Windows XP login

[RichF]

Hello:

We manage several hundred client networks. None of these client network are
connected. They are separate customers. All of the networks are very
similar in that most are Windows 2003 domains, Windows XP desktops, Exchange
2003, WSUS deployments SQL, etc. A very typical Microsoft setup. Recently,
we have seen a spike in a very specific issue - a very significant spike.
At about 10-20% of our client sites over the past 1-2 months, users have
been having an issue logging in. When they initially login in the morning,
they don't get their desktop. In other words, they type in their username
and password, press enter, it goes thru the applying settings stuff, then
they just stare at a blank desktop. They can wait 1 minute or an hour, but
the desktop never appears. They then press CTRL-ALT-DEL, select Logoff, and
RE-login, and they can login perfectly fine in a few seconds.

Unfrotunately, we have not been able to narrow this down much. In all cases
that we have sampled, there are no errors or warnings in the Application or
System log at the time of login. There are varying login scripts at each
site, but we have verified the login scripts all run to completion.
Although I can't say for certain, all desktops are Windows XP SP2 as we keep
up to date pretty regularly. The problem is intermittant in that it will
happen to USER-A one day, then USER-B the next, but not USER-A. As noted
these are different networks and it's happening at multiple sites.

I certainly don't expect someone to come up with the a wiz-bang answer
(although that would be nice), but we are at the end of our troubleshooting
method. I need some better logging info than the Eventlogs and ECHOing
lines in a login batch file to a text file. How can we better troubleshoot
the Windows XP login process to a Windows 2003 domain? If you do have any
suggested solutions or known issues, that would be great too.

Any help is much appreciated.

Thanks,
RichF

 

[Moonsurfer]

I've actually encountered a same problem randomly with computers on my
company's network. We also could not determine what the exact cause
was, however, we did find somewhat of a fix for the problem. If you
delete the user's profile from the computer, then let that user log
back in again it will create a new profile for the user. I have found
that this will either fix the problem or stop it from coming back for a
week to a month. I know it's nothing definite but at least it stops the
problem from occurring as much.

I'm curious as to what software is installed on these computers...
Maybe if we're running similar software I might be able to pinpoint the
problem.

Also, don't forget to backup information stored on the user's profile.

Please let me know how things work for you.

 

[RichF]

Our desktops are pretty basic. They've got Windows XP SP2, Office 2003 PRO
or SMB, Symantec Antivirus v10, and some ancillary products like Timeslips,
Quickbooks, etc. that can differ from machine to machine based on what the
user does, but they all have XP SP2, Office and Symantec. We use WSUS to
update all the desktops and they are all pretty current with their updates.

The other odd thing we have found is if the user presses CTRL-ALT-DEL, opens
Task Manager, then runs EXPLORER.EXE, the desktop and all the users icons
instantly appear. For whatever reason, EXPLORER.EXE is not firing. Once
the user manually runs it, everything goes back to normal. Do you have that
same symptom?

 

[Moonsurfer]

Actually, our problem is a tad different then. Whenever our users get a
blank screen when logging in the only thing you can do is move the
mouse around and then restart the computer. With our problem, the
computer wont respond even when CTRL+ALT+DEL is pressed. I believe I
have previously found a fix to the problem you're having. Let me look
up some stuff and I'll get back with you in a bit.

 

[RichF]

Thanks...any help would be appreciated!

 

[Guest]

Hey RichF,

We have this problem at our office where Explorer doesn't get started when
the user logs in. We've narrowed it down to some conflict with Symantec
Antivirus 10, which you guys are using as well. With Symantec uninstalled,
the problem will go away. WHen I re-install Symantec, the problem comes back.

Out of curiousity, I would like to know what software you're running on your
machine.
If I look at your software, and compare it ot what we have installed, we
might be able to tell what program is causing the conflict with Symantec.

The easiest way to "export" the software installed would be from the
registry at this location...

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall

I'd be really helpful if you could send me that info. Thanks.

Send it to: (e-mail address removed)