[LCK]

I turned on my desktop, which runs windows XP, and got to the screen that says "to begin, click your user name" - the problem is that there are no user names to click!

I tried running in safe mode and I tried to start with "last known good configuration" and anything I have done just takes me back to the same user screen that has no users.

If I press Ctl-alt-del twice, it gives me a screen for user and pswd -- Never had this before so I don't have a valid password to give it and the ID is filled in.

Can't get to my desktop to do anything - Sending this from another machine.

Two weeks ago I upgraded to SP2 and got all recommended updates, but has been running fine for the last two weeks until today. If I do a XP repair I figure I will probably lose all the work I did a couple of weekends ago.

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Items in blue which are underlined are clickable to give more information about the process

Start the System Restore Utility at a command prompt

1. Restart your computer, and keep tapping F8 during the initial start-up until you get options, select Safe Mode with a Command Prompt then press enter.

2. Log on to your computer with an administrator account or with an account that has administrator credentials.

3. Type the following command at a command prompt, and then press ENTER:

%systemroot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe

4. Follow the instructions that appear on the screen to restore your computer to an earlier state.

Look for the most recent system checkpoint created before the errors to restore from

For additional information about the Safe mode with a command prompt, click 315222 to see a description of the Safe Mode Boot Options in Windows XP

[Retired Tech]

Items in blue which are underlined are clickable to give more information about the process

Start the System Restore Utility at a command prompt

1. Restart your computer, and keep tapping F8 during the initial start-up until you get options, select Safe Mode with a Command Prompt then press enter.

2. Log on to your computer with an administrator account or with an account that has administrator credentials.

3. Type the following command at a command prompt, and then press ENTER:

%systemroot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe

4. Follow the instructions that appear on the screen to restore your computer to an earlier state.

Look for the most recent system checkpoint created before the errors to restore from

For additional information about the Safe mode with a command prompt, click 315222 to see a description of the Safe Mode Boot Options in Windows XP

[LCK]

I had tried Safe Mode with command prompt, but it still took me back to the logon window with no choices available --- Did not give me the command prompt to do anything with.

[Retired Tech]

You can use this guide to repair XP

Possibly, you will need to press the start button and keep tapping the delete key, (possibly F2) until the PC enters set up. Change the boot order to CD ROM Drive then hard drive, press F10 then press enter, load the XP CD then type Y then press enter, as it reboots, look for press any key to load from CD, press enter

You will need the XP product key to complete this

If you have audio / video files which are subject to DRM you should check with the provider for known issues with performing an XP repair install

XP Repair Install

Windows XP repair feature won't delete your data, installed programs, personal information, or settings. It just repairs the operating system

After running XP Repair you will need to install all Windows Updates

Microsoft Update

[LCK]

Completed the XP Repair installation and had no affect --- At the Welcome Screen, still have no choices other than to shut down the machine.

On the repair had a couple of dll's that did no load:
C:\Winows\System32\catsrv.dll
C:\windows\system32\inetcomm.dll
C:\Program Files\Outlook Express\MSOE.dll
C:\Program Files\Common files\Wab32.dll

This is my wife's machine and she has never used the Welcome screens or passwords before. I searched around on the web a little and have others with similar problems with XP. All of these had the same result after a Repair Installation. I never did find one that had found a fix for the situation -- Some have pulled the drive to make it a slave on another machine and others to a full reinstall of XP. Even then, they don't seem condident -- One person though it had something to do with corrupt SAM files.

Not sure what to do --- I hate do to a clean install of XP, but do I have any other choice?

[Neil Jones]

Not sure what to do --- I hate do to a clean install of XP, but do I have any other choice?

Something quick to try:

On the Welcome Screen, press CTRL+ALT+DEL twice. For the username, type in just "Administrator" and bash Enter.

If this lets you in without any issues, then go to Control Panel -> User Accounts and make a new account.

If you can't get into Windows this way, then unfortunately its fresh installation time, so hang that hard drive off your machine, copy the important stuff over and then do a fresh installation. The format will test the hard drive so...

This is a common problem under XP, as there is unfortunately no way out of it when it occurs, due to Windows policy of every man and his dog having to log in to it.