank password option (*) WHICH IS HIGLY RECOMMENDED over setting a new one.

Please enter new password: *
Blanking password!

Do you really wish to change it? (y/n) [n] y
Changed!

Select: ! - quit, . - list users, 0x - User with RID (hex)
or simply enter the username to change: [Administrator] !
! brings us back to the main menu here.

<>========<> chntpw Main Interactive Menu <>========<>

Loaded hives:

1 - Edit user data and passwords
2 - Syskey status & change
3 - RecoveryConsole settings
- - -
9 - Registry editor, now with full write support!
q - Quit (you will be asked if there is something to save)


What to do? [1] -> q

 

Sometimes what Shadow_Puter_Dude posted works, sometimes it doesn't, but it is a sure fire way of attempting it.

Does, booting into safe mode work?

If not, then there may be a way to change that password, but it involves a parallel installation of xp, and it can be quite involved. As in a PITA.

 

no booting into safe mode either.
I tried what you said 'puter dude but could not get the laptop to boot from the iso image. I unzipped it, burned it, but the laptop won't boot from it

 

Did you create the CD from the ISO image, or did you just burn the ISO to the CD? If the latter that won't work. I you use Nero see this POST.