[CompCav]

OK use your Ubuntu to boot from USB and then perform the following steps:

Please navigate to /mnt/sda1/WINDOWS/System32/dllcache/userinit.exe, right click on that file and select Copy.

Now navigate to /mnt/sda1/Windows/System32, right click in an empty space in that folder and select Paste.

Next restart the computer and let me know how things are running.

[marlon667]

Didn't work.

[CompCav]

OK the userinit tool has been updated. Please download and run the new version listed below:

Download http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/unetbootin-xpud-windows-latest.exe & http://noahdfear.net.../xpud-0.9.2.iso to the desktop of your clean computer

•Insert your USB drive
•Press Start > My Computer > right click your USB drive > choose Format > Quick format
•Double click the unetbootin-xpud-windows-latest.exe that you just downloaded
•Press Run then OK
•Select the DiskImage option then click the browse button located on the right side of the textbox field.
•Browse to and select the xpud-0.9.2.iso file you downloaded
•Verify the correct drive letter is selected for your USB device then click OK
•It will install a little bootable OS on your USB device
•Once the files have been written to the device you will be prompted to reboot ~ do not reboot and instead just Exit the UNetbootin interface
•After it has completed do not choose to reboot the clean computer simply close the installer
•Next download http://noahdfear.net/downloads/xPUD_userinit_fix.ndf to your USB
•Remove the USB and insert it in the sick computer
•Boot the Sick computer
•Press F12 right as the computer is initially starting up, and choose to boot from the USB
•Follow the prompts
•A Welcome to xPUD screen will appear
•Press File
•Expand mnt
•sda1,2...usually corresponds to your hard drive
•sdb1 is likely your USB
•Click on sdb1 (this is your USB drive)
•Confirm that you see xPUD_userinit_fix on your USB drive (sdb1)
•Double click on xPUD_userinit_fix
•After it has finished a report will be located on your USB drive named UserinitReport.txt
•Click on the Home tab, click on Power Off, and then click on Turn Off
•Remove the USB drive and insert back in your working computer and navigate to UserinitReport.txt

Please note - all text entries are case sensitive

Please copy and paste the UserinitReport.txt for my review.

[marlon667]

Thanks for that, I msnaged to log in so i can reassign my drive to c: (think thats what cause the problem, because its not working again now, i'll use the other fix) I will post the report tomorow, got to go quickly

[CompCav]

We will be here!

[CompCav]

We need some clarification on what you have done.

In post #32 you said:

Quote

Didn't work.

What did not work?

Quote

Thanks for that, I msnaged to log in

How did you login?
Did it actually work?

Quote

so i can reassign my drive to c:

Why did you do this if you could get in?
What is wrong with the drive letter assignment?

Quote

because its not working again now, i'll use the other fix

So it was working and now it is not and you are going to run a fix, what fix?

When you do steps on your own it makes it impossible for us to effectively help you and when you leave notes that do not fully explain what you did and the results we are wondering if you want our help or not. We need to all be on the same page since we cannot see your computer that means you have to be more complete in your descriptions of what you are doing. Something you do may seem trivial to you but without us knowing we cannot follow what is going on.

Please answer my questions fully before doing any more fixes.

Regards,

CompCav

[marlon667]

What did not work?
I still could not log in using safe mode.

How did you log in?
I used the normal configuration to log in.

Did it actually work?
Yes, I managed to log in to my administrator account, and everything is normal, apart from the fact I couldn't see the hp wallpaper that I would normally see when Windows boots and the login screen appears.

Why did you do this if you could get in? What is wrong with the drive letter assignment?
When I looked at My Computer, the Local Disk was assigned to F:, not C:. I realized that had been my problem, so I changed it. That was probably why the first fix did not work, because the userinit.exe was looking for files on C: (correct me if i'm wrong). I used Regedit32.exe to reassign my drive to C:.

I had changed it in the first place because in my earlier post i mentioned I cloned my drive to my 1 TB external hard drive, so I could transfer that to my 250 GB hard drive. I tried to boot that drive, but I wasn't happy with seeing that @Local Disk@ was still C: and not my hard drive, So I swiched the assignments.

I thought it worked, but then I realized that when I switched the hard drives the external would not boot. I learned that you cant boot XP form an external drive, so I tried to use Clonezilla instead of XXClone to transfer my files to my 250. There were a load of issues involving clonezilla, so I had to create a smaller partition on my 1TB so Clonezilla could clone the drive properly, but that corruptd the files on the hard drive.

I put the 80GB drive back so I could try and use it again, wich is when I realized it didn't work. There was no C: drive to look for data, which is probably why I could not log on. I don't know what that fix did, but it must have told userinit.exe to look in F: not C:? (again, correct me if i'm wrong).
So when I switched the assignments again, it was looking in the wrong place again.

I couldn't keep the assignment as F: because all my programs looked for things on C: so i had to change it.

Sory idf this is a bit cinfusing, I'm not sure how to explain all this.

So it was working and now it is not and you are going to run a fix, what fix?
I'm going to run the first userinit.exe fix you gave me. I think it didn't work because it was telling userinit to look in C: and now that i've switched it, i need to fix it again?

Hope that clears things up. Oh, and here's my last report:  UserinitReport.txt (3.12K)
Number of downloads: 7

[marlon667]

Done! Can log in now, and all the programs work. Thanks!
Here is the reprot if you need it:  UserinitReport.txt (3.12K)
Number of downloads: 14

[CompCav]

OK thanks for the explanation, this has been hard to follow. Now I will post an outline of what we need to do to get everything working later today. Please do not make any changes until I review it with the experts assisting me.

Once you see the outline of what we will do I will give you specific steps to do so that we can keep on track.

Regards,

CompCav

[CompCav]

See next post for questions.

[CompCav]

I am preparing the plan outline for your review and understanding. I need some input to continue.


First please verify this is where you want to be after we are done:

80 GB drive removed from service.
250 GB drive have the 80 GB windows partition plus space for Linux Mint and have duel boot capability on this drive.
1TB drive have a backup of the 80 GB windows drive.



Second please answer these questions:

What registry value did you change to change the drive letter?

What do you want to have on the 1TB drive?

Is there anything on the 1TB drive that cannot be erased as part of our process since we will have the 80 GB drive still if we need it?


Regards,

CompCav

[marlon667]

CompCav, on 17 July 2012 - 11:47 AM, said:

First please verify this is where you want to be after we are done:

80 GB drive removed from service. Correct
250 GB drive have the 80 GB windows partition plus space for Linux Mint and have duel boot capability on this drive. Correct, except I wanted to expand the space of the Windows partition (about 155GB) and the rest for Mint.
1TB drive have a backup of the 80 GB windows drive. Not necessarily. I only used that because I only have one drive space inside my computer, and i still want to use it for stoing other things, but I may make a small partition for backing up the computer.



What registry value did you change to change the drive letter?
I can't remember the exact value, it was something like 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE' or something. I used a Knowledge Base articke on the Microsoft website, and did that in reverse to change the drive letters back. They were in the format '/DosDevices/X:' or something like that, where X can be any drive letter.

What do you want to have on the 1TB drive?
A partition for backups, and the rest extra storage space.

Is there anything on the 1TB drive that cannot be erased as part of our process since we will have the 80 GB drive still if we need it?
Not that I know of, I completely erased everything on there. Now there is only a 100GB partition where I originally cloned the 80 hard drive.

EDIT: I don't want the 80 GB hard drive to be completely unusable, I may use it again in an older desktop.

[CompCav]

OK here is the overall plan. I need you to follow it carefully and not do other things in between that would jeopardize the results you want.

Step 1

We have completed step one by getting the 80 GB internal drive working again.


Step 2.

We will delete all the partitions on the external 1TB drive and then create an 80 GB partition on the external 1 TB drive for the cloning process.


Step 3.

We will clone with our tools the 80 GB hard drive windows partition on to the 1 TB external drive.


Step 4.

Next you will need to swap out the 80 GB drive and install the 250 GB drive in your computer.

We will use our tools to prepare the drive for the cloning.


Step 5.

We will clone from the 1 TB drive external to the 250 GB internal drive the 80 GB Windows partition.


NOTICE:

One important thing when cloning drives, you will need to physically disconnecting the source drive after cloning and shutting down. Having both drives connected upon startup into Windows will totally confuse the system. When we finally get the data written to the 250GB drive we will shut down and disconnect the external drive again, before starting the computer to boot Windows, we will need to disconnect the external source drive.

I will list this step appropriately in all conditions as we go along as part of the instructions.



QUESTIONS

Do you have any questions before we continue the process beyond step 1?

[marlon667]

Which cloning software would we use?
I can still make the windows partition larger?
Would any of this require the main Administrator account? I can't remember it.

[CompCav]

Clone using linux commands,sector by sector.

Not larger until after all the cloning steps.

Just an account with administrative privileges is needed.


CompCav