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    April 29, 2009 by kharper  
    Filed under Random

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    Does your computer let you log on then immediately log you off?  If this is happening follow these steps to fix the problem yourself. You most likley picked up Malware or are infected with a virus.

    First you will need your XP CD so that you can boot into your recovery console.  To do this put the CD in and start the computer.  You might need to hit f12 to boot from the CD.

    On the first screen press R to enter the recovery console.  Type in the built in Administrator password to enter the Console. You’ll see the prompt reading C:\Windows (Or any other drive-letter where you’ve installed XP)

    Type d: (d: or whatever letter represents your cd drive)

    C:\Windows>CD D:

    D:\>CD I386

    D:\I386>COPY USERINIT.EX_ C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

    (you should see 1 files copied successfully)

    Type CD C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

    C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32>RENAME USERINIT.EX_ USERINIT.EXE

    C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32>COPY USERINIT.EXE WSAUPDATER.EXE

    Type Exit to exit the recovery console and reboot.  You should now be able to log back in.  If that worked run regedit from the Run command.

    Navigate to
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\

    In the right pane, you should see

    C:\WINDOWS\System32\wsaupdater.exe,

    Change it so that it reads:  C:\WINDOWS\System32\userinit.exe (it might already read userinit.exe)

    Once verified download Malwarebytes Anti Malware and Perform full scan.

    Download and run CCleaner. 

    Scan with your antivirus software.  If you need antivirus software check out under my Free Utility Downloads.  Hope this was helpful.

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    11 Comments on "Computer logs out automatically on startup"

    1. reorampage on Fri, 22nd May 2009 6:00 am 

      Hey, thanks for your help so far however when I type “cd i386″ i get “access is denied.” Could you provide some way around this please? I am very lost.

    2. kharper on Fri, 22nd May 2009 1:00 pm 

      If your getting “access is denied,” make sure your drive letter represents the letter of your CD ROM drive that your Windows XP CD is in. In my example the “D:\” was my CD ROM drive. Yours could be “D” like mine or “E” or “F”. Try each one until you locate your CD ROM and then continue through the rest of the steps. It can be verified by typing “DIR” at the command prompt. The DIR will display all the directories on the current drive. Once you see the I386 DIR then use the “CD I386″ command to (CD) Change Directories. This is a tough problem to resolve. If you are completely lost consider turning it over to expert help.

    3. nat on Sun, 24th May 2009 7:31 am 

      Thankyou very much - it was very helpful!

    4. Jen on Sun, 24th May 2009 8:06 pm 

      I followed the steps up to copying userinit.exe to wsaupdater.exe and everything seemed to work fine. When I restarted the computer, the problem still persisted. Do you have any further suggestions?

    5. kharper on Tue, 26th May 2009 2:40 am 

      If you tried all the steps above and the problem is there after a reboot… you could try taking the drive physically out and running a virus scan on it from a different computer. You could also try running a repair from the Windows XP cd. If you have never done either of the above I suggest letting a professional fix it for you.

      Sometimes we all have to ask for help.
      Good Luck!

    6. Rob on Tue, 26th May 2009 5:14 pm 

      Jen,

      I had the same problem as you when running Windows Normally, but I retraced the steps in his document, and then was able to login in Safe Mode and continue the steps. I will see if I can remove the virus now.

      Thanks!
      Rob

    7. Ricardo on Wed, 19th Aug 2009 3:35 am 

      Perfect! Gracias.

    8. joe on Mon, 4th Jan 2010 9:54 pm 

      Yeah you fail to mention that the files need to be expanded from the CD. Doesnt work anyway thanks for the useless post.

    9. Vince on Thu, 21st Jan 2010 4:27 pm 

      Just wanted to let you know that this process helped me restore an infected machine. I followed you from your post on Toms Hardware. May I suggest using the Secure2k BootCD to manipulate the registry without access issues.
      Thank you for your help!
      Vince

    10. Rave on Sat, 6th Feb 2010 5:28 pm 

      Hi i tried the 1st post.. but it dosent copy it says access denied.. what should i do? i dont know the admin password.. it dosent ask for any.. this is my dads pc..

    11. Rave on Sat, 6th Feb 2010 5:30 pm 

      Sorry let me be more specific when i do
      D:\>CD I386

      D:\I386>COPY USERINIT.EX_ C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

      this is when it says access denied
      Hope i can get this fixed without formatting since dad has alot of important files on here

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