Trusted the Userinit.exe FP - Now stuck in Logon Loop!

justan0therstatistic · September 17, 2011

A few days ago, after installing the most recent Windows Updates I scanned my laptop with Advanced System Care. There were 3 items in the malware scan. They all had to do with userinit.exe. I trusted that ASC knew what it was talking about and chose the "repair now" option. It warned me that the computer needed those files and that they would not be deleted. I shrugged it off and went about my business, using the laptop for the rest of the night and shut it down before bed.

When I tried to use it the next day it was completely screwed. Most times I can't but when I do get past the logon screen, it shows my empty desktop with no taskbar. No fans are running, absolutely nothing is happening. Other times, I get to the logon screen, sign in, it makes the "signing in noise", waits a few seconds, then makes the "signing out noise" and starts saving settings like I'm logging out and I never even see the desktop.

I started looking into the problem with my other computer, and found a previous thread on these forums - "userinit.exe - is it FP? [sOLVED by db 1062]". Well, good for that guy that his computer still works!

I can't log in with any of the safe mode options, I can't restore to last good configuration, I don't have a restore disc. It's a good thing I have another computer to contact you with!

What happens now? Has my laptop been murdered by ASC?

Harrysmiith · September 17, 2011

userinit.exe

Do you have your windows cd ? I think if you boot from this you may be able to fix ( repair) these files.

A it late now but when you are up and running I would also suggest making an ocassional system image with a program like http://www.storagecraft.com/shadow_protect_desktop.php

So_sad · September 17, 2011

Hi justan0therstatistic,

IObit support staff should really help you with this. I think you need to contact them via their support email. Not sure what that is, I'm just a forum guy here.

Basically though, IMF seems to have deleted userinit.exe

This means you can no longer boot into any session.

The fix : you need to somehow replace userinit.exe with a copy from a system identical to yours. By identical I mean the same system (XP, Vista, W7...) with the same level of updates including Service Packs. Same language, too.

Catch 22 : you need to do this from a bootable environment. Something like a Live CD (or DVD or USB stick). You have options, such as Windows based Live CDs or Linux based ones.

"Support" should be able to provide a way for you to do this.

Your system isn't toast. It just needs userinit back.

Good luck !

justan0therstatistic · September 17, 2011

I don't have the Windows CD

enoskype · September 17, 2011

Hi guys,

The solution is in THIS post by Cicely .

I have saved an XP with same problem applying that solution route today.

It doesn't have to be the original installation CD, but the same language of same OS.

You may also have userinit.ex_ in your I386 directory.

Note: Sometimes, for this solution service packs are not important.

Cheers.

justan0therstatistic · September 23, 2011

Thanks to everyone who has tried to help with this issue.

I've torn through this whole house searching for that disc to no avail. All of my techy friends scoffed at the fact that we still used XP on our laptop and I can't find anyone who has an XP recovery disc. I'm pretty upset but the man of the house is FURIOUS at IObit and myself for not knowing better and allowing this to happen. :-(

Please tell me there's something that can be done that doesn't require us spending our own money to repair a computer that was broken by the same software we trusted to keep it safe.

If I were to try copying files and making a disc from our desktop running Windows 7 would it work with XP? If so, what files would I need and how would I install them? Luckily we have an external HD to store most of our important files, so losing data isn't that much of a biggie. We just want our laptop back!

(I'm sorry if this sounds at all like I'm being tempermental, I really do appreciate your help. I'm just so frustrated and it doesn't help with him yelling at me about it. Just be glad you don't have to listen to him!)

enoskype · September 23, 2011

Hi justan0therstatistic,

I will try to supply you the file in question, but not sooner than tomorrow, as I am out of the town.

Please provide Which XP and which service pack you are using.

Cheers.

Cicely · September 23, 2011

Dear justan0therstatistic,

There are two ways to solve the problem with a Win7 CD.

If you would like to keep the WinXP system, please follow steps below:

1)Insert the Win7 CD and run it.

2)Choose Custom and choose another disk to install the Win7 system.

3)After the Win7 system is installed, please go to the disk which you installed the WinXP system on(If your WinXP system is installed on C drive, please go to C:\WINDOWS\system32).

4)Download the attached file and extract it. Then paste the userinit.exe into C:\WINDOWS\system32.

5)Restart your computer and then you could choose to log into WinXP system normally.

If you would like to update the WinXP system to Win7, please follow steps below:

1)Insert the Win7 CD and run it.

2)Choose Update to update your WinXP system to Win7.

userinit.rar

enoskype · September 23, 2011

Hi Cicely,

The 3rd option could be using Recovery Console of XP from a USB stick if there is an option for USB booting in the BIOS of the laptop.

The instructions could follow if the USB Boot option is available for justan0therstatistics.

4th option is to burn Recovery Console of XP to CD in Windows 7 and use it for XP laptop Boot.

Cheers.

justan0therstatistic · September 23, 2011

Okay.. So I tried using the Windows 7 recovery disc from our desktop but the laptop wouldn't read it. Something about the disc being 64-Bit..

The laptop is an old Dell Inspiron B130 with Windows XP Home Edition. Not sure about the Service Pack, but if it helps, we've installed every update recommended by Windows to date (well, up to about a week ago, anyway).

So_sad · September 24, 2011

Hi justan0therstatistic,

I have a possible solution for you, considering your situation :

From your Windows 7 machine, please download the OTLPE.net file from this link :

http://oldtimer.geekstogo.com/OTLPENet.exe

- I hope you have a CD or DVD burner on your machine. If so, please insert a blank disk (CD or DVD) into the drive. If you don't have this, don't proceed with the next steps and let me know. Oh and if the Dell doesn't have a DVD drive, you'll need to use a CD for sure.

- With a blank CD or DVD ready, double-click on OTLPENet.exe

This will create a bootable disk you can use on the unbootable XP machine.

- Power up the XP machine and put the OTLPE disk into the drive. Restart the machine so that it will boot from this disk. If it doesn't boot with it, let me know and we'll look at your BIOS settings for boot order.

- If it does boot with the disk, you'll see a REATOGO-X-PE Desktop. This is what you want. From there, you can copy the userinit.exe file provided above by Cicely to a USB stick (download from your Win7 machine), connect the stick on the XP machine, then copy it over to :

C:\WINDOWS\system32

- Once done, shut down the REATOGO system and restart the XP computer.

If you have questions along the way, just ask.

Good luck :wink:

So_sad · September 24, 2011

I forgot one thing : the userinit.exe file provided by Cicely is in a .rar archive, so you'll need to extract it from that archive before you can copy it over.

If you don't have a program to extract .rar files, then you'll need to download a trial version of WinRar (on your Win7 machine) :

http://www.rarlab.com/rar/winrar-x64-401am.exe

(this is a 64 bit version)

Install WinRar, then right-click on the "userinit.rar" file and choose "Extract here". You'll now see userinit.exe has been extracted. Copy it over to a USB stick as explained in my previous message.

justan0therstatistic · September 24, 2011

Thanks so much for that advice and detailed instruction, So Sad. For some reason though, there was an error during the ImgBurn:

I/O Error!

Device: [2:0:0] HL-DT-ST DVD+-RW GJ5ONB104 (D:)(SATA)

ScsiStatus: 0x02

Interpretation: Check Condition

CDB: 2A 00 00 01 8E 40 00 00 20 00

Interpretation: Write (10)- Sectors: 101952-101983

Sense Area: 70 00 05 00 00 00 00 0A 2A 00 00 80 30 05 00 00 00 00

Interpretation: Cannot Write Medium- Incompatible Format

So I tried doing it again, running as administrator, and the same thing happened.

Tried putting it in the laptop anyway in hopes that it might still work. It started setup and then this message came up:

Laptop error after disc

File siside.SYS caused an unexpected error (1024) at line 5964 in d:\xpsprtm\base\boot\setup\setup.c.

Here's the ImgBurn Log if it'll help figure out why it wouldn't work:

W 13:35:19 Operating System has been changed!

I 13:35:20 ImgBurn Version 2.5.1.0 started!

I 13:35:20 Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium x64 Edition (6.1, Build 7601 : Service Pack 1)

I 13:35:20 Total Physical Memory: 6,290,736 KB - Available: 4,372,972 KB

W 13:35:20 Drive I:\ (FAT32) does not support single files > 4 GB in size.

I 13:35:20 Initialising SPTI...

I 13:35:20 Searching for SCSI / ATAPI devices...

I 13:35:20 -> Drive 1 - Info: DTSOFT BDROM 1.05 (J:) (Unknown (0x0F))

I 13:35:20 -> Drive 2 - Info: HL-DT-ST DVD+-RW GH50N B104 (D:) (SATA)

I 13:35:20 Found 1 DVD±RW/RAM and 1 BD-ROM!

I 13:35:20 Operation Started!

I 13:35:20 Source File: C:\Users\Tessa\AppData\Local\Temp\7zS75F5.tmp\OTLPE_New_Net.iso

I 13:35:20 Source File Sectors: 223,536 (MODE1/2048)

I 13:35:20 Source File Size: 457,801,728 bytes

I 13:35:20 Source File Volume Identifier: ReatogoPE

I 13:35:20 Source File Application Identifier: PEBUILDER/MKISOFS

I 13:35:20 Source File File System(s): ISO9660 (Bootable)

I 13:35:20 Destination Device: [2:0:0] HL-DT-ST DVD+-RW GH50N B104 (D:) (SATA)

I 13:35:20 Destination Media Type: CD-R (Disc ID: 97m26s66f, CMC Magnetics Corp.) (Speeds: 4x, 8x, 16x, 24x, 32x, 40x, 48x)

I 13:35:20 Destination Media Sectors: 359,844

I 13:35:20 Write Mode: CD

I 13:35:20 Write Type: SAO

I 13:35:20 Write Speed: MAX

I 13:35:20 Lock Volume: Yes

I 13:35:20 Test Mode: No

I 13:35:20 OPC: No

I 13:35:20 BURN-Proof: Enabled

I 13:35:20 Write Speed Successfully Set! - Effective: 8,468 KB/s (48x)

I 13:35:21 Filling Buffer... (20 MB)

I 13:35:24 Writing LeadIn...

I 13:35:39 Writing Session 1 of 1... (1 Track, LBA: 0 - 223535)

I 13:35:39 Writing Track 1 of 1... (MODE1/2048, LBA: 0 - 223535)

W 13:37:43 Failed to Write Sectors 101952 - 101983 - Reason: No Seek Complete

W 13:37:43 Retrying (1 of 20)...