Explorer not functioning

[Sam]

Hi,

I got some kind of nasty virus on my machine so I ran Ad-Aware with its
anti-virus engine to remove it. It found it and needed a restart and to run
before Windows loaded in order to completely remove it.

Somehow, the virus corrupted Ad-Aware and made it delete explorer.exe
instead of the virus. The computer and settings load normally but when I try
to log on it immediately logs back off. I tried doing a repair install of
Windows, and it did absolutely nothing. I even tried reinstalling Windows in
another folder (I don't want to lose my documents and pictures), but from the
new installation I don't have access to any of the files from the other
windows install. I also looked in the original windows directory and
explorer.exe seems to be there. Obviously, something else is still preventing
it from loading when I try to log on with the original install of windows.

Can anyone offer me any tips or a solution to this? I would like to try
doing a remote desktop from my laptop if possible but I have been unable to
set that up either. I really need to at least get my important files off the
computer as they are not backed up. Thanks for any help.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Hi,

I got some kind of nasty virus on my machine so I ran Ad-Aware with its
anti-virus engine to remove it. It found it and needed a restart and to
run
before Windows loaded in order to completely remove it.

Somehow, the virus corrupted Ad-Aware and made it delete explorer.exe
instead of the virus. The computer and settings load normally but when I
try
to log on it immediately logs back off. I tried doing a repair install of
Windows, and it did absolutely nothing. I even tried reinstalling Windows
in
another folder (I don't want to lose my documents and pictures), but from
the
new installation I don't have access to any of the files from the other
windows install. I also looked in the original windows directory and
explorer.exe seems to be there. Obviously, something else is still
preventing
it from loading when I try to log on with the original install of windows.

Can anyone offer me any tips or a solution to this? I would like to try
doing a remote desktop from my laptop if possible but I have been unable
to
set that up either. I really need to at least get my important files off
the
computer as they are not backed up. Thanks for any help.

Your problem is most likely caused by Windows being unable to locate the
file userinit.exe. Here are four reasons for this:
- The file no longer exists.
- The file is corrupted.
- The registry points at the wrong location for this file. It is defined
here:
HKLM/Software/Microsoft/Windows NT/Current Version/Winlogon/Userinit
- The system drive letter is incorrect.

You can access your existing files by booting into Safe Mode in your
parallel installation, then seizing ownership of the inaccessible folders -
see here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308421

I suppose you realise that you're breaking the iron law of safe computing by
not backing up your important files. This time you won't have much of a
problem recovering the files. Next time you might lose the lot. A 2.5" hard
disk in an external USB case is a low-cost but highly effective backup
medium. Time to think . . .

 

[ju.c]

The problem may be one of these two possibilities:


(A) A Missing Userinit Value.

1. Copy below between the lines:

----------copy inside only----------
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]
"Userinit"="C:\\WINDOWS\\SYSTEM32\\userinit.exe,"
----------copy inside only----------

2. Paste into Notepad, if your Windows is not on drive C:
replace C: with your Windows drive letter and Save-As
Userinit.reg (or any name + .reg)
3. Double-click or right-click and merge into the registry.
4. Restart.


(B) An "explorer.exe" Entry In The Registry Key "Image File Execution".

1. Open the Run box and enter: regedit
2. Go to this key:
[HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options]
3. If you see "explorer.exe" as a subkey below, delete it.


ju.c

 

[JF]

*Bonjour ju.c * !

The problem may be one of these two possibilities:

(A) A Missing Userinit Value.

1. Copy below between the lines:

----------copy inside only----------
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]
"Userinit"="C:\\WINDOWS\\SYSTEM32\\userinit.exe,"
----------copy inside only----------

2. Paste into Notepad, if your Windows is not on drive C:
replace C: with your Windows drive letter and Save-As
Userinit.reg (or any name + .reg)
3. Double-click or right-click and merge into the registry.
4. Restart.

?
Sam cannot log the Windows to be repare.
He has to edit the hive from the new system ==>
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/peboot.htm

 

[ju.c]

This WinPE bootable CD from Microsoft includes, among many tools, the Registry Editor:

Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset 5.0 $65 64 MB (30 day trial)
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...69-0554-4595-8AB4-C34B2860E087&displaylang=en

Download it, install it, run it and create the CD. Boot the computer with it and enter the registry information.


ju.c

*Bonjour ju.c * !

The problem may be one of these two possibilities:

(A) A Missing Userinit Value.

1. Copy below between the lines:

----------copy inside only----------
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]
"Userinit"="C:\\WINDOWS\\SYSTEM32\\userinit.exe,"
----------copy inside only----------

2. Paste into Notepad, if your Windows is not on drive C:
replace C: with your Windows drive letter and Save-As
Userinit.reg (or any name + .reg)
3. Double-click or right-click and merge into the registry.
4. Restart.

?
Sam cannot log the Windows to be repare.
He has to edit the hive from the new system ==>
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/peboot.htm

 

[JF]

*Bonjour ju.c * !

This WinPE bootable CD from Microsoft includes, among many tools, the
Registry Editor:

Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset 5.0 $65 64 MB (30 day trial)
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...69-0554-4595-8AB4-C34B2860E087&displaylang=en

Download it, install it, run it and create the CD. Boot the computer with it
and enter the registry information.

Thank you for this 30 days ERD Commander try link, I'll have a look.
Sam doesn't need such CD as he can boot on his second installed system.
He can edit the hive (windows\system32\config\software) with regedit.
The link i gave was for the "How to use regedit" for this purpose
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/peboot.htm
==>
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/images/pe/BartPE2.png
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/images/pe/BartPE3.png
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/images/pe/BartPE4.png
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/images/pe/BartPE5.png
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/images/pe/BartPE6.png
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/images/pe/BartPE7.png