“I don’t mean to sound bitter, cold, or cruel, but I am, so that’s how it comes out.” — Bill Hicks
Archive for July, 2009
Windows XP allows a user to login and then it immediately logs out
Quite an odd thing happened today… I encountered the same very specific error twice on two completely unrelated computers (two different clients). In _both_ cases, clamwin had unnecessarily quarantined the following file:
C:\WINDOWS\system32\userinit.exe
On both machines, this occurred during a scheduled scan. The symptoms of this problem are that windows will allow the user to login, but it immediately logs out after a second or two. Here’s how I fixed it in both cases:
- Boot into the recovery console using a Windows XP install disk
- Select the windows installation experiencing the problem and type the Administrator password when asked
- Run the following command (assuming that your CD-ROM is D:\ and your hard drive is C:\):
expand D:\I386\USERINIT.EX_ C:\WINDOWS\system32
- Remove the CD from the drive then type ‘exit’ and hit ‘enter’ to reboot.
Once the computer boots properly (and allows you to stay logged in), use Malwarebytes, Spybot, HijackThis, etc. to scan your computer for viruses and/or spyware.
Update, 5 August 2009:
Just an additional note; you’ll want to be sure that the version of the file you copy from the installation disk is compatible with the service pack installed (it’s likely not). Symptoms of this incompatibility include things like explorer freezing when you try to shutdown or restart the computer. Uninstalling then Reinstalling the service pack should fix this issue. Alternatively, (and if ClamWin was the culprit) you could restore the old userinit.exe file from ClamWin’s quarantine directory… be sure to scan the file before doing this or else you could end up restoring an infected copy. So far, on every computer I’ve had to fix because of this (five and counting), ClamWin had falsely identified the userinit.exe file as a virus.
“Microsoft Document Imaging has encountered a problem and needs to close” When clicking on the ‘File’ menu
Error:
Microsoft Document Imaging has encountered a problem and needs to close
When clicking on the ‘File’ menu in Microsoft Document Imaging.
This problem has been around since at least office 2003. Lately I’ve been encountering it in recently updated versions of 2007, and by far the most straightforward way to fix it seems to be the following:
- Run regedit (‘Start’ -> ‘Run’, type ‘regedit’ and click ‘Ok’)
- Browse to the following registry key**:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\MSPaper 12.0\Recent File List
- Delete every value in the key (to clarify, delete all the values that appear in the right window).
From what I understand (from having to fix it in previous versions), there is a character limit on the file path of items that appear in the “Recently Opened/Used Files” portion of the ‘File’ menu. If a file whose path exceeds this limit (in previous versions it was 55 characters) appears in this menu, MODI will crash with the above error.
**Replace ‘MSPaper 12.0′ with whatever version you’re using; for example, office 2003 will be ‘MSPaper 11.0′
Home improvement page added to the Project Index
Click “This Old House” under the Art/Design category in the Project Index to see some pictures!
