Can't get past "Windows is starting ..." screen

[Meringue]

Evening.

I've got Windows XP with Service Pack 3. I also have .NET Framework versions 1.x through to 3.x installed. One thing that slightly niggled me was that .NET Framework prevented automatic log on to to my personal account (i.e. to my desktop) after re-boot, so if I went away from the computer whilst it rebooted, I'd be faced on my return with the XP log on screen instead of my desktop with all start-up programs and procedures fully loaded. As you do when at the log on screen I saw the generic Administrator account icon and my personal log on account icon. After reading about this on the internet, I came across other guys with similar desires to skip the XP log on screen after installing .NET Framework. The solution was to run the "control userpasswords2" command. Then all I had to do was uncheck the "Users must enter a user and password to use this computer" option in the dialog box and I was able to log directly on to my desktop on reboot.

Everything was working okay for a while, but a couple of days ago I went to re-boot my computer and a program (can't remember which) I was running wouldn't shut down. XP was taking a long time to close it, so in the end I manually shut the computer down. On reboot, my computer got as far as the blue "Windows is starting ..." screen and no further. Just before this screen there was another screen which lasted about a quarter of a second - too quick for me to make out what that screen was, but I suspect it was the XP log on screen. Anyway, every time I tried to reboot, Windows got stuck on this Windows is starting ..." screen and never moved on from there to my desktop, even though the hard drive indicator light was flashing to show that programs were loading as usual behind the scenes.

I've found a sort of resolution to this problem by rebooting into Windows Safe Mode With Network Connection, entering the generic Administrator account, then logging off and switching from the Administrator account into my own account (I'm an "administrator" too), running "control userpasswords2", re-checking the "Users must enter a user and password to use this computer" option and then re-booting in Normal Mode. This forces XP to show the log on screen from where I can click on my account icon and enter to my desktop in Normal Mode. The thing is now there's no generic Administrator account icon showing on the XP log on screen, it's just showing my account icon. If I run "control userpasswords2" again (because I'd like to get back to a situation where I can log on straight from reboot to my desktop) and uncheck the "Users must enter a user and password to use this computer" option, Windows once again stops on the "Windows is starting ..." screen and will not budge from there. Interestingly, if I boot into Safe Mode without the with network connections options, I'm unable to enter the Log Off dialog box to enable me to switch users from the generic Administrator account to my personal account.

Do you have any idea what's happened to XP and what I can do to fix whatever's gone wrong?

 

[johnb35]

Have you tried booting to safe mode and doing a system restore back to when it was working? When you install Net Framework, it creates a user account called Net.asp. All you need to do is just delete this account and you will no longer get the windows welcome screen to log onto windows, it will go right to your desktop.

 

[kimsland]

This batch file (XP only)
Will allow you View/Edit/Create/Delete Users on the Special UserList
Note it gives you prompts (ie it won't just automatically start deleting or anything)

 

[Meringue]

Thanks for the comments so far. If possible I'd like to find out what's gone wrong before I attempt to fix it. Specifically, I'd like to know 1) Why XP won't go that extra yard and enter me to my desktop from the "Windows is starting ..." blue screen when "Users must enter a user and password to use this computer" is unchecked in the "User Accounts" dialog box that "control userpasswords2" command accesses, and 2) (and 1) has to be related to this) why XP's built in generic Administrator account is not showing at the log on screen. I should point out that I have set no passwords for any accounts on my computer, as I'm the only person who uses or has access to it.

Here's some more info that may help. Firstly, if I try and log off and switch users when in Normal Mode I have a choice of exactly one account, my own. Normally, of course, I'd be able to switch at least to the generic Administrator account but that's not showing. When I enter Safe Mode (without the With Network option) and am unable to switch to another account from the generic Administrator account, XP informs me that the account is locked; also, NO other accounts are showing - not mine, not the ASP.NET Machine A..., and not the Guest account. In Safe Mode With Network option, as stated in my first post, I am able to switch to my account - I think, from memory, that the ASP.NET account and Guest accounts are also showing when logging off to switch users in this mode, but I'd have to re-boot into that mode again to be sure. In Normal Mode, which I am in now as we speak (and at present, of course, the only way I can boot into XP's normal mode is when the "Users must enter a user and password to use this computer" option is checked) when I check on the User Accounts via Control Panel under "or pick an account to change" there is no listing for the generic Administrator account. The accounts present are my account, the ASP.NET Machine A... account which is password protected (by default, apparantly, because I didn't set it), and a Guest account which is "off". If I run the "control userpasswords2" command the generic Administrator account is shown along with all the other accounts mentioned above. There's an "Advanced user management" section via the Advanced tab of the "User Accounts" dialog box that "control userpasswords2" accesses. If I click on the Advanced button, I get the following error message:

"This computer is running Windows XP Home Edition. This snapin may not be used with that version of Windows. To manage user accounts for this computer, use the User Accounts tool in the Control Panel."

Now this "Windows XP Home Edition" is not the original "Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" installation of XP that came with this computer. It is a second installation which looks like this in the boot.ini file:

"multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect"

The original XP installation (which no longer works because I formatted the C drive and the drivers, etc. XP needed to reboot from POST were erased) is showing in the boot.ini file as:

"multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn"

(Note that there's a gap showing for some reason in this post between "Micr" and "osoft" and "Wind" and "ows" which isn't present in the boot.ini file).

I had to have help to install a working version of XP after I formatted the C drive and don't know anything about the boot.ini file or what "fastdetect" or "NoExecute=OptIn" do. All I know is that I used an XP installation disk to run bootcfg from the XP Recovery Console DOS-like screen to allow XP to install the necessary files to allow it to progress from POST into XP. I also know that I can't run bootcfg through XP Home Edition, only the XP Professional edition does that. So, to run bootcfg I'd have to place the XP Home Edition installation disk and get back into the Recovery Console screen. But all this stuff I'm worrying about regarding the entries in the boot.ini or the second installation of XP is probably not related to the problem of getting to my desktop from the "Windows is starting ..." blue screen at all, because, as I said in my first post, the computer was working fine for a while with this second XP installation and the boot.ini file exactly as is.

 

[kimsland]

Well because of your large post and many queries, its a bit difficult to answer all of it, but I'll try

Thanks for the comments so far. If possible I'd like to find out what's gone wrong before I attempt to fix it.

It's likely that the Administrator account is hidden in "Special UserList" This is why I posted the batch file

By default the Administrator is hidden in Normal Mode, and if you have set Control UserPasswords2 to actually load the (hidden) Administrator account, it will pause at the logon screen

If you press Ctrl + Alt + Del TWICE (once your computer settles a bit) You will likely see the logon screen, where you can type in your Username, basically I think you got Control UserPasswords2 set up incorrectly. Here's the correct way (Note: This is from another thread)

Start > Run > control userpasswords2 > ok
Tick the box "Users must enter a username and password to use this computer"
Click to highlight your Username
Click Apply
Untick the box: "Users must enter a username and password to use this computer"
Click Apply
Click OK
Click OK
Restart

It is a second installation which looks like this in the boot.ini file:

"multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect"

This means Windows is installed on the second Partition (which is not ideal)
And is not the default setting

"multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn"

This is the default switches, but obviously yours presently requires "partition(2)"

(Note that there's a gap showing for some reason in this post between "Micr" and "osoft" and "Wind" and "ows" which isn't present in the boot.ini file)

All forums have the maximum amount of sequential characters
Seems its around 50 characters here, and then an automatic space will happen. To avoid the gap you could place long strings in Code Tags
[code] Really long string of characters [/code]


I'm dropping off here a bit, because it gets very involved
You may need to do a clean install to get back to Partition1 as the 1st and only Windows Partition (assuming Partition1 is not an image partition or something)


I hope this helps