RE: Can't get to desktop after reactivating XP Pro

From: Ashleigh (Ashleigh_at_discussions.microsoft.com)
Date: 06/24/04 

Date: Thu, 24 Jun 2004 04:46:01 -0700

Hmm, anoying.

You could try sysprep'ing it again and seeing if that gets you back to a point in the OS where you can start afresh. Also have you tried F8'ing it at boot and selecting the last known good config, allthough I would think it's a bit late for that.

Other things to try, Try re-installing SP1a, that may reconfigure some of the settings that are causing problems you never know.

The problem seems to be that the default shell has been changed (probably to the activate windows application) and it then has not been set back to explorer.exe (as this is the default windows shell as you've seen from running explorer.exe from task manager

"beardofdeath" wrote:

> OK bad news. The only system restore point available appeared to have been created right when the system crapped out. After restoring I have the exact same problem. I suppose moral is I need to go set a restore point on all the other new machines before something else goes south.
>
> Any other suggestions, or an explanation for why the reactivation thing might have happened? Oh by the way, NO hardware has been changed on any of the computers.
>
> "beardofdeath" wrote:
>
> > I created a new user account then logged in. All I get is the default Gateway wallpaper...nothing else. Gonna go for the system restore and see if that resolves the issue. I will report back. Thanks for your very helpful suggestions. The company just moved to XP Pro from Windows98 so I have very little experience supporting XP. If nothing else I'm learning new things because of this issue.
> >
> > "Ashleigh" wrote:
> >
> > > Try doing a SFC /SCANNOW just in case it's damaged file (probably not, but hey), also try creating a brand new user and see if that user works ok, if it does then try removing the ntuser.dat from one of the other users %userprofile% folder and then log in with them and see if that works, if it does it looks like the default shell for the user is to pot. You may also want to try last know good / default profile or using recovery to back you up to a time before you had to reactivate.
> > >
> > > "beardofdeath" wrote:
> > >
> > > > That works to a certain extent! It will get me back to the regular desktop for that user, for that session. However, after logging out or rebooting it goes back to the same blank desktops for the administrator account and the 2 user accounts I have tested so far.
> > > >
> > > > "Ashleigh" wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > Try pressing CTRL-SHIFT-ESC to get taks manager up then run explorer and see if that kicks it all off. Dont know why that should be the case though.
> > > > >
> > > > > "beardofdeath" wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > > Has anyone seen this problem? What did you do to resolve it?
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Background: The firm purchased 60 new Gateway computers, all completely identical. Because many preinstalled programs needed to be removed plus numerous programs we use needed to be installed I created a base image. I then clone a hard drive, run sysprep on it, activate windows, create user accounts, etc. and finish customizing the computer for the user. This has generally worked great. However, now had two systems (after 30 to 45 days use) that boot up and say windows has to be activated. Course it won't let you do anything until that's completed. So I activate and it tells me activated too many times. Have to make phone call and do the procedure. Problem is, after reactivating it drops me to a blank desktop with no taskbar, no nothing! Twice now. The first instance I just rebuilt everything from scratch, no cloning, etc. Now a second machine. Don't want to rebuild.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > What's going on here? What can I do to prevent this situation in the future?
> > > > > >

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