Windows Login Problem

[Guest]

Currently running Windows XP Media Edition 2005. There are 4 profile icons
on the login screen representing family members. I mouse-click on anyone and
it never does login, it just states saving user settings and goes back to 4
progile login screen. I have tried all safe modes, VGA, Back to last working
profile but this does not work. Can anyone shed any light on this?

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Currently running Windows XP Media Edition 2005. There are 4 profile icons
on the login screen representing family members. I mouse-click on anyone and
it never does login, it just states saving user settings and goes back to 4
progile login screen. I have tried all safe modes, VGA, Back to last working
profile but this does not work. Can anyone shed any light on this?

- What is the recent history of this machine?
- What happened just before you observed this problem?
- Is the machine networked?

 

[Guest]

I'm not sure what the recent history of the machine is, it belongs to a
friend of a friend. When I first worked on the PC, it would take
approximately 30 mintues to boot. Then when clicking on a user login icon
the system would take another 20 minutes to load the users desktop and
settings. The Desktop never did load, we got a little square windowed box in
the center of the screen. All I could do is close this box. When this
happened the user profile would signoff and say "saving settings" and go back
to the login screen with the 4 user icons. I loaded the hard drive into
another PC as a slave device and ran some tools. I found a few virus's and
man spybbots. Utimately, I booted the drive as a master and performed a
windows recovery on the drive. I have the same result except instead of 30
minutes to boot, it boots within 2-5 minutes.

The computer does have a network card in it, I don't think I had it connected.


Please advise!

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

You mention that you found "a few viruses and many spybots".
While many people believe that a virus scanner can repair all
the damage inflicted by viruses, I do not agree with them. To
me an infected machine is a compromised machine and it must
be reloaded from scratch. Anthing else is a waste of time.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

The problem you describe is usually caused by Windows not
finding the file userinit.exe where it expects it. This in turn can
be caused by either
- The file no longer existis; or
- The registry points to the wrong location; or
- The system drive letter is incorrect (ie. not C.
The above causes are easily checked and/or fixed if the
machine is networked. It's a bit harder if the disk must
be removed and temporarily installed in some other
WinXP/2000 PC, and much harder if none of the above
are available.

 

[Rock]

Well, the system appears fine except I can't login and I am unable to run
any
virus or spybot programs from within this Windows system. Do I have any
alternatives other than wiping out the system and re-installing? I have
done
many systems and never had to start from scratch but I could also get into
Windows.

What you say here is a bit confusing and contradictory. How can the system
appear "fine" if you can't even login to it? How do you know you can't run
any virus or spybot programs from "within this Windows system" if you can't
login? Being unable to ran anti-malware apps is an indication that they
system might still be compromised.

Malware Removal
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware

THE PARASITE FIGHT
Finding, Removing & Protecting Yourself From Scumware
http://aumha.org/a/parasite.htm

Richard Harper’s Guide to Cleaning Pests
http://rgharper.mvps.org/cleanit.htm

I agree with Pegasus' opinion. The only way to be sure a compromised system
is clean is to do a clean install.

 

[Guest]

Well Guys, I have fixed the problem. Patience and Perseverance has paid off.
I saved everything. I have found an extremely useful product called PE
Builder which creates a Windows based boot disk and I was able to fix. The
system had many strange Desktop.ini files that had negative numbers in it. I
just never like taking the easy way out. I came through IT during the
mainframe era and I worked on Operating systems then. What a different
world...in those days we had no choice but to troubleshoot and fix the
problems and today everyone just was to give a PC the 3 finger salute and
REBOOT. Or in this case, just reformat the drive.

Does this qualify me to be a MVP????

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

You presumably made yourself a Bart PE boot CD - an
extremely useful tool that every system administrator should
have.

Have a look here if you wish to find out more about the
MVP program:
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?lc=1033

 

[Rock]

Well Guys, I have fixed the problem. Patience and Perseverance has paid
off.
I saved everything. I have found an extremely useful product called PE
Builder which creates a Windows based boot disk and I was able to fix.
The
system had many strange Desktop.ini files that had negative numbers in it.
I
just never like taking the easy way out. I came through IT during the
mainframe era and I worked on Operating systems then. What a different
world...in those days we had no choice but to troubleshoot and fix the
problems and today everyone just was to give a PC the 3 finger salute and
REBOOT. Or in this case, just reformat the drive.

Does this qualify me to be a MVP????

Yep a Bart's PE CD is an important tool to have. Good work. Now can you
certify the system is clean of malware?