Hung up at Log In screen

[Gene]

Windows XP home edition - when the computer boots and goes
to the login screen i can't go any further. when i click
to login it says loading settings then immediately logs me
out. microsoft can't help on this one and says i have to
reload windows, thus loosing everything on the system.
this is a work computer with valuable files on it. any
suggestions? i find it insane that there isn't some way to
bypass the login screen, a backdoor or something. i was
also told that this problem could have resulted when i
downloaded the new service patch 2 - so beware. they are
getting many calls on this.

 

[S.Sengupta]

see:-'How to use the Automatic Recovery feature to recover your computer
if the Windows XP Service Pack 2 Setup program is not completed
successfully'
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=875355

regards,
ssg MS-MVP
pronetworks.org

 

[Guest]

you can not use the Automatic Recovery feature if you can
not get into the program. i can not go past the login
screen - thus, no way to do an automatic recovery

 

[Rock]

Windows XP home edition - when the computer boots and goes
to the login screen i can't go any further. when i click
to login it says loading settings then immediately logs me
out. microsoft can't help on this one and says i have to
reload windows, thus loosing everything on the system.
this is a work computer with valuable files on it. any
suggestions? i find it insane that there isn't some way to
bypass the login screen, a backdoor or something. i was
also told that this problem could have resulted when i
downloaded the new service patch 2 - so beware. they are
getting many calls on this.

Have you deleted any spyware recently? This can be a residual of
spyware removal. If so see this link:

Unable to Log On To Windows XP After Removing wsaupdater.exe
http://www.lavasofthelp.com/articles/v6/04/06/0901.html

Otherwise:

How to remove Windows XP Service Pack 2 from your computer
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=875350

 

[Alex Nichol]

Windows XP home edition - when the computer boots and goes
to the login screen i can't go any further. when i click
to login it says loading settings then immediately logs me
out.

Adapted from a Post from Kelly: I suggest using this method if you
have a proper retail type CD you can boot from

A User Logon Request Is Rejected Without Any Messages
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=313322

If the above is not the case, this does work and has been verified:

This problem turns out to be that the Winlogon userinit entry is being
set to "wsaupdater.exe," and not "userinit.exe,".

Set the BIOS to boot CD before Hard Disk. Boot the XP CD and, instead
of Setup, take the immediate R for Repair. Assume any password
requested is blank, and TAB over.

Change the C:\Windows prompt to: C:\Windows\System32
by
CD System32
then
COPY userinit.exe wsaupdater.exe

Reboot into Safe Mode and use a run of regedit.exe:

Open to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT
\CurrentVersion\Winlogon

And in the right pane double click UserInit and change from
wsaupdater.exe to userinit.exe,

Then you can reboot and delete the wpaupdater.exe file