Computer Hope

Microsoft => Microsoft Windows => Windows XP => Topic started by: garybm on May 10, 2010, 09:41:14 AM

Title: cant get past login screen
Post by: garybm on May 10, 2010, 09:41:14 AM

Hi
Can anyone help- I cannot get past login page, had a problem so did a restore but on login screen when i enter password it logs on, saves settings and logs off again, same problem in safe mode

Title: Re: cant get past login screen
Post by: Vikram Varaprasad on May 10, 2010, 10:13:53 AM

you should not post questions in this group

Had a chance to read up on this issue and I suspect I know why this is happening, but fixing it is a bit of a problem because we need to know what the bad file it.

The most common cause of this right now, is running a malware detection progam that deletes a file, but the registry still points at it. This, wsaupdater.exe, seems to be the most widely seen culprit, but it could potentially be other things, too.

Let's test it out.

Boot using your winxp cd.
Enter recovery console.
at the command prompt go to

C:/windows/system32

next type:
Dir *.exe

If you find, it, type

copy userinit.exe wsaupdater.exe

Exit and reboot normally. You should now be able to logon.

Run regedit

Navigate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\

In the right pane, you should see

C:\WINDOWS\System32\wsaupdater.exe,

Change it so that it reads:

C:\WINDOWS\System32\userinit.exe

That should solve the problem