Cannot login to Windows XP after repair

B

Barry

had a corrupt or missing hal.dll problem on my xp desktop. tried all options
to resolve problem from microsoft and various websites which did not work.

eventually had to load xp using xp disk on seperate hard drive (e:) and
copied the missing files to c: drive. then ran the repair option from the
same xp disk on the c: drive windows installation.

repair eventually completed. windows started, login page displayed, when
attempting to login, told I had to activate the software, did this over the
phone and activation looked like it had worked but when logging in using user
account screen says "loading personal settings" and screen flashes, then
screen says "saving personal settings" and i'm back to the xp login screen
again.

tried booting in safe mode and get them same response with adminstrator
account. i know other people have posted a question similar to this but i
think my problem might be slightly different.

Could it be something to do with installing the same xp setup using the same
xp cd on two sep hard drives ? I really need to run xp from c: drive as I
have lots programs installed on this installation that i don't have the cd's
for to install again.

can anyone help with resolving the login issue ?

tks

BK
 
M

Mir Mehdi

CAUSE
======

This file edits an area of the registry, and Ad-aware 6 Build 181 is unable
to
correct this registry change. The registry item changed is
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
Value: Userinit
Data: %system32%\wsaupdater.exe
%system32% represents the path to the System32 folder. For example, if the
path is
C:\Windows\System32, then the data would be
C:\Windows\System32\wsaupdater.exe
Instead of wsaupdater.exe, the data should contain userinit.exe,. Using the
example above, the data would be
C:\Windows\System32\userinit.exe,
Note the comma following the file path information.

RESOLUTION
===========

Using the recovery console, copy userinit.exe to wsaupdater.exe to allow log
on
capability to be restored, and correct the registry data manually.

Insert the Windows XP startup disk into the floppy disk drive, or insert the
Windows XP CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive, and then restart the computer.
Click to select any options that are required to start the computer from the
CD-ROM
drive if you are prompted to do so. When the "Welcome to Setup" screen
appears, press R to start the Recovery Console.

If you have a dual-boot or multiple-boot computer, select the installation
that you
want to access from the Recovery Console. When you are prompted to do so,
type the Administrator password. If the administrator password is blank
(which is likely the case if Windows XP was preinstalled by your computer
manufacturer), just press ENTER. You should now be in the Windows
installation folder. Note this location, as it will be necessary for steps
later in this article.
At the Recovery Console command prompt, type the following lines, pressing
ENTER after you type each line:
cd system32
copy userinit.exe wsaupdater.exe
exit

For the detailed informaiton on how to install Recovery Console, you may
visit the
below article in Microsoft knowledge base:

307654 How to install and use the Recovery Console in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=307654

At this time, remove the startup floppy or CD-ROM from your system, and boot
into
Windows XP. Log on to the system using an account with administrator-level
privileges, and edit the registry using this information. It is recommeded
that a
registry backup be created prior to continuing. Information on how to do so
can be
found at

HOW TO: Back Up, Edit, and Restore the Registry in Windows XP and Windows
Server
2003
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=322756

Click start, then run. Enter
regedit
and click OK. Using RegEdit, expand
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
Software
Microsoft
Windows NT
CurrentVersion
Winlogon
Locate Userinit in the value column, right-click this item, and choose
modify.
Replace
"wsaupdater.exe" with "userinit.exe," (do not use quotes, and ensure the
trailing
comma is present as shown) and click OK. Exit RegEdit.

Restart your computer, and log on to the system using an account with
administrator-level privileges.

Go to My Computer, then to the System32 folder (usually C:, then Windows,
then
System32). If Explorer prompts that removing files from these areas is not
recommended, click to continue. Locate and remove wsaupdater.exe, and delete
this
file.
 
R

Ray Parrish

Mir said:
CAUSE
======

This file edits an area of the registry, and Ad-aware 6 Build 181 is unable
to
correct this registry change. The registry item changed is
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
Value: Userinit
Data: %system32%\wsaupdater.exe
%system32% represents the path to the System32 folder. For example, if the
path is
C:\Windows\System32, then the data would be
C:\Windows\System32\wsaupdater.exe
Instead of wsaupdater.exe, the data should contain userinit.exe,. Using the
example above, the data would be
C:\Windows\System32\userinit.exe,
Note the comma following the file path information.

RESOLUTION
===========

Using the recovery console, copy userinit.exe to wsaupdater.exe to allow log
on
capability to be restored, and correct the registry data manually.

Insert the Windows XP startup disk into the floppy disk drive, or insert the
Windows XP CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive, and then restart the computer.
Click to select any options that are required to start the computer from the
CD-ROM
drive if you are prompted to do so. When the "Welcome to Setup" screen
appears, press R to start the Recovery Console.

If you have a dual-boot or multiple-boot computer, select the installation
that you
want to access from the Recovery Console. When you are prompted to do so,
type the Administrator password. If the administrator password is blank
(which is likely the case if Windows XP was preinstalled by your computer
manufacturer), just press ENTER. You should now be in the Windows
installation folder. Note this location, as it will be necessary for steps
later in this article.
At the Recovery Console command prompt, type the following lines, pressing
ENTER after you type each line:
cd system32
copy userinit.exe wsaupdater.exe
exit
I have a problem with your copy of one file over the other as it leaves
the offending file name containing the contents of the file you actually
want. Instead of copying the file over the other one, just use

del wsaupdater.exe

No need to copy the other file anywhere as it already in the system32
folder.
 
H

Head Hunter

I tried this and it didn't help. My User file was actually named
USERINI.EXE (missing the "T"). I renamed it to Uuserinit.exe and rebooted.
Same problem. Tried copying it to wsaupdater.exe. No change. Any other
ideas?
 

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