Immediate Win2000 logoff - can't get onto Windows

Hi,
You could try a repair install
How to: Repair Windows XP/2000 if you are unable to boot into Windows.
http://www.techspot.com/vb/topic8356.html

Deb :))

Hi richard7,

if Deb's Idea doesnt work there is a process that works for xp machines. whilst this gives a different error it still sounds like your security has gone haywire and this may as a last resort be worth a try

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;307545

also, are you able to access the drive from another machine and view its event logs?

I tried Deb's solution, but I can't get into the Winows recovery consol because I can't log on.  I tried the emergency disk procedure but apparently my emergency floppy disk is no good because the computer couldn't ready emergency backup disk.    I did get to the c:\winnt folder by booting to the Windows CD rom, and I ran chkdsk, but that didn't clean up the problem.  

I can access the computer's hard-drive files from a different computer on the network.  What event logs would be useful to look at?  

most probably the system logs...

if you can access the local users and groups could you try creating a new user?

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/249321/en-us describes your problem. The solution section has helped me several times on this.

There is probably a problem with userinit.exe or the corresponding registry key.  You will either have to boot with a bootable cd that allows write access or slave the hard drive up.  

Make sure there is a "userinit.exe" file in the \windows\system32\ .


HKEY_LOCAL_Machine\software\microsoft\windows nt\current version\winlogon

The attribute "Userint" should be "C:\WINNT\system32\userinit.exe"  Spyware could have modified the key or a deleting of the userinit.exe could have occurred.  This has worked in the past for me.

Good luck!

Thanks for the suggestions but nothing is working.  Apparently I have the "logon logoff loop" problem.  

http://www.winxptutor.com/wsaremove.htm  I followed the fix suggested here for WinXP (I have Win2000) of copying c:\winnt\system32\userinit.exe wsapdater.exe but that didn't work.

I can get into the Repair Console recovery c:\winnt command line, but can't get into the registry from there to see if it is trying to use userinit.exe to login.  I can get to the bad computer's hard-drive from the network, however, if there are any tricks I can do from a different computer.

Otherwise I am close to giving up and reformatting.

Any last minute suggestions?  thanks

Yes - the userinit.exe is in the correct c:\winnt\system32\ directory.  I'll give what you said a try.  Thanks.

I experienced a similar issue as originally described, that required a different fix, I'll document it here for others, in case the above doesn't work for you.  

At first it was just white cursor on black screen.  I discovered some files in the windows folder were inaccessible due to security settings. I added everyone-full access.

Then it was logging in and immediately logging out, so I just opened security across the whole drive, then I could log in.  

It was probably a result of malware, though a failed Norton install, a botched Acronis OSS access via USB, and an ancient copy of Roxio GoBack 3 all happened too.

I used an old copy of ERD Commander 2005 to reset all the permissions in one swell foop,
(it cried about non-existent tokens, probably from the domain the system had been removed from years ago ).

I've not yet repaired the file permissions, but I expect Microsoft's KB 313222 will do well enough since it's now a solo home system.