lsass.exe system error

Do you have your windows CD available?

# Insert the Windows XP cd in your computer.

# Restart your computer so you are booting off of the CD.

If you don't know how to boot from a CD please look here.

# When the Welcome to Setup screen appears, press the R button on your keyboard to start the Recovery Console.

# The Recovery Console will start and ask you which Windows installation you would like to log on to. If you have multiple Windows installations, it will list each one, and you would enter the number associated with the installation you would like to work on and press enter. If you have just one Windows installation, type 1 and press enter.

# It will then prompt you for the Administrator's password. If there is no password, simply press enter. Otherwise type in the password and then press enter.

# If you entered the correct password you will now be presented with a C:\Windows> prompt and you can start using the Recovery Console.

# At the first prompt type in the bolded command: copy D:\i386\lsass.exe C:\windows\system32\lsass.exe

Note: D:\ refers to the drive letter where the CD is present, this can be E:\ F:\ or any other variation as well.

Press enter

At the next prompt type exit

Press enter

Your computer will reboot now.

Tell me how it goes.

Edited by Mike, 01 September 2008 - 03:33 AM.

did up to the copying of file stage. keeps coming up with access is denied. i don't know why. i'm logged in as the admin

just tried your same method with another windows disc. i originally used XP pro SP2. access was denied. i tried using my other XP home SP2 disc. same thing. i tried copying it into a temporary folder i had created. still access denied. i tried just the following command "copy d:\i386\lsass.exe" and it came up with the same thing "access is denied"

i tried copying it into a temporary folder i had created.

Are you doing this in the recovery console or from windows itself? Can you get into windows?

Sorry but the above made it sound as your not in the RC.

i am doing this in the recovery console. i have tried almost all ways to get the lsass.exe file into the correct folder, but i can't seem to copy it out of the CD. it simple comes up after i've hit enter "access is denied."

i can't even get past the windows splash scree (with the logo and the loading bar at the bottom). once that finishes, it comes up with that error box. i tried entering the recovery console using both my XP pro and XP home disc. still no go...

Can you boot into safemode?

1) Restart your computer
2) After hearing your computer beep once during startup, but before the Windows icon appears, press F8.
3) Instead of Windows loading as normal, a menu should appear
4) Select the first option, to run Windows in Safe Mode.
5) Select your normal user account.

If so please do the following. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/893712

To add this registry entry, follow these steps:
1. Log on by using an account that has administrative credentials.
2. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
3. In Registry Editor, locate and then click the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management
4. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD value.
5. Type SystemPages, and then press ENTER.
6. On the Edit menu, click Modify.
7. Click Decimal, type 31000, and then click OK.
8. Quit Registry Editor.

And stupidly I forgot to tell you to backup your Registry.

To make sure that if something happened while doing this fix we have a backup of your registry available, I will need you to follow these instructions::Please go to Start > Run
Paste in the following line:regedit /e c:\registrybackup.reg
Click OK.
It won't appear to be doing anything, that's normal.
Your mouse pointer may turn to an hour glass for a minute.
Please continue when it no longer has the hour glass.
[/list]

sorry, but i can't log on via safe mode. i've tried that several times now. it still comes up wit h the same message.

so i had another go at trying to copy the lsass.exe from my CD to the system32 folder. and i'm a bit embarrassed to say this, but i stuffed it up the first time i did it. here's why. my cd drive is actually e:\. so, when in the restore console, i initially input the code you gave me to copy the lsass file, replacing d:\ with e:\. but it said file not found. so i tried d:\ instead. and it came up with access denied. so i though it was in d:\ drive. however, i had a look in the CD using the dir command. and the lsass.exe file is actually listed as lsass.ex_. now, i'm not sure what the "_" means. is it a coverup of the last letter? or is that the acutal filename? anyway, next to it, it had the attribute, r. read-only. now, i copied the lsass.ex_ file into the system32 folder under the name, lsass.exe. bt it still doesn't work. the question is, since the lsass.ex_ file in the win CD was read-only, will that affect it in anyway being copied over to the c:\windows\system32 folder?

still trying...

Hi there

The file lsass.ex_ is compressed and needs to be expanded first.

Please do the following for me:

• Go into the Recovery Console.
• At the C:\Windows> prompt type in the following commands one at a time pressing enter between each one.
  • attrib -r -s c:\windows\system32\lsass.exe
  • rename C:\windows\system32\lsass.exe lsass.old
  • expand d:\i386\lsass.ex_ c:\windows\system32\lsass.exe
  • exit
• Reboot your PC normally.

Also some guessing, try running chkdsk /r to check for disk errors while you are at it.

Edited by Mike, 02 September 2008 - 05:39 AM.

Another option:

System Restore from the Recovery Console. {adapted from Geeks to Go. Original source unknown to me}. Xp installation CD required. Boot with the CD and when given the option choose to repair the computer by pressing "R", opening the Recovery Console. Type 1 when asked for OS installation (assuming there is only one OS installed. Type the administrator password when asked to do so and press Enter. Press Enter if there is no password.

* At the prompt Type: CD \
* Press Enter
* Type: cd system~1\_resto~1
* Press Enter
* Type: dir
* Press Enter

After you press enter you will see a list of folders (like rp1, rp2) If the list of restore points has more than one page then press the Enter key untill you reach the end of the list

* Type: cd rp {number of the second to last folder in the list). Example: cd rp9, if rp9 is the second to the last restore point where the last restore point no. is 10
* Press Enter
* Type: cd snapshot
* Press Enter
* Type: copy _registry_machine_system c:\windows\system32\config\system
* Press Enter
* Type: copy _registry_machine_software c:\windows\system32\config\software
* Press Enter
* Type: Exit
* Press Enter

Your PC will reboot.

another update *sigh* lol. this is becoming the biggest hassle i've had with Windows so far. but i've learnt quite a lot from it...

anyway, mike, i did what you told me to, expand the lsass.exe file into the directory. just to clear up, i found typing "expand e:\i386\lsass.ex_ c:\windows\system32\" worked. but still, after reboot....no joy! arg...i'm confused now. in trying to experiment with things, i deleted the lsass.exe file completely. rebooted to meet a completely blank screen. then went back into the recovery console. put the lsass.exe file where it should belong, then rebooted. came back with the initial msgbox error.

the skeptic, i tried to do what you posted. i understood what you were trying to do. but unfortunately, i couldn't get past line 3-4 of your instructions. each time i try to make the system~1\_resto~1 directory my parent directory, it comes up with "access is denied." which is odd, because i'm logged in as admin. i played arond some. using dir, i found all the folders in c:\. and the system~1\_resto~1 directory isn't actually listed in c:\, although i could access it via "dir c:\system~1\_resto~1" (which listed all the restore points as you said it would. only access is denied to them). after a bit more playing around, i found the only file i could use the cd or chdir command on was c:\windows. all other files in c:\ had "access is denied" each time i tried using the cd or chdir command.

so. i'm thoroughly confused now. if it comes down to it, i'll have to repair the installation or just reformat my c:\ drive and reinstall. my d:\ stuff should be safe though. but reinstalling all my apps will be a right pain. i'm just hoping we don't have to get to that stage =)

btw, i ran the chkdsk like you told me to, and it came up with the following line "chkdsk found and fixed one or more errors on the volume"

Edited by Hammm, 03 September 2008 - 12:43 AM.

I think a repair install would be your best bet for the moment, unless someone else has some input.

Sorry I couldn't help.

Mike

haha, yeah, i'll give that a go when i have the time. it's rather annoying because i have mock exams coming up next week, and i really don't need another problem right now =).

it's proving to be quite the problem huh? i'm just surprised windows hasn't go something out that's a proven way to fix this problem. from what i've seen on other tech sites, this problem has been bugging people since 2004, with no one proven way to deal with it...

i'll do the repair install maybe either this weekend, depending on how busy i am, or in one or two weeks time. thanks for all the help mike. if nothing else was achieved, i finally managed to understand the recovery console and am now longer scared of it =)

i'll let you guys know how it goes once i do the repair install.

thanks

anyways, i've repaired the installation and that seemed to do the trick. thanks for all the help guys.