Logon problem

[Bill]

I have a problem logging on a 2000 Professional machine. It seems that it
won't accept any of the profiles and won't create a new one either. When I
try to logon, it keeps putting me back at the logon screen.

I installed a new instance of 2000 on the system partition that allowed me
to access the machine, but haven't been able to figure out why I can't logon
with the original 2000 installation. Should I try to repair or upgrade the
original installation, even though I don't have a repair disk? Another
quirk is that when the original installation is booted, I don't see the C$
share remotely, and get a message saying "invalid device" if I try to create
the share.

Any help is appreciated.

Bill

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I have a problem logging on a 2000 Professional machine. It seems that it
won't accept any of the profiles and won't create a new one either. When I
try to logon, it keeps putting me back at the logon screen.

I installed a new instance of 2000 on the system partition that allowed me
to access the machine, but haven't been able to figure out why I can't logon
with the original 2000 installation. Should I try to repair or upgrade the
original installation, even though I don't have a repair disk? Another
quirk is that when the original installation is booted, I don't see the C$
share remotely, and get a message saying "invalid device" if I try to create
the share.

Any help is appreciated.

Bill

This typically happens when hard disks are changed. Before you
change disks, delete any inappropriate or non-existing devices
as per Step 2 below.
1. From second Win2000 installation, copy userinit.exe to
the WinNT\System32 folder on all the other hard drives. This
should allow you to log in.
2. HKLM/SYSTEM/MountedDevices/:
delete all keys which look like "\DosDevice\<DRIVE_LETTER>:"
3. Point HKLM/Software/Microsoft/Windows NT/Current Version/
Winlogon/Userinit to the correct location of userinit.exe
See also http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=249321