"Switch Users" option fails

[Mark Bratcher]

I'm running Windows XP Pro with 3 or 4 household users. I am the only
one with admin privileges.

A few days ago the "switch user" option started failing and hasn't
worked since. One can log into any account, and when logging off get the
choice to Log Off or Switch Users. When Switch Users is selected, then
the user list GUI is presented. Attempts to login as a different user
look like they're going to login, but the message "Loading personal
preferences..." never comes up. The screen sits there for about a minute
then reverts back to the user list GUI. It will only allow the currently
logged in user to log back in.

I've done an internet search and checked all the suggested items: the
"switch user" option is enabled in the control panel, offline file
access is disabled, there's no 3rd party login GUI thing installed in
the registry. The only piece of data I have is that the "switch users"
will work if I boot into safe mode. I think that tells me some
background app or driver is causing the problem, but how to find out
which one??

Thanks for any guidance on this problem...

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Mark,

Is Terminal Services started/running?

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows Shell/User]
Windows® Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com


I'm running Windows XP Pro with 3 or 4 household users. I am the only
one with admin privileges.

A few days ago the "switch user" option started failing and hasn't
worked since. One can log into any account, and when logging off get the
choice to Log Off or Switch Users. When Switch Users is selected, then
the user list GUI is presented. Attempts to login as a different user
look like they're going to login, but the message "Loading personal
preferences..." never comes up. The screen sits there for about a minute
then reverts back to the user list GUI. It will only allow the currently
logged in user to log back in.

I've done an internet search and checked all the suggested items: the
"switch user" option is enabled in the control panel, offline file
access is disabled, there's no 3rd party login GUI thing installed in
the registry. The only piece of data I have is that the "switch users"
will work if I boot into safe mode. I think that tells me some
background app or driver is causing the problem, but how to find out
which one??

Thanks for any guidance on this problem...

 

[Mark Bratcher]

Mark,

Is Terminal Services started/running?

Hi Ramesh, yes, Terminal Services is started/running.

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Mark,

Click Start, Run and type eventvwr.msc. Check the "System" and "Application" logs for any clue. See if there are any "Service Control Manager" or other entries with Red mark.

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows Shell/User]
Windows® Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com

Mark,

Is Terminal Services started/running?

Hi Ramesh, yes, Terminal Services is started/running.

 

[Mark Bratcher]

Mark,

Click Start, Run and type eventvwr.msc. Check the "System" and
"Application" logs for any clue. See if there are any "Service
Control Manager" or other entries with Red mark.

Ramesh,

I re-ran the error scenario and checked the logs. Under "System" I found
this error:

*----------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Event Type: Error
* Event Source: TermService
* Event Category: None
* Event ID: 1036
* Date: 4/20/2007
* Time: 7:40:57 AM
* User: N/A
* Computer: KIDSPC
* Description:
* Terminal Server session creation failed. The relevant status code was
* 0x102.
*
* For more information, see Help and Support Center at
* http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
*
*--------------------------------------------------------------------------

However, when I went to the cited web page, it said this:

We're sorry
There is no additional information about this issue in the Error and
Event Log Messages or Knowledge Base databases at this time. You can use
the links in the Support area to determine whether any additional
information might be available elsewhere.

Mark

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Hi Mark,

Reportedly the error code 0x102 denotes "Operation timed out". Although I don't have a concrete solution, I'd suggest disabling third-party applications/drivers/services one at a time to isolate the problem. Also make sure that your system is up to date on patches and Service Packs, which always helps.

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows Shell/User]
Windows® Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com

Mark,

Click Start, Run and type eventvwr.msc. Check the "System" and
"Application" logs for any clue. See if there are any "Service
Control Manager" or other entries with Red mark.

Ramesh,

I re-ran the error scenario and checked the logs. Under "System" I found
this error:

*----------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Event Type: Error
* Event Source: TermService
* Event Category: None
* Event ID: 1036
* Date: 4/20/2007
* Time: 7:40:57 AM
* User: N/A
* Computer: KIDSPC
* Description:
* Terminal Server session creation failed. The relevant status code was
* 0x102.
*
* For more information, see Help and Support Center at
* http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
*
*--------------------------------------------------------------------------

However, when I went to the cited web page, it said this:

We're sorry
There is no additional information about this issue in the Error and
Event Log Messages or Knowledge Base databases at this time. You can use
the links in the Support area to determine whether any additional
information might be available elsewhere.

Mark

 

[Guest]

I have this same problem. My error messages are:

7000
7009
10005

I also have an error 34

Any thoughts on how to fix?

 

[Guest]

I am having this exact same problem. Anybody found a soultion?

 

[Mark Bratcher]

My thought at this point is that maybe it was something in the February

Windows updates. It seemed to have started after that.

I tend to agree. I started having a switch-user problem about two months
ago. Went through several posts here and was finally told it must be
something I installed. I had only installed one program in that time, so
I uninstalled it. No joy.

So do I now go back and start removing Windows XP updates?

Or maybe this is one of those many scenarios where the best fix is just
to clean the hard drive and reinstall everything including Windows. It's
been a few months since I've done this so I'm probably over due. :-/

 

[Dooger]

Same problem here for a few months. I have done a complete reinstall
to try to remove the problem. I installed the must current XP updates
Office 2003, Bitdefender AV, and just a few other app's to try to fix
the issue. The problem came back about 5 days after.

 

[Guest]

I see reports of people having this problem all over the net. Seems like
Microsoft could offer a little help here.