[Ira T.]

Got this same problem but the loading of userinit did not fix the problem. Box is a Dell e521 but I don't know specifics of memory etc. Box has a XP media center 2005 label. Have to assume box is XP SR2. Of course user doesn't have CD's and I don't have Media Center either. Used a XP Cd and Booted. The boot cd maybe a SR1. It is a Factory Recovery CD from another box but I'm not sure of Service Release. Expanded userinit from the CD and that went OK and copied to wsaupter.exe. Still no go. It logs on and then immediately off. Also when I get to C: prompt I can't run any commands including regedit. Always command not recognized. Can't logon in safe mode.

Any suggestions.

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Hello Ira T.,

We will have to create a small 'fix CD' to solve this problem.
Please download RC.ISO and save it somewhere you can find it.
Also download MagicISO and install it.

Start MagicISO. You should see a window informing you about the full version of MagicISO.
In the bottom right select Try It! and the program will open.
Click on File and then on Open and navigate to the RC.ISO file you downloaded. Select it, and click Open.

First, we'll need to add a clean version of userinit.exe to the current RC.ISO

• In the upper right pane, double click on the i386 folder.
• Right click in the upper right pane and select Add Files...
• Navigate to C:\Windows\System32 and select userinit.exe
• Then click Open to add userinit.exe to the CD image.
• Click File and select Save As...
• Name the file RCplus and save it somewhere you can find it.

Next, we'll need to burn the newly created image to a disk that we can use to fix the problem.

• Put a blank CD-R disk in your CD burner and close the tray. If an AutoPlay window opens, close it.
• Click on Tools and select Burn CD/DVD with ISO.... A window will appear.
• Click on the little folder to the right of CD/DVD Image File then navigate to the newly created RCplus.iso Image file and click Open.
• In the CD/DVD Writing Speed drop-down menu choose the 8X setting.
• Under Format make sure that Mode 1 is selected.
• And finally, click on the Burn it! button to burn RCplus.iso to disk.

Once the disk is burned, put it in the machine you want to fix and restart it.
Boot to the CD just as you would with a Windows XP disk.
At the Welcome to Setup screen, press R to enter the Recovery Console.
Choose the installation to be repaired by number (usually 1) and press Enter.
When you are asked for the Administrator password, enter the password or leave it blank (default) and press Enter.

At the C:\Windows> prompt, type the following commands pressing Enter after each one. Note: Watch the spaces.

D:
cd i386
copy userinit.exe c:\windows\system32
exit

After putting in the third command, you should receive the message 1 file copied which will indicate that the operation succeeded.
Now take out the CD and reboot your computer to normal mode. Try to log in and it should let you back in.

Let me know if you get any error messages or are not able to preform any of the actions specified.

Edited by tuxmaster, 01 April 2009 - 11:16 PM.

[anzenketh]

Hello Ira T.,

We will have to create a small 'fix CD' to solve this problem.
Please download RC.ISO and save it somewhere you can find it.
Also download MagicISO and install it.

Start MagicISO. You should see a window informing you about the full version of MagicISO.
In the bottom right select Try It! and the program will open.
Click on File and then on Open and navigate to the RC.ISO file you downloaded. Select it, and click Open.

First, we'll need to add a clean version of userinit.exe to the current RC.ISO

• In the upper right pane, double click on the i386 folder.
• Right click in the upper right pane and select Add Files...
• Navigate to C:\Windows\System32 and select userinit.exe
• Then click Open to add userinit.exe to the CD image.
• Click File and select Save As...
• Name the file RCplus and save it somewhere you can find it.

Next, we'll need to burn the newly created image to a disk that we can use to fix the problem.

• Put a blank CD-R disk in your CD burner and close the tray. If an AutoPlay window opens, close it.
• Click on Tools and select Burn CD/DVD with ISO.... A window will appear.
• Click on the little folder to the right of CD/DVD Image File then navigate to the newly created RCplus.iso Image file and click Open.
• In the CD/DVD Writing Speed drop-down menu choose the 8X setting.
• Under Format make sure that Mode 1 is selected.
• And finally, click on the Burn it! button to burn RCplus.iso to disk.

Once the disk is burned, put it in the machine you want to fix and restart it.
Boot to the CD just as you would with a Windows XP disk.
At the Welcome to Setup screen, press R to enter the Recovery Console.
Choose the installation to be repaired by number (usually 1) and press Enter.
When you are asked for the Administrator password, enter the password or leave it blank (default) and press Enter.

At the C:\Windows> prompt, type the following commands pressing Enter after each one. Note: Watch the spaces.

D:
cd i386
copy userinit.exe c:\windows\system32
exit

After putting in the third command, you should receive the message 1 file copied which will indicate that the operation succeeded.
Now take out the CD and reboot your computer to normal mode. Try to log in and it should let you back in.

Let me know if you get any error messages or are not able to preform any of the actions specified.

Edited by tuxmaster, 01 April 2009 - 11:16 PM.

[Ira T.]

Wannabe,

I appreciate you looking at this problem. By the way, I am a technical person myself. Went ahead and created the ISO CD and booted. Everything seemed to be going ok but when I got to the repair, C: prompt came up but Recovery didn't show a windows partition on C: drive. Got "an error occurred during directory enumeration". I used a CD-RW that had been used before to created ISO. Think getting brand new CD-RW would help.

Appreciate your help !

Ira White

[anzenketh]

Ira T.,

It seams like you might have a possible corrupt NTFS partition that is causing your issue. Lets run chkdsk to see if we can fix it.

Run Chkdsk

How to run checkdisk from recovery console (Windows xp). (Courtesy dsenette)

• Insert the Windows XP startup disk into the floppy disk drive, or insert the Windows XP CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive, and then restart the computer.
  Note:Click to select any options that are required to start the computer from the CD-ROM drive if you are prompted to do so.
• When the "Welcome to Setup" screen appears, press R to start the Recovery Console.
  Note:If you have a dual-boot or multiple-boot computer, select the installation that you want to access from the Recovery Console.
• When you are prompted to do so, type the Administrator password. If the administrator password is blank, just press ENTER.
• At the Recovery Console command prompt, type the following then press Enter:
  

  chkdsk /r

• Allow this to run UNDISTURBED until completed (45 min or so)
• Report any errors

[Ira T.]

Tried to Chkdsk /r option. It ran to 100 percent but didn't come back to C: prompt. Re-booted but no change in problem. I got the recovery disks from Dell. Think I will just reload operating system.
Thanks for your help.