Windows Login Issues

My wife has had her laptop for about 2 years and has probably only shut it down 10 times (then only due to windows updates making her). Upon letting her battery die a few weeks ago, starting up the the computer and logging into any account other than the Administrator account fails to load userinit.exe. But, instead of loading explorer.exe (which I thought windows should do if userinit fails?) it hangs with a black screen and white cursor after the welcome screen. I've read many forums and cannot seem to find a solution. I can load windows in safe mode or turn on the administrator account (net user administrator /active:yes) and login to it and the userinit.exe loads fine. However, any other user (I created a few extras to test this), regardless if it is a standard or administrator user, fails to load userinit.exe. I have to manually start userinit.exe from the task manager to get it to continue the logon process including running explorer.exe and any user specific settings. Everything runs completely normal after the manual start of userinit.exe, but this is terribly annoying.

I've used the startup repair, sfc /scannow, and chkdsk /r (all of which found no problems). I've also run MBAM, Prevx, TrojanRemover, and have MSE as an antivirus, and have seen no real threat other than a Google Search Redirect rootkit which Prevx easily resolved. I did try to use a system restore point but all were corrupted so no luck there. I've checked my userinit registry at HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon and the userinit REG_SZ value is set to C:\windows\system32\userinit.exe. I also checked the Shell REG_SZ value which is set to explorer.exe.

I'm at a loss and any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hi, Saevio. Try these steps to see if they work.

1. Put the Windows Vista or Windows 7 installation disc in the disc drive, and then start the computer.
2. Press a key when you are prompted.
3. Select a language, a time, a currency, a keyboard or an input method, and then click Next.
4. Click Repair your computer.
5. Click the operating system that you want to repair, and then click Next.
6. In the System Recovery Options dialog box, click Command Prompt.
7. Type Bootrec.exe, and then press ENTER.
8. Type bootrec /fixmbr and then press ENTER.
9. Type bootrec /fixboot and then press ENTER.
10. Then type all of the following commands and press ENTER after each one:
    
    1. bcdedit /export C:\BCD_Backup
    2. c:
    3. cd boot
    4. attrib bcd -s -h -r
    5. ren c:\boot\bcd bcd.old
    6. bootrec /RebuildBcd
    
    
11. Reboot your computer and see if the problem persists.

Source: How to use the Bootrec.exe tool in the Windows Recovery Environment to troubleshoot and repair startup issues in Windows

I would... but this is an OEM version which came with the laptop and no disks were included.

Saevio said:

I would... but this is an OEM version which came with the laptop and no disks were included.

Ah, well that stinks. Is it a windows 7 laptop? You could always find an iso too.

Yeah, I guess I'll look for a home premium iso. I'll let you know how it goes.

If you have another working computer you cam use that to create a Windows 7 repair disk, whick you can then use to repair your wife's laptop.

System Repair Disc - Create

No dice with the bootrec tool. Problem continues... And it's not like the machine doesn't boot properly. It does and even loads windows, it's just when I log on to my account, or any account that is not the built in administrator, that particular part of the login fails to 'initialize'. I wish I knew what the steps of the log in process were so I could attempt to troubleshoot

Saevio said:

No dice with the bootrec tool. Problem continues...

On a positive note though, windows boots about 10 seconds faster :P

A couple more considerations. Borrow a friend's install disc (make sure it's the same exact version and bit-ness as your wife's machine) to access the repair options. Or, use that friend's disc to do a Repair Install. It will preserve user accounts, data, programs, system drivers, etc.

Repair Install

Is your wife's computer the one you have listed (Toshiba Satellite) in the system specs for this forum? If yes, a second thought is to back up all important files, folders, photos, music, etc and restore the machine to factory specs using the hidden recovery partition.

How to Restore a Toshiba Satellite to the Factory Settings | eHow.com