TechNet XP Pro vs. Home edition

[Tom]

Can anyone tell me whether the TechNet information for XP Pro applies
to the Home edition? I'm trying to diagnose a problem with Windows
Explorer being non-responsive at boot time and I am wondering if the
procedures in the XP Pro Resource Kit for troubleshooting startup
problem are valid for the Home editition.

Thanks.

Tom

 

[Wesley Vogel]

Some applies some may not. What in particular?

Troubleshooting Startup
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/Windows/XP/all/reskit/en-us/prmc_str_yfol.asp

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

 

[Tom]

I have a situation where I was forced to hard power down my home system
after a lock up and black screen. When I powered it back on, I could
get the login screen, and log in as a user. From that point the
background apears, but no icons or taskbar, and Explorer goes into a
"not responding" state. (I can CTRL-ALT-DEL to get to the task
manager.) At least one application starts up because I get a pop up
for that app, then nothing else. If I kill explorer.exe and try to
restart I get the same behavior. I see this same behavior for all my
logins. I can get into safe mode. I ran the defrag program and tried
a couple other things to see it it was an obviously corrupted disk
file. Nothing worked.

I need to follow some procedure to disable services and applications to
figure out what got corrupted. I was just wondering if the procedures
documented in the Pro Resource Kit for disabling application and
services will work.

 

[Wesley Vogel]

Check these two registry settings...

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
Value Name: Shell
Data Type: REG_SZ
Value Data: Explorer.exe

Value Name: Userinit
Data Type: REG_SZ
Value Data: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\Userinit.exe,

Have a look at this. It could be a corrupted user account...

Taskbar Is Missing When You Log On to Windows
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;318027

Since you did not include a link, and I am not gonna go looking, do *NOT*
use msconfig.exe to disable any services. Use services.msc...
Start | Run | Type: services.msc | Click OK
---

Why can't I use msconfig to change my services?

[[The reason is because with msconfig and Hardware Profiles, you can disable
services that may be vital to boot your system. With the management console
(services.msc) you cannot. Also, msconfig, while unchecking the box, is
disabling the service.

The "Disable All" button also scares me. It should not even be there as no
reason exists to justify disabling "everything."]]
Why can't I use msconfig to change my services?
http://web.archive.org/web/20041128011231/www.blackviper.com/AskBV/XP25.htm

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

 

[Tom]

Those registry settings look OK. If I turn off all the services and
startup applications, explorer.exe still goes "not responding". I'm
able to boot and run in safe mode, so I don't think explorer.exe is
corrupted.

explorer.exe:
Size: 1,032,192
File version: 6.00.2900.2180

Are there any debug or logging settings for explorer I can turn on to
trace what is happening after I log in?

Thanks for your help.

Tom

 

[Wesley Vogel]

SYMPTOMS
When you start Windows XP, you may experience one or more of the following
behaviors:
• When you log on normally, the taskbar does not appear.
• If you press CTRL+ESC, the Start menu does not appear.
• If you log on to Windows in Safe mode, the taskbar does appear.

CAUSE
This behavior can occur if the Windows settings for a particular user
account are corrupted.

RESOLUTION
See this...

Taskbar Is Missing When You Log On to Windows
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;318027

The only thing that I can think of is boot logging, but I doubt it'll help.

Start | Run | Type: msconfig | Click OK |
Boot.ini tab | Select: /BOOTLOG | Click Apply | Click OK

/bootlog = Enables boot logging to a file called %systemroot%\Ntbtlog.txt.

C:\WINDOWS\Ntbtlog.txt

/BOOTLOG - This option tells Windows XP to log everything it does during the
boot process to the c:\windows\ntbtlog.txt file. This can be useful for
diagnosing startup problems by seeing exactly where the boot process is
hanging.

Note
[[In safe mode, new boot log entries are appended to the existing
Ntbtlog.txt file.]]

Boot Logging
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/...windows/xp/all/reskit/en-us/prmb_tol_rpsc.asp


--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

Those registry settings look OK. If I turn off all the services and
startup applications, explorer.exe still goes "not responding". I'm
able to boot and run in safe mode, so I don't think explorer.exe is
corrupted.

explorer.exe:
Size: 1,032,192
File version: 6.00.2900.2180

Are there any debug or logging settings for explorer I can turn on to
trace what is happening after I log in?

Thanks for your help.

Tom

Check these two registry settings...

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
Value Name: Shell
Data Type: REG_SZ
Value Data: Explorer.exe

Value Name: Userinit
Data Type: REG_SZ
Value Data: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\Userinit.exe,

Have a look at this. It could be a corrupted user account...

Taskbar Is Missing When You Log On to Windows
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;318027

Since you did not include a link, and I am not gonna go looking, do *NOT*
use msconfig.exe to disable any services. Use services.msc...
Start | Run | Type: services.msc | Click OK
---

Why can't I use msconfig to change my services?

[[The reason is because with msconfig and Hardware Profiles, you can
disable services that may be vital to boot your system. With the
management console (services.msc) you cannot. Also, msconfig, while
unchecking the box, is disabling the service.

The "Disable All" button also scares me. It should not even be there as
no reason exists to justify disabling "everything."]]
Why can't I use msconfig to change my services?
http://web.archive.org/web/20041128011231/www.blackviper.com/AskBV/XP25.htm

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

 

[Tom]

Well, nothing is working. At this point I have concluded that I need
to reinstall Windows, or try to get a Repair Reinstall to work.

I'm running SP2. My problem is that I have the original XP CD that
came with the system. Will a Repair Reinstall work with this CD and
the fact that I have SP2 already on the system?

 

[Wesley Vogel]

Tom,

Try making sure that your machine is clean first.

Update your antivirus software and run a full system scan.

Do the same for whatever anti-spyware applications that you have.

ALL Windows updates will need to be reapplied after a Repair Install,
including SP2, if SP2 is not part of your CD. A Repair Install may not fix
the problem, you might need a clean install, but you may want to try a
Repair Install first.

Regardless of what kind of repair you try to do, there is a possibility of
data loss. Back up what you don't want to lose.

Read the WARNINGS.
How to Perform a Windows XP Repair Install
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

XP In Place Upgrade
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/xp_in_place_upgrade.htm

How to perform an in-place upgrade (reinstallation) of Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;[LN];315341

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In