PRB w/ system variables in registry

[Guest]

I am having trouble using the system environment variables %Systemdrive% and %Windir% in the registry. Specifically, using the variables in the userinit value under the HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon key. The environment variables are defined (used the set command to verify) but do not work. The target has 4 partitions. The system boot files are on drive c: (partition 1) and the windows system files are located on drive f: (partition 4). AutoAdminLogon is set to 1. Replacing the F:\windows\system32\userinit.exe with %windir%\system32\userinit.exe results in the system going into an endless cycle of loading personal settings then logging off without getting to the desktop. Only using a fixed path seems to work. Why?

 

[KM]

Tony,

I have seen the problem. You can easy repro it on XP Pro machine (therefore,
it will unlikely work on XPe).
My guess was that Winlogon does not expand system variables.

KM

I am having trouble using the system environment variables %Systemdrive%

and %Windir% in the registry. Specifically, using the variables in the
userinit value under the HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon key. The environment variables are defined (used
the set command to verify) but do not work. The target has 4 partitions.
The system boot files are on drive c: (partition 1) and the windows system
files are located on drive f: (partition 4). AutoAdminLogon is set to 1.
Replacing the F:\windows\system32\userinit.exe with
%windir%\system32\userinit.exe results in the system going into an endless
cycle of loading personal settings then logging off without getting to the
desktop. Only using a fixed path seems to work. Why?