HELP! Login/logoff loop problem!

[trant]

I have a big problem - two of my home machines seem to have been hit with
some kind of virus. When I type my password to login it immediately logs me
off. All I can see is my desktop background flash on screen before it logs me
right off.

I found some articles on fixing this like these:
http://www.winxptutor.com/wsaremove.htm
http://techrepublic.com.com/5208-11...=160649&messageID=2208716&tag=content;leftCol

however I got a big problem - I dont seem to have a copy of userinit.exe to
copy! it simply does not exist on that machine or the recovery console can't
see it!

To make this even worse I wanted to try using my KNOPPIX Linux boot cd to
try and see if I can get a userinit.exe file in there from another PC but
that PC wont boot the linux either!

What frustration... can anyone provide any ideas on how I an resolve this? I
dont have any floppy drives so that's out. I have USB flash drives but
without being able to boot windows or linux I can access them

 

[Daave]

trant wrote:
> I have a big problem - two of my home machines seem to have been hit
> with some kind of virus. When I type my password to login it
> immediately logs me off. All I can see is my desktop background flash
> on screen before it logs me right off.
>
> I found some articles on fixing this like these:
> http://www.winxptutor.com/wsaremove.htm
> http://techrepublic.com.com/5208-11...=160649&messageID=2208716&tag=content;leftCol
>
> however I got a big problem - I dont seem to have a copy of
> userinit.exe to copy! it simply does not exist on that machine or the
> recovery console can't see it!
>
> To make this even worse I wanted to try using my KNOPPIX Linux boot
> cd to try and see if I can get a userinit.exe file in there from
> another PC but that PC wont boot the linux either!
>
> What frustration... can anyone provide any ideas on how I an resolve
> this? I dont have any floppy drives so that's out. I have USB flash
> drives but without being able to boot windows or linux I can access
> them

Have you successfully used this Knoppix live CD before? On this PC? If
the answer to the first question is no, there very well may be something
wrong with the CD. If the answer to the second question is yes, it
sounds like a hardware problem.

 

[Pegasus [MVP]]

"trant" <trant@discussions.microsoft.com> said this in news item
news:F75C2CF1-9A62-41BD-A084-6558EA7736DF@microsoft.com...
> I have a big problem - two of my home machines seem to have been hit with
> some kind of virus. When I type my password to login it immediately logs
> me
> off. All I can see is my desktop background flash on screen before it logs
> me
> right off.
>
> I found some articles on fixing this like these:
> http://www.winxptutor.com/wsaremove.htm
> http://techrepublic.com.com/5208-11...=160649&messageID=2208716&tag=content;leftCol
>
> however I got a big problem - I dont seem to have a copy of userinit.exe
> to
> copy! it simply does not exist on that machine or the recovery console
> can't
> see it!
>
> To make this even worse I wanted to try using my KNOPPIX Linux boot cd to
> try and see if I can get a userinit.exe file in there from another PC but
> that PC wont boot the linux either!
>
> What frustration... can anyone provide any ideas on how I an resolve this?
> I
> dont have any floppy drives so that's out. I have USB flash drives but
> without being able to boot windows or linux I can access them

As you found out, this is most likely a userinit.exe problem caused by
malware. Either the file does not exist or its registry reference points at
the wrong location. I would fix it by creating a Windows 7 boot CD (yes,
Windows 7!), then boot the machine with it to get a Command Prompt. This
will give you full access to the hard disk. You can then run regedit.exe to
examine and fix the userinit reference if necessary. Ask a friend with a
Windows 7 PC to burn a 32-bit Repair CD for you or get one from here:
http://neosmart.net/blog/2009/windows-7-system-repair-discs/.

 

[Luan Pham]

On Sat, 20 Feb 2010 08:04:53 +0100, "Pegasus [MVP]"
<news@microsoft.com> wrote:

>> I
>> dont have any floppy drives so that's out. I have USB flash drives but
>> without being able to boot windows or linux I can access them
>
>As you found out, this is most likely a userinit.exe problem caused by
>malware. Either the file does not exist or its registry reference points at
>the wrong location. I would fix it by creating a Windows 7 boot CD (yes,
>Windows 7!), then boot the machine with it to get a Command Prompt. This
>will give you full access to the hard disk. You can then run regedit.exe to
>examine and fix the userinit reference if necessary. Ask a friend with a
>Windows 7 PC to burn a 32-bit Repair CD for you or get one from here:
>http://neosmart.net/blog/2009/windows-7-system-repair-discs/.

I think he need this http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555648 to know
how to fix this issued.