Restore the Missing userinit.exe File

Q: When I logon to either user account (both are set up as administrator) the password is accepted, the message “Loading settings” displays, the wallpaper shows briefly, then the message “Logging off” displays and it comes back to the welcome screen. I tried everything that is explained in this link. I do not see the file userinit.exe or wsaupdater.exe in the system32 folder.

A: The DllCache folder (c:\windows\system32\dllcache\) maintains a copy of userinit.exe. Simply copy it to the system32 folder. If not, you may have to expand a copy from the source. (either from the Windows XP CD, or from the ServicePackFiles source path)

As you’re unable to login to the system at present, either use Bart’s PE boot CD, or use the parallel Windows XP installation (if available) to carryout the file/registry operations.

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6 Comments

  1. said this on Monday, April 19th 2010 4:35 pm

    Thankyou very much. The solution was easy and fast!!!

  2. Jane Plantain
    said this on Wednesday, February 24th 2010 10:01 am

    If you can’t find userinit.exe in either your system32 or dllcache directory, then download BartPE. The BartPE executable will create a bootable CD that is easier to work with than the XP CD’s Recovery Console. (You need your Windows XP CD, that miscreants can get from piratebay, to make the BartPE CD.) I stuck in the BartPE CD and went to the command line. I typed “DIR” to list the contents at the root of the BartPE CD. I saw that it had a userinit.exe right there, so I didn’t have to deal with moving a copy over from elsewhere. I did something like “copy userinit.exe c:\windows\system32\” and it copied the file right over. I removed all media and restarted. Problem solved.

  3. said this on Saturday, November 7th 2009 8:08 pm

    Thanks for the info, helped alot and made searching for a solution easy as pie.

  4. Alex
    said this on Friday, October 23rd 2009 12:24 pm

    Woop Woop!!! This fix is the king. Thanks man it worked like a dream.

  5. Yuriel
    said this on Saturday, June 6th 2009 12:04 pm

    Yes!!! This answer is my hero!!! :) I was searching for 2 days for this solution!!!

  6. said this on Monday, May 18th 2009 10:24 pm

    Thanks !

    I tried and it helped a lot

    Regards,
    Durga

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