No Desktop Icons, start menu, task manager.

I'm really hoping someone can help here. This may sound like alot of other
posts but I basically have no way of getting into my system after starting
up. All that comes up is my wallpaper with no icons or start menu and
hitting crtl+alt+del does nothing. The only way I was able to get my machine
back was to install a second session of windows which is what I am running on
now.

I am using avg and it hasn't detected any viruses. One thing I have noticed
is when I go into file explorer and try to check my user folder, it just
comes up that the folder is not accessible. I have tried going into the
properties of this folder to change permissions but nothing has worked. It
was suggested that I go into the security tab and then under permissions tick
the box replace permission entries on all child objects with entries shown
here that apply to all child objects. I did this, rebooted but still nothing.

I hadn't been doing anything in particular at the time of this happening. My
kids use msn and a number of other messaging sites, but they have still been
using these sites since I reloaded the second session of windows.

I really hope someone can offer me some real help as I would like to
reinstate my computer to how it was as most of you out there would realise
how much a pain in the bum it is to rebuild your computer. I would just like
to get access to my old user folder so that I can at least transfer my
desktop settings and other things associated with my user folder across to
another user folder.

It is possible that user old user ID has become corrupt. By corrupt I mean
that some of the key files that define a user have a bad bit in them. How
such things happen is often never known, but I have had it happen twice in a
decade. If you have a copy of the user's area under document and settings
before the problem happened, this sort of thing can sometimes be fixed by
simply erasing the current user area and copying the old one. But, many
people do not make copies of their user area, since the simply "copy"
command will fail to work on some of the files. I make complete partition
images using both Acronis True Image and Norton Ghost, from which I either
do a complete restore to an earlier time, or from which I can copy selected
files or directories.

Given where you are, with a secondary XP installation, I suggest that you
continue trying to read the files under the old user. But, be warned, some
of them may be bad, so do not simply copy them on top of the new
installation, without first saving a copy of the new installation.

As for how to read files, if they were NOT encrypted, it should be a simple
matter to take ownership. See MS article:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308421

If the files are encrypted, you will not be able to read them, unless you
saved the encryption key(s). If they are XP-encrypted, creating a user with
the same name and password is NOT sufficient, you still need the original
key(s). See:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/223316/ look for section about
"certificates".

Note, if the files are not encrypted, but you still can not access them via
XP, try booting the PC from a free "live" LINUX CD, such as KNOPPIX version
5. It can read and write on both FAT32 and NTFS partitions. And, it does
not respect any XP permissions. Note that writing to internal hard drives
is off by default, so until you change that for a specific partition,
KNOPPIX is very safe to use. As with all live CDs, it does not install on
the hard drive. The KNOPPIX CD comes as an ISO file that requires CD
burning software that supports burn-from-image or similar. Do not simply
drag&drop it to a CD.

http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html

From Safe Mode try using System Restore to a date before the problem
existed.
A description of the Safe Mode Boot options in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315222/en-us

http://bertk.mvps.org/index.html

What are your anti-spyware arrangements?

Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
1.38 -freeware (if you upgrade you pay).
http://www.download.com/Malwarebytes...-10804572.html

Run Malwarebytes' and turn off your current anti-virus
before you do to avoid a conflict. Disregard the invitation on the web
site regarding the Registry Optimiser -a Registry Optimiser is not a
helpful utility.

Instead of using Ctrl+Alt+Del to access Task Manager try Ctr+Shift+ Esc.

without having to
re-install the second
o.s.,

the options you had
were booting into
safe mode or a
"repair installation"
with your winxp cd.

my suggestion is to
first try to get into
safe mode.

in order to see the
special boot menu
with the safe mode
options,

you will need to hold
down the f8 key as
soon as the computer
finishes testing the
memory and devices
at boot up.

sometimes manufacturers
have a splash screen
that hides the testing
and the special boot
menu.

so if you have a splash
screen, then you can
turn it off via the bios.

in any case if you can
get into safe mode, then
let us know.

Try to select the old Operating system and press F8 or whatever key
combinations (read the machine Doc) to get into Safe Mode and Restore the
system to an earlier stage.
Or:
Download Dr web live CD and you can restore using this
CD and also run a scan.
Dr.Web LiveCD (burn the iso on a CD then reboot, please read instructions):
http://www.freedrweb.com/livecd

If you gained access try this application:
Malwarebytes© Corporation - Anti-Malware
http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam/program/mbam-setup.exe

If the above was of a help, post back and let us know. You may need help to
edit the Boot.ini to get rid of the new OS installed.

I'm really hoping someone can help here. This may sound like alot of other
posts but I basically have no way of getting into my system after starting
up. All that comes up is my wallpaper with no icons or start menu and
hitting crtl+alt+del does nothing. The only way I was able to get my machine
back was to install a second session of windows which is what I am running
on
now.

As soon as I click on the old user it comes up C:\Documents and
Settings\User is not accessible. Access Denied, so I don't get the
opportunity to copy the old user data.

I will check this out.

I haven't used Linux. Is it hard to use. I will give this a go and see how I
go.

Cntrl+Alt+Del doesn't work at all. Basically I get to the login screen with
4 user icons and as soon as I press one of the login icons, I go into the
desktop which all it has is the wallpaper, no icons and a mouse pointer that
I can move all around the screen. I can push any combination of keys at this
stage and nothing happens. I wait for a little while, the desktop times out
and derfaults back to the login screen with 4 user icons. It does the same
thing for all 4 users.

I downloaded and ran Malwarebytes. It picked up cookies, some adaware and a
couple of trojans, but had no effect in being able to log into the original
windows installation. I tried to get into my user folder under the documents
and settings, but still no good.
Checked for the above keys and neither existed

Finally managed to take ownership of my old user folder, but now I have the
same problem with all the other subfolders under it. I checked the option
under advanced for setting permissions for child objects, but this had no
effect. I am still trying to work out how to take ownership of all the other
subfolders. I would have thought checking the option under advanced would
have propogated the permissions but maybe I have to do it individually for
all the subfolders.

Cntrl+Alt+Del doesn't work at all. Basically I get to the login screen with
4 user icons and as soon as I press one of the login icons, I go into the
desktop which all it has is the wallpaper, no icons and a mouse pointer that
I can move all around the screen. I can push any combination of keys at this
stage and nothing happens. I wait for a little while, the desktop times out
and derfaults back to the login screen with 4 user icons. It does the same
thing for all 4 users.

There should not be a comma after userinit.exe - this will break it.

From another post I played around a bit with taking ownership of files. I
can't remember the exact steps I took but I went into properties, went under
the share tab, then permissions and set up the permissions. Under group or
usernames it had everyone and my user id with all permissions checked. I then
went to the security tab and I, Add, Advanced, Find Now and then selected my
ID. I'm not sure if I ticked the child object box for propogating all
permissions to all sub subfolders but then all of a sudden I had access to my
user ID structure. I thought at this stage I had sorted my problems out but
when I went to the next level ie desktop folder, I found I was getting the
same thing come up (not accessible access denied). I thought all I would have
to do is repeat all of what I had done to get into the initial level of my
profile but now all it would say was something like I didn't have the rights
to access this folder. Someone else mentioned something about encryption and
a key. I haven't encrypted these folders. Anyway that's about all I can
offer. Hopefully you can make some sense out of all that. I will also look at
doing what you suggested either tomorrow or the next day.

There should not be a comma after userinit.exe - this will break it.

From another post I played around a bit with taking ownership of files. I
can't remember the exact steps I took but I went into properties, went under
the share tab, then permissions and set up the permissions. Under group or
usernames it had everyone and my user id with all permissions checked. I
then
went to the security tab and I, Add, Advanced, Find Now and then selected my
ID. I'm not sure if I ticked the child object box for propogating all
permissions to all sub subfolders but then all of a sudden I had access to
my
user ID structure. I thought at this stage I had sorted my problems out but
when I went to the next level ie desktop folder, I found I was getting the
same thing come up (not accessible access denied). I thought all I would
have
to do is repeat all of what I had done to get into the initial level of my
profile but now all it would say was something like I didn't have the rights
to access this folder. Someone else mentioned something about encryption and
a key. I haven't encrypted these folders. Anyway that's about all I can
offer. Hopefully you can make some sense out of all that. I will also look
at
doing what you suggested either tomorrow or the next day.

Did the above but not sure if you meant type the word code or you were just
indicating to type in the following code. It came up that it didn't recognise
this command anyway. I typed help and it wasn't listed as one of the
executables.
I then typed the reg add stuff and from what I could see reg add should have
added this stuff to the registry but it also didn't recognise this command
and when I had a look I couldn't see any executables that were related to the
registry.
The CD that I have is XP professional with sp1a. This is a Dell disk that
came with my laptop.
Just for my info is the first switch /d deleting userinit and what does the
/f switch mean.

Look forward to your reply.

Did the above but not sure if you meant type the word code or you were just
indicating to type in the following code. It came up that it didn't
recognise
this command anyway. I typed help and it wasn't listed as one of the
executables.
I then typed the reg add stuff and from what I could see reg add should have
added this stuff to the registry but it also didn't recognise this command
and when I had a look I couldn't see any executables that were related to
the
registry.
The CD that I have is XP professional with sp1a. This is a Dell disk that
came with my laptop.
Just for my info is the first switch /d deleting userinit and what does the
/f switch mean.

I am able to get to the recovery console. I hit R and it puts me into a Dos
prompt with c:\windows.

I think for all intense purposes the Dell XP disk is the same as the normal
XP professional Disk as it comes in the sealed envelope with the microsoft
product key. After I get into the recovery console and I do a search of the
directory there is nothing there that relates to the reg add command. I would
have thought this would have to be in the directory. When I type the command
line that you have told me it comes up unrecognised command, press help. When
I press help, a limited amount of dos commands come up.

When the machine boots up it comes up with hit F12 for one time boot up. I
then hit the CD/DVD boot option and it boots up off the disk. I haven't
changed anything in the bios.

I am typing the following with spaces in the shown places. Can you please
confirm that I am putting the spaces in the correct places
REG_ADD_"HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows_NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon"_/v
Userinit_/d_"%SystemRoot%\system32\userinit.exe,"_/f

where_ is a space.

When you look up the registry, HKLM is actually HKEY LOCAL MACHINE. Does the
system recognise the abbreviation to be this.

From the other post from Alister, should I be putting in a comma after
userinit.exe or not.