Member Avatar for joe mancoe

My computer starts fine but once you get to the welcome screen and type in password it shows desktop for a few seconds then logs off and shows register screen again. This problem only started a few days ago.

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by qweasd

Dani AI

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Hi — that brief desktop-then-logoff loop usually points to one of three things: a corrupt user profile, the Winlogon/shell values being wrong (often after a tweak tool), or malware that interrupts the logon. As hinted, think about any recent tweaks; and as suggested, an offline malware scan is worth doing. Below is a short, prioritized checklist you can try.

  1. Boot Safe Mode (press F8). If you can log in there:
    • Run a full antivirus scan, check Event Viewer for errors at logon, and create a new local administrator account to see if the problem is profile-specific.
  2. If Safe Mode fails, boot from a rescue CD/USB or remove the drive and scan it from another system to rule out malware.
  3. If Safe Mode works but normal login fails, check the Winlogon registry key:
    HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
    Verify Userinit is C:\WINDOWS\system32\userinit.exe, (note the trailing comma) and Shell is explorer.exe. Export the key before changing anything.
  4. Try System Restore to a point before this started. Also run sfc /scannow and chkdsk /f from Safe Mode or Recovery Console if possible.

Caution: back up the registry and important files before edits. If you want, post any Event Viewer messages or the current Winlogon values here and I (or others) can walk you through safe fixes.

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Member Avatar for Dani

Did you recently install any new software? Any registry tweaks? Programs such as Tweak-XP?

Member Avatar for qweasd

maybe you have a virus or trojan :lol:

try scanning the harddrive on another pc with some good antivirus like kaspersky... even norton av

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