Cannot log into Windows XP after installing Acronis...

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khtse · #1 Post by **khtse** » Mon May 14, 2007 3:00 pm

I was going to clone the harddisk of my X31, and decided to try Acronis True Image on my desktop computer first.

So I went to their website and downloaded version 10 trail. I rebooted after installing, and then... I cannot log into windows!

My computer loaded up windows, ask me to enter password as usual. After entering password, I heard the sound of logging in but then windows immediately went "logging out" for me and back to the screen when you have to enter password...

The same happened no matter how many times I tried...and this happened also in safe mode! I have no way to get into windows! I haven't backup anything yet...

What can I do? Please help...

If I reinstall windows over it, without formatting, will all my settings, drivers, programs, files in "My document", "Favorites", etc. remain there?

** I remember the exact same problem happened to one of my friends last year after he ran Lavasoft Adaware for the first time. We could do nothing about it but to clean install windows again.

chaukap · #2 Post by **chaukap** » Mon May 14, 2007 3:50 pm

I had the same problem on a hard drive, I cloned using Norton Partition Magic. From what it looked like, the MBR was not copied properly, but I had the exact same problem after entering the password. I had to reclone the hard drive to fix the MBR and everything works well after that. So my guess would be to look if its corrupted and how to fix it. Might be that the disk signature in the MBR is missing after Acronis installation.

khtse · #3 Post by **khtse** » Mon May 14, 2007 4:01 pm

What is MBR?

Anyway, I searched MS knowledge database and found this:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/892893/en-us
which describes the case of my friend I mentioned above.

My guess is that maybe Acronis changed the regisrty value of userinit under
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon

I followed the method described in the article and it doesn't work. Probably (and obviously) the value that Acronis changed to is different.

Question:
(1) For those who have Acronis True Image instealled (version 10 or 9?), can you please check for me what is your registry value of userinit under
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon

(2) Is there anyway to edit my desktop registry in another computer? I just plugged my desktop harddisk to another computer as an external drive and ran the regedit.exe on my desktop harddisk, but the registry that was loaded was that of the computer I was using.

Please help...thanks a lot.

khtse · #4 Post by **khtse** » Mon May 14, 2007 4:02 pm

What is MBR?

Anyway, I searched MS knowledge database and found this:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/892893/en-us
which describes the case of my friend I mentioned above.

My guess is that maybe Acronis changed the regisrty value of userinit under
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon

I followed the method described in the article and it doesn't work. Probably (and obviously) the value that Acronis changed to is different.

Question:
(1) For those who have Acronis True Image instealled (version 10 or 9?), can you please check for me what is your registry value of userinit under
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon

(2) Is there anyway to edit my desktop registry in another computer? I just plugged my desktop harddisk to another computer as an external drive and ran the regedit.exe on my desktop harddisk, but the registry that was loaded was that of the computer I was using.

Please help...thanks a lot.

#5 Post by **Kyocera** » Mon May 14, 2007 4:28 pm

Khtse, did you create a restore point prior to installing the software, I hope you did, if not windows may have created on for you, check that and go back to the time prior to installing acronis.
FWIW, I have just installed acronis a couple of minutes ago becuase I need to clone a disc and have also used it many times before with no such errors. Are you on a domain?

khtse · #6 Post by **khtse** » Mon May 14, 2007 4:40 pm

No, I did not create a restore point...what do you mean "on a domain"? I guess not, my desktop is just an old pc that I am using at home.

Is the Acronis True Image that you installed version 10? Can you please check the registry value I mentioned above for me? Thanks.

#7 Post by **Kyocera** » Mon May 14, 2007 4:55 pm

MBR is Master Boot Record, I checked the registry value you sited and see nothing in reference to Acronis. Truth is I don't use a logon anyway. A domain is a server you would log onto with a profile for your business or application use.

khtse · #8 Post by **khtse** » Mon May 14, 2007 5:31 pm

I don't know how my MBR could be affected...I did nothing on this computer before installing Acronis.
I just turned it on->downloaded Acronis->reboot->uh-oh.

So it seems that nothing other than Acronis could have caused this.

Ok, I found this on MS knowledge database, which directly addresses the issue
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555648/en-us

Is your registry values for "Shell" and "Userinit" under
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon

"explorer.exe"
and
"C:\Windows\System32\Userinit.exe,"
respectively?

There is a solution provided in the above article, but I don't understand what to do. It says "Log on to a networked computer"...

Ok, I have two computers here. X31 and my notworking desktop. Since I cannot even log into the windows of my desktop, how can I link the two computers together?...

#9 Post by **Kyocera** » Mon May 14, 2007 6:43 pm

Both the registry entries you mention are the same in my machine, which is currently running acronis true image 9 and disk director.

I read through that MS article and don't think it applies to your issue with acronis, it may be another issue, can you log on in safe mode?

One thing I read in the article is it does not mention XP.

khtse · #10 Post by **khtse** » Mon May 14, 2007 7:20 pm

No, I can't get into safe mode. The state of my desktop is exactly what that article describes: "Windows Log on and Log off immediately" and "...not be able to log on to system using either Normal Mode or Safe Mode".

The version of Acronis True Image that I installed is 10, just downloaded today. Maybe there is something different between 9 and 10.

Anyway, do you know of anyway of accessing the registry of my desktop computer?

#11 Post by **Kyocera** » Mon May 14, 2007 7:24 pm

What about "last known good configuration"

Also try typing in just the user name, no password and hitting enter.

khtse · #12 Post by **khtse** » Mon May 14, 2007 8:01 pm

I tried all those things you mentioned...none of them works. I guess I should contact Acronis and complain...

#13 Post by **Kyocera** » Mon May 14, 2007 8:12 pm

The following is why I asked if you were possibly connected to a network domain:

A Standalone Version of Acronis True Image Recovery Wizard Keeps Asking for User Name and Password When Trying to Restore an Image from a Network Share Printer Friendly

Last update: September 19, 2006
How to solve the problem when a standalone version of Acronis True Image cannot log you into the network where the image archive is, and keeps asking for the user name and password again and again

Symptoms
Cause
Solution
More information
Symptoms
You have booted into a standalone version of Acronis True Image with the objective to restore an image archive that is located on a network share. However when running the Recovery wizard and trying to log in to the network machine where the image archive is, Acronis True Image keeps asking you for the user name and password even though you are specifying the correct ones.

Cause
In some cases, especially when a domain controller is present on the network, it is needed that you specify an authorizing server name or domain name along with the user name.

Solution
The user name should be specified in the form of SERVER\USER or DOMAIN\USER.

If you are trying to access a server in a domain that is controlled by Windows Server 2003 and still cannot log in to a server, please try the following:

Open Active Directory Users and Computers on the domain controller (Windows Server 2003).
In the console tree, right-click Domain Controllers, click Properties, and then click the Group Policy tab.
Click Default Domain Controllers Policy, and then click Edit.
Open the Computer Configuration \ Windows Settings \ Security Settings \ Local Policies \ Security Options folder.
Locate the Microsoft network server: Digitally sign communications (always) policy setting, and then click Disabled or Do Not Configure. Please also check the Microsoft network server: Digitally sign communications (if the client agrees) policy setting is Enabled.
More information
You can read Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 823659 regarding this problem.

khtse · #14 Post by **khtse** » Mon May 14, 2007 8:51 pm

No, my case is different. Instead of it keeps asking me the password as if I typed the wrong one, it goes like this

Win XP loads -> Ask me to enter username & password -> After entering, windows recognizes my username & password and the "starting windows" sound is heard -> Then it immediately log itself off and I am back to the screen where I have to enter my username & password.

Searching on google I seemed to have found a software that can make a bootable disc that is able to access the registry. But I have ran out of blank disc right now... (after Nero BackItUp failed to back up my X31 harddisk for 3 times!... I will start another thread about that later on... maybe tomorrow, I have enough trouble today)

dsigma6 · #15 Post by **dsigma6** » Tue May 15, 2007 7:30 am

...Recovery Console...

khtse · #16 Post by **khtse** » Tue May 15, 2007 7:49 pm

Recovery concole doesn't enable one to edit registry.

Anyway, I created a BartPE bootdisk together with a plugin that let me edit the registry (btw, this BartPE is really cool stuff, check it out). I found that my registry value for userinit is ok. So my problem is not related to userinit.

I googled a whole night and found that most people that have the same problem with me got it fixed after repairing the userinit thing. But this does not apply to my case

. Those who face the same problem as I do and not solved by repairing userinit has yet found a solution...

And this is Arconis' million dollar reply to my email in which I detailed described situation. I did mention to them that I did nothing other than installing True Image after a fresh reboot:

Thank you for your interest in Acronis True Image 10.0 Home
http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/pr ... trueimage/

Please accept our apologies for the inconvenience, but the issue can't be caused by Acronis software.

We are always at your service should you have any further questions.

Thank you.

Note that you can always find the answers to your questions in Acronis Knowledge

Base at http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/support/kb/

A waste of my time.

#17 Post by **bill bolton** » Tue May 15, 2007 11:25 pm

khtse wrote:A waste of my time.

This sort of thing just happens with Windows from time to time.

There's no point in getting upset with a third party product vendor over it. Its highly likely that it does indeed have nothing much at all to do with Acronis software per se.

Cheers,

Bill B.

#18 Post by **RealBlackStuff** » Wed May 16, 2007 3:21 am

If you are confident enough to mess in the registry, do a search for runonce and look in the run keys above it. Repeat this throughout the whole registry.
See if you can find any unusual/suspect entries under one of these run keys. Write them down before you incapacitate or delete those entries.
You'll probably find an 'Acronis Scheduler' entry as well, which you could remove regardless. It's a non-required service.

Cannot log into Windows XP after installing Acronis...

Cannot log into Windows XP after installing Acronis...

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