reinstall XP Pro w/o losing SIDS?

[Fred Smith]

Greetings;

After downloading a critical update into my XP Pro SP1 computer (no domain),
I rebooted and got an login error failure referencing msgina.dll. I tried
replacing this file, as well as two or three others (shell32.dll,
winlogon.exe, etc) without success. I have some files encrypted with
"cipher.exe" that I fear will be lost forever if I do a standard reinstall,
as the account SIDS will be wiped out. I can still get to the registry
files, and all the files on the partition, by loading a new instance of XP
in a 2nd partition on the disk. Is there any procedure available for
retreiving my encrypted files? I see two approaches - somehow parse the
registry of the "broken" XP instance and splice the account SID into the
"working" XP instance on the other partition, or somehow reinstalling XP
over the "broken" instance without losing the account and SID of the
encrypted files' owner account.

Any advice appreciated.

Regards,

Fred Smith

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

Can you boot into "Safe Mode"? If you can, run System Restore
while in Safe Mode.

A Description of the Safe Mode Boot Options in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;315222&Product=winxp

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


| Greetings;
|
| After downloading a critical update into my XP Pro SP1 computer (no domain),
| I rebooted and got an login error failure referencing msgina.dll. I tried
| replacing this file, as well as two or three others (shell32.dll,
| winlogon.exe, etc) without success. I have some files encrypted with
| "cipher.exe" that I fear will be lost forever if I do a standard reinstall,
| as the account SIDS will be wiped out. I can still get to the registry
| files, and all the files on the partition, by loading a new instance of XP
| in a 2nd partition on the disk. Is there any procedure available for
| retreiving my encrypted files? I see two approaches - somehow parse the
| registry of the "broken" XP instance and splice the account SID into the
| "working" XP instance on the other partition, or somehow reinstalling XP
| over the "broken" instance without losing the account and SID of the
| encrypted files' owner account.
|
| Any advice appreciated.
|
| Regards,
|
| Fred Smith

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

Can you boot into "Safe Mode"? If you can, run System Restore
while in Safe Mode.

A Description of the Safe Mode Boot Options in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;315222&Product=winxp

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


| Greetings;
|
| After downloading a critical update into my XP Pro SP1 computer (no domain),
| I rebooted and got an login error failure referencing msgina.dll. I tried
| replacing this file, as well as two or three others (shell32.dll,
| winlogon.exe, etc) without success. I have some files encrypted with
| "cipher.exe" that I fear will be lost forever if I do a standard reinstall,
| as the account SIDS will be wiped out. I can still get to the registry
| files, and all the files on the partition, by loading a new instance of XP
| in a 2nd partition on the disk. Is there any procedure available for
| retreiving my encrypted files? I see two approaches - somehow parse the
| registry of the "broken" XP instance and splice the account SID into the
| "working" XP instance on the other partition, or somehow reinstalling XP
| over the "broken" instance without losing the account and SID of the
| encrypted files' owner account.
|
| Any advice appreciated.
|
| Regards,
|
| Fred Smith

 

[Drew Cooper [MSFT]]

If that doesn't work, you should back up your encrypted files and your user
profile before re-installing. If you have your old user profile and know
that user's password either PSS or a 3rd party tool can help you recover
your data.
Don't worry about the account SID - that can be found in the user profile.
Also don't worry about the registry - your encryption certificate and
private key are in the profile, too.

 

[Roger Abell]

Did you have some program installed that provides
its own login interface ? Such as PCanywhere, or
VNC, etc ?
If so, you may want to try editing the reg of the failing
build from the newly installed one and set the service
to not load, and/or rename its service dll so it cannot.

If that is not the case, or does not work, you could try
an upgrade/repair install, as this will preserve accounts.
(back up profile, files, etc first - perhaps even the whole
broken build) An upgrade install, done by booting the CD,
selecting not to repair, and then after it searches and fines
existing installs selecting to upgrade . . . , will try to retain
installed hardware and programs and may ask to the install
source for these, and, afterwards will require XP service to
be reapplied.